Matthew 1 explained

Matthew's list runs "Abraham became the father of Isaac" (1:2), father after father, down to Joseph. Then the words change: "Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus" (1:16). And 1:18 tells how: Mary "was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit" (1:18).

Matthew's first words give Jesus two names from the past: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" (1:1) (tap genealogy, Christ). Then the list begins with the second of them, "Abraham became the father of Isaac" (1:2), and comes to the first: "Jesse became the father of King David" (1:6). Matthew marks the whole list by those turns: "So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the exile to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the carrying away to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations." (1:17) (tap exile). When the angel speaks to Joseph, his first words are "Joseph, son of David" (1:20). And the name comes back later in the book, from two blind men: "Have mercy on us, son of David!" (9:27).

After David, Matthew's list names Solomon, Rehoboam and the rest with no title at all. The word king comes in only one verse of the list, twice, both times of David: "Jesse became the father of King David. David the king became the father of Solomon" (1:6). The book's first verse has already called Jesus "the son of David" (1:1).

Matthew 1:6-11 · Matthew 1:1

Genesis 17:6→leads toMatthew 1:1

"Kings will come out of you" (17:6). Matthew opens with "Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham", and his list runs from Abraham through "King David" to Jesus (1:1-16). Matthew doesn't quote 17:6, so this pairing is an interpretation many Christians make; the verse can also be read of the kings of Israel who came from Abraham.

γεννάωgennaosay ghen-NAH-o

Strong's: "to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)". Thayer: "to beget", and "of men begetting children". Every became the father of in 1:2-16 is this verb, from "Abraham became the father of Isaac" (1:2) to "Jacob became the father of Joseph" (1:16). Then, in the same verse, Matthew uses it once more, and the words change: "Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ" (1:16). The was born is this verb too. The angel uses it again: "that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit" (1:20). The next chapter opens with it: "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea" (2:1).

Matthew's list runs through kings, through the exile to Babylon (1:11-12), and through people whose stories the Old Testament tells, on to Jesus (1:16). What does it mean to you that his line runs through all of that?