Matthew 1

1. This is the family history of Jesus Christ. He came from the family of David. David came from the family of Abraham.

NOTE: God promised David that the Messiah would come from his family. The Jews would have checked the Temple records and told everybody if Jesus was not from the family of David. These names are a list of the line of Joseph which shows us that Jesus was able to be the king of Israel even though Joseph was not his father by blood.

2. Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.

3. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah. Their mother was Tamar. Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Ram.

4. Ram was the father of Amminadab. Amminadab was the father of Nahshon. Nahshon was the father of Salmon.

5. Salmon was the father of Boaz. Boaz’s mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed. Obed’s mother was Ruth. Obed was the father of Jesse.

NOTE: Ruth was from Moab and these people are not part of Israel but God had mercy on her.

6. Jesse was the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon. Solomon’s mother had been Uriah’s wife.

NOTE: God forgave David for killing Uriah and taking his wife because he turned away from hiding his evil life. We all are capable of doing things that we never thought we would do if we are not walking closely with the Lord.

7. Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam was the father of Abijah. Abijah was the father of Asa.

8. Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was the father of Jehoram. Jehoram was the ancestor of Uzziah.

9. Uzziah was the father of Jotham. Jotham was the father of Ahaz. Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah.

10. Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh. Manasseh was the father of Amon. Amon was the father of Josiah.

11. Josiah was the grandfather of Jehoiachin and his brothers. This was at the time that the people were taken to Babylon.

12. After they were taken to Babylon: Jehoiachin was the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel was the grandfather of Zerubbabel.

NOTE: God said that nobody of the line of Jehoiachin would be on the throne so Jesus could not be from the blood line of Joseph. Jeremiah 37:1

13. Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud. Abiud was the father of Eliakim. Eliakim was the father of Azor.

14. Azor was the father of Zadok. Zadok was the father of Akim. Akim was the father of Eliud.

15. Eliud was the father of Eleazar. Eleazar was the father of Matthan. Matthan was the father of Jacob.

16. Jacob was the father of Joseph. Joseph was the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus.

NOTE: Jesus was not born from the blood line of Joseph. Jesus had to grow up with people thinking that His parents were immoral. The Jewish leaders did not understand that the Messiah was to be born of the seed of a woman. See Genesis 3:15.

17. So there were 14 generations from Abraham to David. And there were 14 generations from David until the time when the people were taken to Babylon. And there were 14 generations from the time when the people were taken to Babylon until Christ was born.

NOTE: The generations were put this way so that they would be easy to remember.

18 – 19

The mother of Jesus Christ was Mary. And this is how the birth of Jesus came about. Mary was engaged to marry Joseph. But before they married, she learned that she was going to have a baby. She was pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit. Mary’s husband, Joseph, was a good man. He did not want to disgrace her in public, so he planned to divorce her secretly.

In Jewish culture you were seen as already married when you became engaged. The only way to break an engagement was by divorce. Joseph had to trust God when Mary told him that God had sent an angel to tell her that she would be the mother of the Messiah and the baby would start growing in her by the power of the Holy Spirit.

20. While Joseph thought about this, an angel of the Lord came to him in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. The baby in her is from the Holy Spirit.

NOTE: People thought that Mary had committed adultery and they told stories about this which the Jewish leaders heard (John 8:41). Mary could have been stoned to death but God protected her. The words here show that Joseph kept on thinking about this. Joseph was the kind of person who knew that after God told him something it could be trusted.

21. She will give birth to a son. You will name the son Jesus. Give him that name because he will save his people from their sins.”

NOTE: There are people who think that we can only call Jesus by a certain name that they see in the original language. Jesus has many names and He is more interested in what you do with His name than in which one you call Him.

22 – 23

All this happened to make clear the full meaning of what the Lord had said through Isaiah: “The virgin will be pregnant. She will have a son, and they will name him Immanuel.” This name means “God is with us.”

NOTE: Isaiah had promised that this would happen in Isaiah 7:14. Immanuel can also be translated to say, “God is for us!”

24 – 25

When Joseph woke up, he did what the Lord’s angel had told him to do. Joseph married Mary. But he did not have intimate relations with her until she gave birth to the son. And Joseph named the son Jesus.

NOTE: People who worship Mary say that she never had any more children but we see Scriptures that tell us that she had more sons and daughters. Matthew 13:5, Mark 6:3