Reading… and Thinking

But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee.

— Matthew 2:19-22 (ESV)

These are the third and fourth times in Matthew 1 & 2 that the Lord appears to Joseph. We can see in these chapters that God is working very actively in Joseph’s life, and is working through Joseph for the good of His Son.

In fact, these two chapters are all about Joseph! It is Joseph’s genealogy, which of course is unrelated to Jesus’ ancestry. We barely hear about Mary; all the work is done through Joseph. It’s interesting that we generally focus on Mary when thinking about the birth of Jesus, but Matthew focuses exclusively on Joseph. Joseph hardly comes into the story again, but we probably do him an injustice by ignoring him almost completely. The Almighty entrusted to this man the rearing of His only begotten Son—an enormous privilege that would only be given to an exceptional man.

Looking at these chapters in total, we can see that they are all about royalty and kingship. Joseph’s genealogy is the line of the kings of Judah. We learn from Matthew (nowhere else) about the magi from the East who see the sign that the King is born. From Matthew (nowhere else) about Herod’s jealousy regarding a rival king. Micah 5 is quoted with regard to the origin of the King in Bethlehem.

And in fact, this will be Matthew’s focus throughout. He emphasizes the royal aspect of Jesus, often referring to him as the Son of David. I think the point of listing Joseph’s genealogy is that, from a strictly legal standpoint, it makes Jesus the heir of the throne of Israel. There could be no ground of anyone rejecting Jesus as the King on any technical ground. Not that the Lord God is limited by that, but He ensured that there was no reason whatever for anyone to reject His Son’s rightful place. Thus any who reject him are without excuse.

On the other hand, Luke emphasizes the human aspect of Jesus. From Luke we learn about Mary and how the Lord spoke to her, we get Mary’s genealogy, and Luke calls Jesus the Son of Man.

The gospels are not just four copies of the same story. Each has a very distinct emphasis, and we are supposed to look at Jesus from these four different perspectives: King, Servant, Son of Man, Son of God. Having these separated out for us, we can get a better overall view of our Savior than if we just had one account with everything blended together.

So as you read Matthew, take note of how he is the King. And like the wise men, seek him out to worship him.