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For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Monday, August 31, 2026
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :The Divisions in Matthew’s Genealogy of Jesus Bible Verse:Matthew 1:6-17 "And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations." Message:
Jumping Jehoshaphat, that's a lot of long names! As we discussed several days ago, this long genealogy — although daunting and inexplicable to a person trying to simply pick up Matthew and read it as a book — appears at the beginning for a reason: Matthew was written for the Jews of the first century A.D., and for them to accept Jesus as the Messiah, it was critical that they accept his lineage.
In the last verse, Matthew takes pains to point out that the passage is divided into three sections of fourteen names. This does not represent some weird Kabbalistic mystery; there is no real significance to the number 14. Rather, it has two purposes. First, to make it easier to memorize(!); and second, to demonstrate the grand theme of God’s plan for our salvation.
King David, from
Macclesfield Psalter (c.1320) King David, from Macclesfield Psalter (c.1320) The Jews did not have books. If they were fortunate, the community would have a Torah or even a complete Old Testament in the synagogue; and most of them could not read, anyway. However, a person’s ability to prove his heritage — and if possible, his descent from Abraham — was critical to his acceptance as a Jew. To this end, a great many Jews would memorize their genealogy. Dividing a long list of names into memorable groups is a mnemonic device. If you try to name, say, the books of the Bible, you are going to have a much easier time with it by dividing it into sections. For example, using the Protestant Bible: Pentateuch (5), histories (12), books of wisdom (5), major prophets (5), etc. So, Matthew makes Jesus’ generations easier to remember by pointing out that there are three groups of 14 names: Abraham to David, David to the Babylonian captivity, and the Babylonian captivity to the time it was written. But the division corresponds to another of Matthew’s primary themes: Jesus as the Messiah predicted by the prophets. The groupings actually correspond roughly to the three historical stages of salvation. The first group represents the first stage in God’s plan to save man from his sin, the giving of the law and bringing the Hebrews into greatness through it. David’s reign was the realization of the promise to Abraham: a great Hebrew nation, devoted to God, ruling over Canaan. The second group — Solomon through the Babylonian deportation — represent the loss of Hebrew greatness through the inability to follow God’s law. As Israel fell away from God and into the worship of false gods, it eventually lost God’s protection; and although it was Babylon rather than Egypt, they were returned to the slavery from which God had saved them. It represents, in short, the futility of righteousness by works. The third group represents the return to God’s grace, for it ends in salvation with the birth of Christ. But unlike the first group, this end of the third will be both an enduring salvation and one available to the entire world, not just the Jews, for it is a salvation by grace. Meditation : Prayer : The God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant; Make me perfect in every good work to do your will, working in me that which is well pleasing in your sight; through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. |
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