Matthew 1:1-16

Matthew 1:1-16 (NIV)

1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

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

3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 


 4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 
 

5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, 
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 
 

6 and Jesse the father of King David.

   David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, 
 

7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, 
 Rehoboam the father of Abijah, 
 Abijah the father of Asa, 
 

8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 
 

9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, 
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 
 

10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 
 

11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

 12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 
 

13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 
 

14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Elihud, 
 

15 Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob,

16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

        

        This genealogy starts with Abraham and goes all the way down the line to Joseph who married Mary, who gave birth to Jesus.  The fact that it starts with Abraham is important.  In Genesis 22:18 (HCSB) the Bible says, “And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed My command.”  This scripture is referring to when Abraham was going to follow through with what God commanded him to do, which was to sacrifice his only son Isaac, then the Angel of the Lord came and told him to stop, and to not hurt Isaac, but to sacrifice the ram which was caught in the bushes. So as I’ve prayed and thought about what this scripture means I believe the genealogy of Jesus is shown here in Matthew to show that God keeps his word, and his promises. He IS blessing the nations through Abraham’s offspring.  While Joseph isn’t Jesus’ real father, because Jesus was born of a virgin, Joseph is Jesus’ earthly father.  Jesus did bless and still does bless all the nations of the earth, for those that choose to accept him into their hearts.  While Jesus was here on earth he did many miracles and taught people many things.  I believe he still does miracles and he still teaches us things.  He is still a blessing to us.  So the reason I think this list of genealogy is in Matthew is because its meant to show us that God does what he says and keeps his word, and He is also a blessing to those that choose to accept him. I CHOOSE HIM!