"SON OF DAVID"

 IN TRACING JESUS GENEALOGY  BACK TO ABRAHAM, MATTHEW SHOWS THAT THE NEW CHOSEN PEOPLE WAS NOT AN UPSTART GROUP. IT GREW DIRECTLY OUT OF THE OLD PEOPLE OF GOD, FOR JESUS WAS A DESCENDANT OF ABRAHAM.  JESUS ALSO DESCENDED FROM DAVID. IN MATTHEW, JESUS IS CALLED "SON OF DAVID" MORE OFTEN THAN IN ALL THE OTHER GOSPELS PUT TOGETHER, 1:1; 9:27; 12;23; 15:22; 20: 3,31, 21:9,15. MARK USES THE TITLE ONLY IN 10:47, LUKE IN 18:37,38 AND JOHN NOT AT ALL. THE MESSAGE IS CLEAR. GOD HAS CERTAINLY KEPT HIS PROMISES TO THE FATHERS. THE PROMISE TO ABRAHAM LIVES ON, FOR THE HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD CONTINUES THROUGH JESUS AND THE NEW AND TRUE ISRAEL. GOD HAS KEPT HIS PROMISE, FOR A "SON OF DAVID" WILL BE KING OF HIS PEOPLE TO ALL ETERNITY, 2 SAMUEL 7. SOME DETECT IN MATTHEW 1:1 AN ALLUSION TO GENESIS 1:1, AND TRANSLATE IT, " THE BOOK OF THE GENESIS OF JESUS CHRIST,SON OF DAVID, SON OF ABRAHAM." JUST AS GOD BROUGHT CREATION INTO EXISTENCE, SO HE BEGAN A NEW THING WITH JESUS CHRIST, THE NATURE OF WHICH THE GOSPEL DEFINES. THE LIST OF NAMES IN MATTHEW 1:1-17 IS MADE UP OF THREE SECTIONS
 OF FOURTEEN  NAMES EACH. MATTHEW 1:17 POINTS OUT  THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF EACH SECTION: FROM ABRAHAM TO DAVID, FROM DAVID TO THE BABYLONIAN EXILE AND FROM THE BABYLONIAN EXILE TO THE BIRTH OF JESUS.  IT MAY BE AN COINCIDENCE, BUT IN HEBREW DAVID'S NAME HAS THE MATHEMATICAL VALUE 14; D=4, V=6,D=4.  (WRITTEN HEBREW MADE NO USE OF VOWELS, HENCE NO MATHEMATICAL VALUE COULD BE ASSIGNED TO THEM).FINALLY, MATTHEW'S GENEALOGICAL TABLE CONTAINS THE NAMES OF SEVERAL WOMEN, NAMELY TAMAR, RUTH, BATHSHEBA (" THE WIFE OF URIAH" 1:6), AND MARY WOMEN WERE NOT ALWAYS HELD IN HIGH ESTEEM` IN THE ANCIENT WORLD, BUT THEY WERE PRECIOUS TO ME AND TO GOD. SOME OF THOSE LISTED WERE ANYTHING BUT SAINTS. HOWEVER, NONE OF THE PATRIARCHS WAS A  OR KINGS WAS A SAINT. GOD
DEALS WITH PEOPLE AS THEY ARE, TO GET DONE WHAT HE WANTS DONE.  LOOKING AT THE NATIVITY NARRATIVE, 1: 18-25. JOSEPH FEATURES PROMINENTLY  IN MATTHEW'S ACCOUNT, JUST AS MARY DOES IN LUKE'S. IN MATTHEW, GOD COMMUNICATES WITH JOSEPH THROUGH DREAMS;  IN LUKE, HE COMMUNICATES WITH ZECHARIAH THROUGH AN ANGEL. MATTHEW 1:22 INTRODUCES US TO THE FORMULAR MATTHEW USES REPEATEDLY IN HIS GOSPEL."ALL THIS TOOK PLACE TO FULFILL WHAT THE LORD HAD SPOKEN BY THE PROPHET." THE COMING OF JESUS CHRIST, AND ALL THAT TOOK PLACE IN HIS LIFE AND MINISTRY, WERE NOT CHANCE EVENTS. THEY WERE PREDICTED AND PLANNED. MATTHEW DOES NOT REFER TO JOSEPH AND MARY MAKING A JOURNEY TO BETHLEHEM, BUT IT TAKES FOR GRANTED THAT JESUS WAS BORN THERE,2:1. THE NAME THE ANGEL INSTRUCTS JOSEPH TO GIVE JESUS DEFINES HIS MISSION. IN JUDAISM AT THIS TIME, MANY HELD THAT A PERSON WAS SAVED BECAUSE HE WAS A JEW.  THE NAME GIVEN MARY'S CHILD MAKES IT CLEAR THAT MEMBERSHIP IN THE NEW AND TRUE ISRAEL IS BASED ON A DIFFERENT PRINCIPLE. MARY'S SON IS NO ORDINARY HUMAN BEING. HE HAS NO HUMAN FATHER. HIS CONCEPTION IS CAUSED BY THE GRACIOUS SUPERNATURAL INTERVENTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. THE CHILD IMMANUEL, "GOD WITH US." IN MARK'S GOSPEL, THE TERM "SON OF GOD," USED IN THE GOSPEL'S OPENING VERSE IS REPEATED AT CALVARY, 15:39. SIMILARLY, THE TERM "IMANUEL"  USED IN MATTHEW 1:22 IS ECHOED IN THE CLOSING VERSE OF THE GOSPEL, 'I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, TO THE CLOSE OF THE AGE," 28:20. THE INCARNATE SON OF GOD DID NOT COME TO PAY HIS PEOPLE A BRIEF CALL; HE CAME TO TAKE UP RESIDENCE AMONG THEM UNTIL THE CLOSE OF AGE. IN THE MEANTIME, THE GOSPEL OF LUKE, TELLS US THE WISE MEN PAY A VISIT, (2: 1-23). THE WISE MEN HAVE BEEN SUBJECT OF COLORFUL SPECULATION. THE BIBLE DOES NOT SAY THAT THEY NUMBERED THREE, THAT THEY RODE CAMELS, THAT THEY WERE KINGS, OR THAT THEY WERE GENTILES-- THEY MIGHT WELL HAVE BEEN DIASPORA JEWS FROM BABYLON. POSSIBLY THE MESSAGE IS THAT THE WISE MEN OF THIS WORLD COME TO JESUS TO FIND TRUE WISDOM, FOR IN HIM ONE GREATER THAN SOLOMON HAS COME,1 KINGS 4:34; 10:23-25; MATTHEW 12:42. (FULFILLMENT  O.T.). THOUGH THE "WISE MEN" BRING CHRIST GIFTS FIT FOR A KING, THOSE IN THE POWER STRUCTURES (HEROD AND ALL IN JERUSALEM) ARE PERTURBED 2:3. JESUS COMING THREATENS THEIR AUTHORITY, AND THE MANNER IN WHICH THEY OBTAINED AND EXERCISE IT. HEROD IN PARTICULAR DETERMINES TO DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM. ACCORDINGLY, A RULER ATTEMPTS TO DESTROY THE NEW SON OF GOD JUST AS MUCH EARLIER ANOTHER RULER SOUGHT TO DESTROY THE FORMER SON OF GOD (EXODUS 1). HEROD'S EFFORTS RESULT IN JESUS BEING TAKEN TO EGYPT, AND THE RECAPITULATION OF HOSEA 11:1, "OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON." AFTER JOSEPH AND MARY RETURN FROM EGYPT, THEY SETTLE IN NAZARETH IN GALILEE, AGAIN AN ACT WHICH IS VIEWED AS A FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY, 2:23. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT MATTHEW 
 UNDERSTANDS "NAZARETH" TO REFLECT THE HEBREW WORD FOR "BRANCH""
(NEZER) IN ISAIAH 11:1.