Study of MATTHEW Continues 1:8-17

Read Matthew 1:8-17 for the notes below to assist you in the background of the passage.

The Blood Curse
“Jeconiah”: 2 Chr 36:8; Jer 22:24. Jehoicakim had a son named “Jehoiachin” (also referred to as “Jeconiah” or “Coniah”). Jer 22:24-30. God pronounces a blood curse on Jeconiah! Matthew takes us down the royal line through Jeconiah to David and then Joseph. The Messiah must be eligible for the throne of David, yet can’t be under the blood curse of Jeconiah. Luke gives us the answer
(Luke 3). This genealogy from Adam to Abraham through David is the same as Matthew, but at David Luke goes through Nathan (not Solomon) down to Heli, the father of Mary. Of the house of David, yet NOT under the blood curse of Jeconiah!
17) Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.
Matthew's organization of the genealogy: Matthew is pointing out that this genealogy is not complete; there were not actually 14 generations between the landmarks he indicates. The practice of skipping generations at times was common in the listing of ancient genealogies; Matthew is doing nothing unusual here. The organization around the number 14 was perhaps for the purpose of easy memorization.
The Scepter of Judah
In Genesis 49, Jacob prophesizes over each of the twelve tribes. Among these seemingly cryptic riddles, the best-known one concerns the royal tribe of Judah:
The Scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Genesis 49:10, The term “scepter” refers to their tribal identity and the right to apply and enforce Mosaic Laws and adjudicate capital offenses: jus gladii. The term “Shiloh” was understood by the early rabbis and Talmudic authorities as referring to the Messiah.1 It is significant that even in their 70-year Babylonian captivity (606 - 537 B.C.) the tribes retained their tribal identity. They retained their own logistics, judges, etc.
The Scepter Departs
In 6-7 A.D., King Herod’s son and successor, Herod Archelaus was dethroned and banished to Vienna, a city in Gaul. Archelaus was the second son of Herod the Great.4 The older son, Herod Antipater, was murdered by Herod the Great, along with other family members. (It was quipped at the time that it was safer to be a dog in that household than a member of the family!) Archelaus’ mother was a Samaritan (1/4 or less of Jewish blood) and was never accepted. After the death of Herod (4 B.C.?), Archelaus was placed over Judea as “Entharch” by Caesar Augustus. Broadly rejected, he was removed in 6-7 A.D.
He was replaced by a Roman Procurator named Caponius. The legal power of the Sanhedrin was immediately restricted and adjudication of capital cases was lost. This was normal Roman policy.
This transfer of power is mentioned in the Talmud and by Josephus: After the death of the procurator Festus, when Albinus was about to succeed him, the high priest Ananius considered it a favorable opportunity to assember the Sanhedrin. He therefore caused James, the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, and several others, to appear before this hastily assembled council, and pronounced upon them the sentence of death by stoning. All the wise men and strict observers of the law who were at Jerusalem expressed their disapprobation of this act...Some even went to Albinus himself, who had departed to Alexandria, to bring this breach of the law under his observation, and to inform him that Aranius had acted illegally in assembling the Sanhedrin without the Roman authority.
This remarkable passage not only mentions Jesus and His brother James as historical figures, it also underscores that the authority of the Sanhedrin had passed to the Romans.
Reaction
When the members of the Sanhedrin found themselves deprived of their right over life and death, they covered their heads with ashes and their bodies with sackcloth, and bemoaned, “Woe unto us for the scepter has departed from Judah and the Messiah has not come!”
They actually thought that the Torah, the Word of God, had failed! They should have known better.
The scepter had, indeed, been removed from Judah, but Shiloh had come. While the Jews wept in the streets of Jerusalem, a young son of a carpenter was growing up in Nazareth. He would present Himself as the Messiah the King on the very day that had been predicted by the Angel Gabriel to Daniel five centuries earlier.
Every detail of His life was foretold centuries earlier. And much of what He is about to do is also predicted with the same accuracy.
A World Leader will shortly come and try to change our focus off that one singular, incomparable life. The world will soon be in for a series of surprises!
The Throne of David
There is another aspect to keep in mind during the Christmas season. As we recall the prophecy in Micah that prescribes that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, notice the entire verse:
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting. Micah 5:2
Also, as we recall that other familiar prophecy in Isaiah, note again the whole verse:
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and the peace there shall be no end, upon the Throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. Isaiah 9:6-7
The “Throne of David” is not just an Old Testament concept. Remember the Angel Gabriel’s promise to Mary:
And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Luke 1:31-33
But did Jesus ever actually sit on David’s Throne? He couldn’t have. It didn’t exist at that time.
Jeconiah, was the last of David’s line to sit on the Throne. Remember the blood curse on his line.11 Herod, appointed by the Romans, was an Edomite (“Idumean”). He wasn’t even Jewish.
Although Jesus presented himself as the Meshiach Nagid (“Messiah the King”) on the very day that Gabriel had announced five centuries earlier, Jesus never sat on David’s Throne. At the moment He is sitting on His Father’s Throne. The question is, will He ever sit on David’s Throne? Will the promise that Gabriel announced to Mary also be fulfilled? Of course!
And it may be sooner than we think.