Matthew 1

Matthew 1:1

[a] THE word γίνεσις doth not here signify peculiarly or precisely the birth of Christ, for that is expressed by another word, differing somewhat from this, ver. 18, ἡ γίνονισις, from γεννάω, to beget (so used ver. 2, and so on, in every verse after): whereas γίνεσις is from γίνεσθαι, which signifies, in a wider sense, not only to be born, but also to be done, or come to pass. It is here answerable to the Hebrew תולדה, which though it come from ילד, signifying to beget, (and so often signifies that peculiarly,) yet the verb signifying also any inanimate production, any event, that time brings forth, (as Prov. xxvii. 1,) Thou knowest not what a day ילד will bring forth; and Eccl. iv. 14, and even in his kingdom נולד יש he is made, or becometh poor, (not as we render it, he that is born in his kingdom; and Job xi. 12, and man יולד shall become a wild ass’s colt,) proportionably the noun תולדה signifies event, accident, any thing that is done, or come to pass; and so likewise any such event, or passage set down, or related, the history, or relation of it. So Gen. ii. 4, These are the תולדות, the things that came to pass, the story, relation of the heavens and the earth, &c.; i. e. not only the creation of them, but other passages following it. So Gen. v. 1, The book of the תולדות, Βίβλος γενίσεως, the book of the story of Adam, his creation, and following life: as here, Βίβλος γενίσεως, of the birth and life of the second Adam. So Gen. xxxvii. 2, These are the תולדות, the story of Jacob, where it is clear, that his own birth or the procreation of his children is not the peculiar matter in hand at that time, that being past, ch. xxxv, and Esau’s genealogy set after it, ch. xxxvi.; but, ver. 1, his dwelling in Canaan, vv. 2, 3, his love to Joseph, and the passages consequent to that. And accordingly Aben Ezra there observes, that the word noteth any event,

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[b] The reason of the special mention of David and Abraham here, without any between, is the special promises which had been made to those two; to the one, of continuing the kingdom to his posterity; to the other, of a numerous seed.

Matthew 1:5

[c] That Rachab was the wife of Salmon, and mother of Booz, is not set down in the Old Testament, nor mentioned in the genealogy in St. Luke, but recited by this evangelist either out of the Cabala or tradition, or else from some other written authors of sufficient credit among the Jews; as the names of Jannes and Jambres, 2 Tim. iii. 8, appear to have been, and some others which shall be noted in their place.

Matthew 1:12

And after the time of their being carried or removed thither, Jechonias.—

[d] Of Jechoniah it is pronounced, Write this man childless, Jer. xxii. 30; which seems to infer that Salathiel was not his son, but his heir only. And thus hath the learned Grotius set it, Luke iii. 23, that Josias begat Jechoniah, i. e. Jehoiakim; Jehoiakim another Jechonias, that died childless; Zedekias (his uncle) succeeding him; and Assir succeeding Zedekias; and then Salathiel, the son of Neri, was Assir’s heir, and so is here said to be begotten by Jechoniah. For that of leaving one heir or successor is a kind of civil begetting, and which the Hebrew ילך will bear, as God is said to have begotten sons whom he hath only adopted. And therefore when, Jer. xxii. 28, there is mention of Jechoniah’s seed cast into a land, &c. i. e. carried captive with him; and 1 Chron. iii. 17, when in his genealogy we read, The sons of Jechoniah, Assir, and Salathiel his son, this may be the meaning of it, that these were his heirs or successors; although others interpret it otherwise, either that his children should be cut off, or, at least, that none of his seed should sit upon the throne of David, which is there rendered as the reason of Jeremiah’s speech, For no man of his seed shall prosper, ver. 30.

Matthew 1:13

[e] In a very ancient Hebrew copy of this Gospel, this verse is somewhat varied, thus; And Eliakim begat Abner, and Abner begat Azor, &c.: by which interposition of Abner the fourteen generations are completed, in which otherwise there will seem to be defect, Salathiel probably being the first of this third fourteen, and not Jechoniah, (as Solomon was the first of the second, and not David,) from whom to Christ there will then be but thirteen, if Abner be not thus added to supply: Another way there is of making up the fourteens by putting in Jachim, ver. 11, (as Rob. Steph. finds and sets down in his Var. Lect.) Ἰωσίας ἐγένησεν τὸν Ἰαχείμ, Ἰαχείμ δὲ ἐγένησεν τὸν Ἰεχονίαν, Josias begat Jachim, and Jachim begat Jechoniah; and to this the genealogy agrees, 1 Chron. iii. 15; and if this be taken, then Jechoniah must be

Matthew 1:17

So that the genealogy here set down (not by enumeration of all the severals which succeeded one another from Abraham to Christ, see ver. 8, but) in that manner as is sufficient to deduce his pedigree

Matthew 1:18

[f] What is meant here by the συνελθεῖν, or coming together of Joseph and Mary, may be best determined by consideration of several passages of the context, all which seem to fix it on his actual marrying of her, which is called συνδυασμὸς, conjunction of two together; and ἀνδρὸς καὶ γυναικὸς συνάφεια, the joining of man and woman; and συγκλήρωσις τοῦ βίου παντὸς, a joining of all that belongs to them, their whole estate, &c. and not relate to the conjunction of bed, as the sound of the word might import. For, first, it seems to be that which was next in order of time to betrothing, (μνηστευθείσης, πρὶν ἢ συνελθεῖν, having been betrothed, before they came together,) this of her being with child, falling out in that space, which was betwixt the betrothing and συνελθεῖν. Now, after betrothing, marriage was the next; and therefore betrothing is called by Isidore primæ nuptiæ, “the first marriage;” and by St. Basil, ἀρχαὶ τοῦ γάμου, “the beginnings of marriage,” being, (according to the definition of μνηστεία,) μνήμη καὶ ἐπαγγελία τῶν μελλύντων γάμων, “a wooing, and promise of the future marriage,” (in the notion of μνήμη from μνάομαι, ambio, procor, “to woo,”) and that marriage was to intervene before the use of the bed was imaginable. And betwixt betrothing and marriage there was wont to be a set space, Deut. xx. 7, in which that which is here related might well fall out, her being, or appearing to be with child. Secondly, that which is meant by παραλαβεῖν Μαριὰμ τὴν γυναῖκά σου, taking to thee Mary to wife, ver. 20, seems to be the importance of συνελθεῖν: for thus the story lies: she is with child between the betrothing and the συνελθεῖν, thereupon he is afraid, παραλαβεῖν, to take her to him, till the angel appears, and dispels that fear. Now παραλαβεῖν, to take to him, especially as it is here παραλαβεῖν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, to take her to him to wife, vv. 20. and 24. signifies to marry, and is relative to διδόνια, to give, which belongs to the father of the spouse, Tobit vii. 11. 13, (after the example of God in paradise, Gen. ii. 22,) because he delivers her into the bridegroom’s hand, who was therefore called petitor, (despondet puellam qui petit, spondet petitoris pater, saith Donatus in Andr. Terent.) the suitor, and so λαβὼν τὸ γέρας, “he that takes her,” in Strabo, is used for the husband, and so to take a wife signifies, Deut. xx. 7, and simply to take, Tobit vii. 12, Take her, and lead her away to her father; this, upon the angel’s warning, he presently doth, being only betrothed before, and though he be called ἀνὴρ, her husband, ver. 19, yet that implies no more than betrothing a wife, Deut. xx. 7, and so it is here used immediately after mention of the betrothing, ver. 18. One other possible notion there is of the συνελθεῖν, his taking her into family with him; so in the Gospel for the Sunday after

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Matthew 1:19

Then her husband Joseph, being a merciful pious man, and not willing to expose or subject her to that public and shameful punishment which belonged among the Jews to those women whom the husbands when they first came in to them found not to be virgins, was willing secretly to dismiss her, that being not known to be betrothed to him, she might only be liable to the punishment of fornication, viz. infamy, not death. proceeds from the powerful work of the Holy Ghost overshadowing her, Luke i. 35, and omnipotently working in her this conception. whether by thee (as here) or by Mary, Luke i. 31, or by both together, (by the common right of parents,) his name shall be called Jesus, i. e. Saviour, the title of leaders or generals, and governors among the Jews, Obadiah 21. to denote his spiritual kingdom, and conduct of all that believe and obey him against their ghostly enemies, sin, &c.

[g] The word δίκαιος, answerable to the Hebrew צירק, signifies ordinarily works of mercy, charity; of which, when Maimonides sets down seven sorts or degrees, the seventh is distinctly צִדְקָה, righteousness: so Deut. xxiv. 13, צִדְקָה, both according to the context, and the Septuagint’s rendering is ἐλημοσύνη, mercy. So when the rabbins say there are two thrones, one of judgment, לִדְיָן, the other of mercy, לְצִדְקָה, the latter is so styled by the author to the Hebrews, ch. iv. 16, the throne of mercy; so psalm cxii. 9, He hath given to the poor, and his righteousness, &c. that is, his bounty to the poor, precedent. So Prov. xi. 18, where he that soweth righteousness appears to signify the merciful, who soweth, i. e. scattereth, ver. 24, and disperseth abroad his alms, and, as the sower, receives this back again with the greatest usury, τῇ δψει σκορπίζει, τῇ δὲ ἀληθεία συνάγει, saith St. Chrysostom, “he seems to scatter, but really he gathers together,” ὥσπερ ὁ σπείρων τῇ γῇ δανείζει, “as the sower lends his seed to the earth upon interest,” and accordingly there it follows, to him shall be a sure reward. So Isaiah lviii. 7, 8, and Matt. vi. 1, where we now read ἐλημοσύνην, it is apparent, (by the Vulgar reading justitiam,) that δικαιοσύνην was an ancient reading, and that for alms in that place. Thus even in heathen authors. As when Jarchas, the Indian and chief of the Brahmans, in Philostratus, doth scoff at Apollonius Tyanæus and the Grecians, that they apply the word δικαιοσύνη, righteousness, to any who do not wrong others, when, saith he, among the chief offices of righteousness, and importances of that word, χρηστότης and ἀγαθότης, goodness and bounty, are to be reckoned, and φιλανθρωπία, humanity. Proportionably to these acceptions of the word, the righteousness of Joseph here shall signify, not legal justice, but peculiarly goodness and clemency, of which this was an eminent expression in Joseph which here follows.

[h] The Greek παραδειγματίζειν signifies literally, to defame or disgrace, to publicate or shew openly, as an example or spectacle, and by consequence (in Polybius and other good authors) to inflict the punishment of death on any, because those that are so punished do, as Christ saith, John xii. 32, (though accommodating it to a diviner sense,) draw all men unto them, i. e. attract the eyes of all spectators to behold them, by which phrase he there notes that he was to die a condemned person, according to that of Isaiah liii. 8, (see note [h] Acts viii.); according to this double notion of the word we find the process, Deut. xxii. against a damsel taken to wife, and suspected by him to be defloured before his coming in to her. For in this case he is first said to give occasions of speech against her, and to bring an evil name upon her, i. e. to accuse and publicate her, to make a public business of it,

a Akiba, c. 4. b De Vit. Apoll. l. 3. c. 7.

[i] ἀπολύσαι, to put away, here must be taken not as an act of divorce, but so as without taking notice of the betrothing, which being ordinarily performed at home, might be kept from public knowledge; and so her being with child needed not bring the punishment of one found by the husband to be no maid (Deut. xxii. 21.) upon her, but only that which belonged to the unmarried.

Matthew 1:22

(And hereby that prophecy, Isa. vii. 14, had a notable completion, when the prophet said to Ahas, Behold— N 2

[k] It must be here noted once for all, that the particle ἵνα, that, doth frequently denote the consequent, or event only, and not the end. This is a difference of some weight, and very often worthy and necessary to be observed. For example, Rom. v. 20, The law came in betwixt, (i. e. between Adam and Christ,) ἵνα πλεοπάσῃ τὸ παράπτωμα, that sin might increase, not that that was the end for which the law was designed to be given, but because this was the consequent or event of giving the law, that men’s offences, being now committed against a promulgate law, received aggravation thereby. To the same sense is εἰς τὸ εἶναι to be taken in many places, as Rom. i. 20, the invisible power and Godhead is discerned, εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτοὺς ἀναπολογήτους, not that they may be, as if that were the designed end, but so that they are (by way of effect or consequent) become without excuse. And so here in this place, if it denoted the end, then the sense of it would be, that all these actions of God, and dispositions of infinite mercy in the birth of Christ, &c. were all designed by God to this end, that what was by one of his prophets foretold might be fulfilled; whereas, indeed, the great end designed by God in these actions was the benefit and salvation of mankind; and so this is the principal effect wrought by it. But because by the way a prophecy was fulfilled, which being delivered upon another occasion, had yet covertly foretold this glorious work of mercy, therefore it is also consequent to this (though not the aim and design, unless very remote and secondary) that this prophecy was fulfilled; and this is all that is meant by the phrase, Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken &c. i. e. By the doing of all this (not yet to recite those grand signs and many gracious effects of it, after to be declared) it fell out, that an ancient prophecy was eminently fulfilled; and this indeed in a high improved sense, over and above that other vulgar sense, which belonged to those words, when they were delivered to Ahaz by God, and wherein they had then been performed to him, (viz. as a sign, that within the space of time, wherein a virgin might marry and conceive and bring forth, and the child come to the age of distinguishing good and evil, Isaiah vii. 14—16, that is, within very few years, Rezin and Pekah, his two great enemies, should be brought low.) This observation of the importance of ἵνα will often be made use of in the ensuing paraphrase, without further troubling the reader with the account of the reason of it, having here once done it. This the gram-