Matthew 1 Study Notes

1:19 Joseph did not want to humiliate Mary publicly because he was a righteous man. His peers most likely expected him to expose her apparent sin, but true righteousness is characterized by compassion and mercy, an important theme for Matthew (5:6-7,21-26,38-48).

1:20 God spoke to Joseph through dreams, just as he did to his OT namesake (Gn 37:1-11). The title son of David reminded Joseph of his royal lineage and prepared him for the announcement of Messiah’s birth. On conceived . . . from the Holy Spirit, see note at v. 18.

1:21 Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua which means “Yahweh saves.” The angel explained that Jesus’s name revealed his purpose: He would rescue sinners from the punishment they deserve. This salvation would be experienced by his people, identified as those who follow Jesus.

1:22 Spoken by the Lord through the prophet implies that God was the ultimate author of the messages spoken and written by the prophets. The grammar that Matthew uses to introduce the quote from Is 7:14 (see Mt 1:23) suggests that the angel quoted this verse to Joseph during his announcement. Some interpreters argue that Matthew mishandled Is 7:14, but he seems to have handled it just as the angel did, which means his usage is backed by angelic authority.

In the Greek OT, magos occurs only in Dn 2:2,10 and describes a group of people possessing knowledge of Babylonian religious and magical arts, whom Nebuchadnezzar summoned to interpret his dream. In Mt 2:1,7,16, magos refers to those who have wisdom through investigation and interpretation of the movements of heavenly bodies (i.e., wise men/astrologers). It is likely (though not certain) these astrologers were from Babylon, since there they would have had contact with Jewish exiles and obtained an interest in the Jewish Messiah. The irony in the passage is difficult to miss: King Herod in Jerusalem attempted to slaughter baby Jesus born in nearby Bethlehem, while pagan devotees of a foreign religion recognized Messiah’s star, traveled a great distance to find him, presented him with valuable gifts, and paid homage to him. Elsewhere in the NT, magos refers to Elymas the sorcerer (Ac 13:6,8).

1:23 The name Immanuel (God with us) implies Jesus’s deity. Mary’s virgin-born Son would be God himself living among his people. The Immanuel of Is 7:14 is to be identified with the person described in Is 9:2-7 and 11:1-9.

1:24-25 These verses emphasize Joseph’s absolute obedience to the angel’s instructions, a prevalent theme in these early chapters (2:13-15,19-21). Joseph is a model of the obedience that should characterize Jesus’s disciples (5:19-20). Did not have sexual relations with her confirms again that Jesus was the product of a virginal conception.