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Matthew 1:2
God spoke to Abram in Genesis 17:4 (NKJV) declaring, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.” We might ask, “Why did God choose Abram/Abraham to be the father of the people He would use to show the world that He is the One true God of heaven and earth?” The answer is found in Genesis 15:6 and states, “And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” Abraham believed in God and his heart was right with sincerity to God in being the Almighty Creator.
Abraham’s son Isaac was not his firstborn, as would be the heir in normal genealogy, but was his second-born behind Ishmael – his firstborn son through his wife’s Egyptian maidservant (Genesis 16). But God would make known that His plans for the promise would be through a son born to him by his wife Sarah. As Abraham cries out to God for Ishmael, God’s reply is, “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him” (Genesis 17:19).
Jacob was also not the firstborn of Isaac. We learn in Genesis 25:25-26 that Isaacs’s wife (Rebekah) had twins. The firstborn was named Esau, and the second-born was named Jacob. This too does not follow the traditional ways of the firstborn carrying on the bloodline as Isaac was the second-born of Abraham, and Jacob was the second-born of Isaac. But these two were the ones chosen by God to be the children of the promise that God made to Abraham. The Apostle Paul speaks of this in Romans 9:10-13 as he states, “…but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated” [Malachi 1:2,3].
The Apostle Matthew also teaches us in Matthew 1:2c, “Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Judah was also not the firstborn of Jacob but the fourth-born of the patriarch. The children of Jacob, also known as the names of the twelve tribes of Israel are recorded in Genesis 35:22e-26 along with the names of their mothers, “Now the sons of Jacob were twelve: the sons of Leah were Ruben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun; the sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin; the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant, were Dan and Naphtali; and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maidservant, were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Padan Aram.”
These are the first of the Patriarchs of Israel that are traced in the genealogy of Jesus as referred to throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
These people were not perfect; they were not without sin; they did not follow the traditions of man as would be the normal bloodline of genealogy. I believe that is why God inspired them to be documented in His word – so that we would see that no one is perfect; no one is capable of earning their way into a good standing with God. Even the bloodline of the human ancestors of Jesus does not follow the perfect pedigree that we might want to believe. As we read about these people in the Bible, we see that they had issues to deal with in their lives – just as we do. It was only through believing in God that they were considered righteous, and God blessed them for their faith in Him. God has blessings for you too, but they will only be granted if you will put your faith in Him, sincerely and truly from your heart.
Dear LORD,
You do not work in ways in which we live in this world. We grasp to understand why You do some things and not others. But You teach us to live by faith in You and You will guide us through this world and into Your kingdom of heaven for eternity. You tell us through Your Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 55:8-9,
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Please help us to put and keep our faith in You LORD that You know best – even when we don’t. Please help us to understand that You are teaching us that we are not perfect, but that in Christ Jesus You will forgive us and wrap us in His righteousness forever. In Jesus name I pray, amen.