Matthew 1 -2
This chapter lays the foundation for Jesus with his genealogy and birth. It’s interesting that although they break down Joseph from David they do not follow Mary’s lineage. Technically from this account Jesus only has “rights” to David’s throne from marriage and not blood. Some argue that the lineage described in Luke 3 is that of Mary and shows her connection to David and therefore holds true to the “bloodline” of Jesus. Either way Jesus is from God and therefore Adam and therefore David by default, so I am not too worried about this detail.
The chapter ends with the conundrum Joseph has to deal with and the visiting of an angel to allow him to relax. Although a very short passage, this has significance since the virgin birth is recorded. Although this book does not give a very detailed account of the birth of Jesus, they do focus on the wise men, who travel to Jerusalem and talk to Herod. Herod becomes enraged at the possibility of prophecy being fulfilled and asks the wise men to return once they find Jesus. They traveled to Bethlehem to find Jesus, gave him gifts and then through a vision were told not to return to Herod, which they obeyed.
Now Herod put an order to kill all the boys younger than two years old to eradicate the possible Messiah. Before this happened Joseph was told in a vision to escape to Egypt, thus fulfilling another prophecy “Out of Egypt I called my son” from Hosea 11. So again Jesus fulfills a prophecy. After Herod’s death, they returned to Nazareth for safety reasons.
And thus Jesus fulfilled many of the prophecies from the Old Testament before his ministry even began. I am sure these were “details” most ignored since they were easily overlooked since the Jewish people were looking for the “big signs” and not necessarily the little ones of lineage, place of birth and where he traveled and lived. As much as people want to reject Jesus as the Messiah, signs like this make it very difficult. Once you get into all the prophecies Jesus fulfilled, it becomes impossible to ignore these facts. I say they are facts since many other religions also document His existence and these fulfilled prophecies, although they do not accept them as fulfilled in Jesus.
I like Matthew’s story of the birth, since it goes into details that the most common account in Luke does not. This story fills in some holes and gives details that help solidify the legitimacy of Jesus as the Messiah. But when you really get to it, no matter how many prophecies are fulfilled in Jesus it is still faith that Jesus is the Messiah. Part of salvation comes in belief that Jesus is who He says He is. If we cannot accept that, then salvation is impossible. So read and think before rejecting this book.