{"id":10703,"date":"2009-12-23T08:23:38","date_gmt":"2009-12-23T13:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2009\/12\/the-matthean-infancy-narrative\/"},"modified":"2009-12-24T19:10:31","modified_gmt":"2009-12-25T00:10:31","slug":"the-matthean-infancy-narrative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2009\/12\/the-matthean-infancy-narrative\/","title":{"rendered":"The Matthean Infancy Narrative"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>[Christmas realities have hit, making me admit that full length blogs the last two days of Christmas week are just not feasible!  So forgive me as I just post here some &#8220;notes&#8221; on Matt and later Luke, consisting of largely recycled material from my class lectures!]<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Matthew\u2019s is largely from Joseph\u2019s perspective, Luke\u2019s from Mary\u2019s<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> This does not mean, however, that Joseph and Mary were necessarily the sources\u2014rather that the evangelists focused on them and what they represented<\/li>\n<li>For Matt, Joseph&#8217;s proposed status as a Davidid makes Jesus David&#8217;s true heir, although admittedly through &#8220;adoption&#8221; or legal recognition by Joseph, not literal descent<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Matthew does not mention Nazareth until the end of his account, presenting the possibility that Joseph was from Bethlehem and Mary was from Nazareth<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Was it an arranged marriage and Joseph went to Nazareth to retrieve his new bride?<\/li>\n<li> The problem of the \u201ccensus\u201d is will be treated in the next blog on the Lucan infancy narrative<\/li>\n<li>Joseph and Mary had a \u201chouse\u201d in Bethlehem and intended to return to there from Egypt (Matt 2:11, 22)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Structure of Matthew\u2019s Infancy Narrative<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Formula quotations cite Jewish scriptures (usually from the LXX or Greek translation); they give authority to Matthew\u2019s account and demonstrate that Jesus is fulfilling prophecy<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Genealogy (1:1\u201317)<\/li>\n<li>Conception and birth (1:18\u201325)<\/li>\n<li>first formula quotation, 1:23 = Isaiah 7:14 LXX<\/li>\n<li>Visit of the Wise Men (Epiphany; 2:1\u201312)<\/li>\n<li>second formula quotation, 2:6 = Micah 5:2, 2 Samuel 5:2<\/li>\n<li>Escape into Egypt (2:13\u201315)<\/li>\n<li>third formula quotation, 2:15b = Hosea 11:1<\/li>\n<li>Massacre of the Innocents (2:16\u201318)<\/li>\n<li>fourth formula quotation, 2:18 = Jeremiah 31:15<\/li>\n<li>\u201cReturn\u201d to Nazareth (2:19\u201323)<\/li>\n<li>fifth formula quotation, 2:23b = ?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Matthew\u2019s Genealogy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham\u201d (NRSV)<br \/>\nIsraelite kings and priests were anointed (\u201cmessiahs\u201d with a lowercase \u201cm\u201d)<br \/>\nDescending genealogy, list divided into three sets of 14 generations<\/p>\n<p>\u201c . . . So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.\u201d (Matt 1:1\u201317)\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Abraham to David<\/li>\n<li> David to exile<\/li>\n<li> Exile to Christ<\/li>\n<li> Unequal divisions: 750, 400, and 600 years<\/li>\n<li> 14 is the Hebrew numerical equivalent of David\u2019s name<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Matthew was probably selective in choosing who to list\u2014and that is okay!<\/p>\n<p>Presence of four women: Tamar (Gen. 38), Rahab (Josh. 2), Ruth (Ruth 2\u20134), Bathsheba (2 Sam 11\u201312)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> irregular unions and conceptions\u2014precedents for Mary?<\/li>\n<li> actors, not acted upon<\/li>\n<li> \u201csinners\u201d too have a part in Christ<\/li>\n<li> Gentiles have a part in Christ<\/li>\n<li> Women important for God\u2019s plan<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Matthean Themes and Images<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jesus the true king<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Joseph\u2019s legal heir, emphasis on Joseph\u2019s role<\/li>\n<li>Kingship was always traced in the male line; postulated Davidic lineage for Mary (although neither Matt or Luke&#8217;s genealogy suggests it) makes Jesus a literal descendant of David but does not make him a candidate for the throne<\/li>\n<li>Son of David<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Jesus as Immanuel<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cNow all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, \u2018Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.\u2019\u201d (Matt 1:22\u201323 = Isaiah 7:14 LXX)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Jesus the new Moses<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Massacre of the Innocents = Pharaoh\u2019s massacre of Israelite boys<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Joseph in Egypt and Joseph the Carpenter<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>role of revelatory dreams<\/li>\n<li>escape to Egypt<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Misconceptions Quicklist (Matthew)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Supposition: Matthew\u2019s genealogy is that of Joseph, Luke\u2019s of Mary<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Matthews is probably legal descent and is more interested in illustrating theological and historical points<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Supposition: There were three wise men, that they were perhaps kings, and they came to the manger<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Number unknown, they were <em>magi<\/em> or Eastern (probably Persian priests\/astronomers\/wise men, they arrived anytime within the first two years, and they found the family in a house<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Supposition: Herod killed thousands<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Incident did not make Josephus\u2019s record of Herodian atrocities, there would only a few dozen males under two in a town of Bethlehem\u2019s size<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Supposition: Because Joseph brought Mary from Nazereth in Luke, he was from Nazereth, not Bethlehem<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> No ancient examples of going to ancestral homelands to be taxed; one was taxed where he lived and owned property<\/li>\n<li>After Egypt he intended to go back to Bethlehem (perhaps his home town) but found that Archelaus was worse than Herod<\/li>\n<li>\u201cmade his home in a town called Nazareth\u201d (NRSV; probably Mary\u2019s home town)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Christmas realities have hit, making me admit that full length blogs the last two days of Christmas week are just not feasible! So forgive me as I just post here some &#8220;notes&#8221; on Matt and later Luke, consisting of largely recycled material from my class lectures!] Matthew\u2019s is largely from Joseph\u2019s perspective, Luke\u2019s from Mary\u2019s This does not mean, however, that Joseph and Mary were necessarily the sources\u2014rather that the evangelists focused on them and what they represented For Matt, Joseph&#8217;s proposed status as a Davidid makes Jesus David&#8217;s true heir, although admittedly through &#8220;adoption&#8221; or legal recognition by Joseph, not literal descent Matthew does not mention Nazareth until the end of his account, presenting the possibility that Joseph was from Bethlehem and Mary was from Nazareth Was it an arranged marriage and Joseph went to Nazareth to retrieve his new bride? The problem of the \u201ccensus\u201d is will be treated in the next blog on the Lucan infancy narrative Joseph and Mary had a \u201chouse\u201d in Bethlehem and intended to return to there from Egypt (Matt 2:11, 22) Structure of Matthew\u2019s Infancy Narrative Formula quotations cite Jewish scriptures (usually from the LXX or Greek translation); they give authority to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scriptures"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10703"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10711,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10703\/revisions\/10711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}