Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Matthew 1:20-21
The appearance of an angel of the Lord in a dream would have impressed Matthew’s original Jewish readers that this revelation was indeed from God (cf. Genesis 16:7-14; Genesis 22:11-18; Exo_3:2 to Exo_4:16; et al). The writer stressed the divine nature of this intervention four times in the prologue (Matthew 1:20; Matthew 1:24; Matthew 2:13; Matthew 2:19).The angel’s address, "Joseph, son of David" (Matthew 1:20), gave Joseph a clue concerning the significance of the announcement he was about... read more
Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Matthew 1:18-25
B. The King’s birth 1:18-25The first sentence in this pericope (section) serves as a title for the section, as the sentence in Matthew 1:1 did for Matthew 1:1-17. Matthew recorded the supernatural birth of Jesus to demonstrate further His qualification as Israel’s Messiah. He wanted to show that Mary could not have become pregnant by another man. These verses show how Jesus came to be the heir of Joseph and thus qualified to be Israel’s King."Matthew ultimately is arguing that Jesus... read more