Hi, I'm Glenn Russell your host.
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Welcome to our
'Books of the Book' series.
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This one is the
special exploration
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of the Gospel of Matthew.
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It's a
wonderful thing to be able
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to spend time
digging into God's word
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Thats what we are
doing in this series.
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We are exploring
the Book of Matthew
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with our guest
teacher Dr. Ranko Stefanovic.
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As we explore that
word, we're gonna find out
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that the more we learn
about how it's written,
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who its written to,
the more we can appreciate
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God's wonderful
blessings here, in His word.
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So let's enter into prayer,
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as we ask God to
guide us in our study
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and discussion of His word.
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Let's pray together Lord,
before we turn into your word,
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we ask you to--we can
turn our hearts to you.
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May we set aside
other preoccupations,
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may we set
aside any distractions
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and may we just
listen to Your voice
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speaking to us
through Your word.
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In Jesus name we
pray, amen. Amen.
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Wanna welcome back
Dr. Ranko Stefanovic.
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Ranko, dear friend and colleague
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at Andrew's University,
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you are professor
of the New Testament.
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You served as a pastor,
you're now seminary professor.
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What is that about the scripture
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that just draws your heart
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and especially
this Book of Matthew?
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The Bible affects human lives.
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You cannot read it
and stay indifferent.
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It changed your life? It
changed my life completely.
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And it continues to
change and impact it.
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Now we are looking at the Gospel
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according to Matthew.
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Last time we had
little bit of an introduction,
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we saw that Matthew inspired
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by the Holy
Spirit is writing to,
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probably a
predominantly Jewish audience,
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although it's a timeless book.
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It's appealed to every
generation even does today.
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And He's wanting
to tell us something
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about the kingdom of God,
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the kingdom of Heaven rather
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and a focus on Jesus as
our Lord and Savior and King.
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We looked at the fact
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that there's five
blocks of material.
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That they kinda remind
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the Jewish reader
of the Pentateuch.
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Now, when we open the
book we begin reading,
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I want to just read the first
part of the beginning. Please.
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And see if you
have reaction here,
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the first verse we
all get into Matthew 1:1.
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"The book of
genealogy of Jesus Christ,
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the son of David,
the son of Abraham".
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Now we're all with
you till that part,
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but then verse 2
"Abraham begat Isaac,
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Isaac begat
Jacob, Jacob begat Judah
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and his brothers,
Judah begat Phares
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and Zara by Tamar, Phares begat"
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right about now,
people falling asleep.
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What a strange way for us,
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to think a beginning
a book by a genealogy.
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What's so
important about genealogy?
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Okay, I have to admit
when I was a young person,
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by the age 12, I have read
my Bible three times through,
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but I must admit there
are some portions of the Bible
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that I came to
read I simply skip it,
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and this was one of those
sections the first 17 verses
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I would simply skip
and keep on reading.
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But let me tell you something,
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when you write a book
like the Gospel of Matthew,
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you put the most important
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and the most significant
things at the very beginning.
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Okay, but for us genealogies
aren't very important.
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I know it. See,
among the Jewish people,
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genealogy was very important.
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You know genealogies were
done and kept with priest,
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so people knew where
they belonged especially
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if the person was fit
for the priestly ministry.
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And there are some
parts of the world today
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where genealogy is
very much-- much important
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so that you can trace your
origin where you belong to.
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Infact Josephus
begins his autobiography
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with the genealogy
to prove your purity,
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your
credibility, your credential.
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If my great
grandfather was a significant
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rich person known in the world,
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I would be so eager
to trace my genealogy
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to remind people
who actually I am
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and where I came from.
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However, genealogy
in the Gospel of Matthew
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is not the real genealogy.
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You suggesting
there's gonna be some
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fascinating
things in this Genealogy.
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First how does genealogy begin?
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This is the Book of
genealogy of Jesus Christ,
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the son of David, and then
you have the son of Abraham.
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First David is not
the son of Abraham,
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the generation
generations between the two.
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Why the son of David,
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because in the
Gospel of Matthew,
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Jesus is the king,
who came to the earth
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and it refers to that
promise given to David
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that God will have his offspring
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who will sit on the throne
of David and rule forever.
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But the son of Abraham
refers to the covenant promise
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that God made to
Abraham that through his seed,
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through his
offspring, all the nations
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of the earth will be blessed.
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So the begin of the
genealogy is to tell us
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that actually those
promises made to David
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and to Abraham are
now to come to be true.
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So a Jewish reader, reading
this in the first century
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would be amazed to see the
claim from the first verse.
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Jesus has the right to be a king
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and He's the fulfillment
of the covenant promises,
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the one they will
be looking forward to.
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Let's keep in mind
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to whom the Gospel of
Matthew was originally written.
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When we go to
the Gospel of Luke,
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Luke also has
genealogy in Chapter 3,
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but he does not begin
with David or Abraham.
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Actually he concludes
he got in a reverse order,
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but he concludes with
Adam and the son of God,
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because in the
Gospel, you remember,
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the Gospel of Luke
was written to non Jews
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so he wanted to show that Jesus
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was actually a Savior
of the entire humankind.
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So we have an idea
here that Jesus is the one
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who has the right to
be on the throne. Yes.
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Now Matthew will
spend the rest book showing
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He's the different kind of king
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than they expected. Yes.
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And secondly, He's the
covenant for fulfillment,
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He's the Messiah they
have been longing for,
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we'll see much more of that.
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What else should we notice
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in the way the
genealogy is structured?
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Glenn, this genealogy,
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the primary
reason of this genealogy
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is not really to trace,
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that to least
going up to Abraham.
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How do you know that?
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Because this is not
an ordinary genealogy
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for which reasons, you
know when you have genealogies,
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it's very, very
important that all names
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in the list are included.
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However, when we read
the Gospel of Matthew,
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this genealogy is
there're several names
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that are not mentioned.
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And this is usually
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what the Bible
students want to understand
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and the question is why?
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Why certain names are taken out?
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But there is much more.
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You will notice in this Geneo,
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usually in Jewish genealogy,
men they bear children.
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You see, Abraham.
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You're not
speaking biologically?
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No biologically. In geneology.
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But his because its men
that counts in Genealogy.
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But what here
unusual is, that four women
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actually are mentioned,
and let me give their names,
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in verse 3 its Tamar.
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Yes and Tamar is not usually one
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that we teach our
children much about.
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No, no. Then in
verse 5 it's Ruth,
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Moabite, Tamar was Canaanite,
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Rahab was
Canaanite, in verse 5 as well.
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And then we have something
very unusual in verse 6.
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There is one that is
mentioned not by name,
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as the wife of
the one the she was--
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the woman that was
the wife of Uriah Hittite.
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Doesn't even say Bathsheba.
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The mother of Solomon.
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And usually the Bible students,
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they ask the question why?
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Why such a genealogy is?
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There is
something about these women
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that we can learn.
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Number one, they
are all non Israelites.
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So you are talking
about Gentiles whose--
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were usually outside, you know,
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if you gonna be priest
here to prove your tree
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went all the way back to Aaron
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and now in Jesus genealogy
you have Gentiles, non Jews.
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And there is something
more. How can that be possible?
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All these four
women they had their men
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in their life prior to the
one mentioned in the genealogy.
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You know all those
four women are the wives
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of those mentioned
genealogy are Israelites,
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but all of them they had husband
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or they were involved with a man
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before the one
mentioned in the genealogy.
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Why is that? See this
is not usual genealogy.
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Its purpose is to
tell us the salvation
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is not limited to the Jews.
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It deal with the
universality of salvation
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and actually he's telling us
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also the scope of the salvation.
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Actually Jesus came
to save the sinners.
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So you are saying
in spite of the fact
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that one is a prostitute,
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one is involved with immorality,
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others have other
issues, still God is working.
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Yeah, but there is
much more. All right.
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When we read this genealogy
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and probably for
the sake of time,
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we don't have time to
read all those 17 verses.
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But when you read genealogy
from verse one all up to 17,
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that's not really Genealogy,
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it's the history of
the people of Israel.
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Now, you--are you
taking that from the structure
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that it's the history of Israel?
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No, it's from the
very, very genealogy.
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You know, in Jewish Genealogy
00:10:06.00\00:10:07.37
number one women are not
mentioned, never its man.
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Second one, it's only
this person bore that one
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and he bore another
one, but we have here
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certain events
mentioned in genealogy.
00:10:17.85\00:10:21.15
So the events are mentioned,
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so to show that
actually this genealogy
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is really the
history of God's people
00:10:26.39\00:10:29.22
in the Old
Testament times what makes
00:10:29.26\00:10:31.36
this genealogy
very, very unique.
00:10:31.39\00:10:33.33
So, so Ranko, you suggest
that within this family tree,
00:10:33.36\00:10:36.40
this genealogy, there's
specific time period breaks,
00:10:36.43\00:10:40.80
that are telling us
that through this salvation,
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through this
experience of history
00:10:43.64\00:10:45.31
God is working at salvation.
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He will use all kinds of people.
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They know that you are
still asking a question
00:10:49.91\00:10:52.05
what is then the
purpose of this Genealogy?
00:10:52.08\00:10:54.25
What is the genealogy all about?
00:10:54.28\00:10:56.32
Okay can we talk about that?
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Let's do it. What genealogy is?
00:10:57.89\00:10:59.25
Okay, when we read today
00:10:59.29\00:11:01.52
especially when we
read in English translation
00:11:01.56\00:11:04.09
it doesn't make too much sense.
00:11:04.13\00:11:06.46
I have here in my Bible
the record of the genealogy,
00:11:06.49\00:11:09.93
some other Bibles they
use different expressions.
00:11:09.96\00:11:14.20
New King James Bible says
00:11:14.24\00:11:16.67
'this is the book of genealogy'.
00:11:16.71\00:11:19.41
You see, so many times it
doesn't mean too much to us,
00:11:19.44\00:11:25.65
but for the Christian
who were of Jewish origins,
00:11:25.68\00:11:28.98
who had their Bible
as the Old Testament,
00:11:29.02\00:11:31.99
that expression would bring
to their mind something else.
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So Glenn, I've
would like you to help me.
00:11:35.99\00:11:39.56
We can open the
Book of Genesis 2:4.
00:11:39.59\00:11:43.93
Okay Genesis 2:4. Genesis 2:4.
00:11:43.97\00:11:47.40
Speaking of the wise men coming?
00:11:47.44\00:11:50.01
No, no, the Book of Genesis.
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Genesis 2:4 excuse me,
I'm so much in Matthew.
00:11:51.61\00:11:54.38
Yeah, we have chapter 1
00:11:54.41\00:11:56.71
we have the creation of heaven
00:11:56.75\00:11:58.18
and earth in seven days.
00:11:58.21\00:12:01.35
And now in chapter 2
verse 4 we have the explanation
00:12:01.38\00:12:05.79
in detail of the
creation that God did
00:12:05.82\00:12:08.32
in chapter 1, so let's read.
00:12:08.36\00:12:10.36
"This is the history
of Heaven's and the Earth
00:12:10.39\00:12:12.29
when they were
created and the day
00:12:12.33\00:12:14.23
that the Lord God made
the Earth and the Heaven's."
00:12:14.30\00:12:17.00
I just wanted to tell you,
00:12:17.03\00:12:18.40
we have problem here
with this translation is.
00:12:18.43\00:12:21.00
In Hebrew it says 'this
is the book of genealogy
00:12:21.04\00:12:24.91
of the heaven and the earth'.
00:12:24.94\00:12:26.94
In Hebrew, the
same is inceptal change
00:12:26.98\00:12:30.15
which is actually the Greek
00:12:30.18\00:12:31.55
translation of
the Old Testament.
00:12:31.58\00:12:34.48
Can you also read
chapter 5 verse 1?
00:12:34.52\00:12:36.82
Chapter 5 of
Genesis and verse 1.
00:12:36.85\00:12:41.09
'This is the book
of genealogy of Adam.'
00:12:41.12\00:12:44.56
So if these are
the only two places
00:12:44.59\00:12:47.60
in the Old Testament
when this expression is found
00:12:47.60\00:12:50.90
'This is the Book of Genealogy'
00:12:50.93\00:12:53.30
only two times in
the Old Testament,
00:12:53.34\00:12:55.04
its Genesis 2:4 and Genesis 5:1.
00:12:55.07\00:12:59.04
So tell me when the
first century readers
00:12:59.07\00:13:01.54
of Jewish origin
when they read Matthew 1:1
00:13:01.58\00:13:06.31
This is the book of
genealogy of Jesus Christ,
00:13:06.35\00:13:08.68
what could come to their mind?
00:13:08.72\00:13:10.09
The echoes of those--
00:13:10.12\00:13:11.49
The echoes of Genesis 2:4.
00:13:11.52\00:13:12.89
So now there's a question.
00:13:12.92\00:13:14.46
If Matthew indeed
use this expression
00:13:14.49\00:13:17.93
from the Old
Testament and wanted to use
00:13:17.96\00:13:22.16
to communicate the
message to his readers
00:13:22.20\00:13:24.87
in the language that
echoes the Old Testament,
00:13:24.90\00:13:28.50
then what is the
purpose of all of this?
00:13:28.54\00:13:31.94
What is the message
that the Holy Spirit
00:13:31.97\00:13:34.51
through Matthew
wanted to communicate
00:13:34.54\00:13:37.78
to those Christians who lived
there in the first century?
00:13:37.81\00:13:40.95
You're
suggesting that the message
00:13:40.98\00:13:42.35
is lot more than biology?
00:13:42.38\00:13:43.75
Yes. And we will do
it in just short time.
00:13:43.79\00:13:47.19
So we have been explaining
the genealogy of Jesus.
00:13:47.22\00:13:50.09
There's lots more here
and we are gonna come back
00:13:50.13\00:13:51.79
to that in just a moment.
00:13:51.83\00:13:53.23
After a break here
with Ranko Stefanovic
00:13:53.26\00:13:55.66
in the Book of Matthew.
00:13:55.70\00:13:57.13