Birthings

The opening of Matthew is patterned - and the patterns are pointed out, even though in our usual printing we miss them or in our first reading we are bored by them.

The Old Testament are letters of black fire - and the spaces between them are white fire. The New Testament 'official manuscripts' are in Greek. Many versions of the Hebrew (or English) differ from others. Right away I found one with vavs and one without in this first chapter, or there are English translations with 'begats' (KJV) and without (REB) . There is no manuscript evidence for either because they are translations. These are not letters of fire so I thought it might be fun to read the Hebrew - hah hah. Seeing as how I think there is a change in the works in that first century, I am free to translate or read non-literally. What will become of such an exercise! (Besides having to translate the Hebrew without my usual helps.)

In this chapter - do we know if we are writing 'Scripture'? Did anyone ever know such a thing at the time of writing or redaction? Is such a concept - of conscious autograph - a red herring? (Or an orange one, or green one or purple one.) Or is it the role of a referee - a team devoted to binding arbitration in the dispute between God and the Human? Do note the chiasm in these first verses - and the writer playing with numbers and recalling history.

זֶה סֵפֶר תּוֹלְדֹת הַמָּשִׁיחַ יֵשׁוּעַ בֶּן־דָּוִד בֶּן־אַבְרָהָם
1 אַבְרָהָם הוֹלִיד אֶת־יִצְחָק
2 יִצְחָק הוֹלִיד אֶת־יַעֲקֹב
3 יַעֲקֹב הוֹלִיד אֶת־יְהוּדָה וְאֶת־אֶחָיו
4 יהוּדָה הוֹלִיד אֶת־פֶּרֶץ וְאֶת־זֶרַח מִתָּמָר
5 פֶרֶץ הוֹלִיד אֶת־חֶצְרוֹן
6 חֶצְרוֹן הוֹלִיד אֶת־רָם
7 רָם הוֹלִיד אֶת־עַמִּינָדָב
8 עַמִּינָדָב הוֹלִיד אֶת־נַחְשׁוֹן
9 נַחְשׁוֹן הוֹלִיד אֶת־שַׂלְמוֹן
10 שַׂלְמוֹן הוֹלִיד אֶת־בֹּעַז מֶרָחָב
11 בֹעַז הוֹלִיד אֶת־עוֹבֵד מֵרוּת
12 עוֹבֵד הוֹלִיד אֶת־יִשָׁי
13 יִשַׁי הוֹלִיד אֶת דָּוִד הַמֶּלֶךְ
14-1 דָּוִד הוֹלִיד אֶת שְׁלֹמֹה מִזּוֹ שֶׁהָיְתָה אֵשֶׁת אוּרִיָּה
2 שְׁלֹמֹה הוֹלִיד אֶת רְחַבְעָם
3 רְחַבְעָם הוֹלִיד אֶת אֲבִיָּה
4 וַאֲבִיָּה הוֹלִיד אֶת אָסָא
5 אָסָא הוֹלִיד אֶת יְהוֹשָׁפָט
6 יְהוֹשָׁפָט הוֹלִיד אֶת יוֹרָם
7 וְיוֹרָם הוֹלִיד אֶת עֻזִּיָּהוּ
8 עֻזִּיָּהוּ הוֹלִיד אֶת יוֹתָם
9 יוֹתָם הוֹלִיד אֶת אָחָז
10 וְאָחָז הוֹלִיד אֶת חִזְקִיָּהוּ
11 חִזְקִיָּהוּ הוֹלִיד אֶת מְנַשֶּׁה
12 מְנַשֶּׁה הוֹלִיד אֶת אָמוֹן
13 וְאָמוֹן הוֹלִיד אֶת יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ
14-1 יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ הוֹלִיד אֶת יְכָנְיָהוּ וְאֶת אֶחָיו בִּימֵי גָּלוּת בָּבֶל
2 לְאַחַר שֶׁהֻגְלוּ בָּבֶלָה הוֹלִיד יְכָנְיָהוּ אֶת שְׁאַלְתִּיאֵל
3 וּשְׁאַלְתִּיאֵל הוֹלִיד אֶת זְרֻבָּבֶל
4 זְרֻבָּבֶל הוֹלִיד אֶת אֲבִיהוּד
5 אֲבִיהוּד הוֹלִיד אֶת אֶלְיָקִים
6 וְאֶלְיָקִים הוֹלִיד אֶת עַזּוּר
7 עַזּוּרהוֹלִיד אֶת צָדוֹק
8 צָדוֹק הוֹלִיד אֶת יָכִין
9 וְיָכִין הוֹלִיד אֶת אֱלִיהוּד
10 אֱלִיהוּד הוֹלִיד אֶת אֶלְעָזָר
11 אֶלְעָזָר הוֹלִיד אֶת מַתָּן
12 וּמַתָּן הוֹלִיד אֶת יַעֲקֹב
13 יַעֲקֹב הוֹלִיד אֶת יוֹסֵף בַּעַל מִרְיָם
14 אֲשֶׁר מִמֶּנָּה נוֹלַד יֵשׁוּעַ הַנִּקְרָא מָשִׁיחַ
וּבְכֵן כָּל הַדּוֹרוֹת מֵאַבְרָהָם עַד דָּוִד אַרְבָּעָה־עָשָׂר דּוֹרוֹת
וּמִדָּוִד עַד גָּלוּת בָּבֶל אַרְבָּעָה־עָשָׂר דּוֹרוֹת
וּמִגָּלוּת בָּבֶל עַד הַמָּשִׁיחַ אַרְבָּעָה־עָשָׂר דּוֹרוֹת
כָּךְ הָיְתָה הֻלֶּדֶת יֵשׁוּעַ הַמָּשִׁיחַ

I now better check the Greek to see if the play on generation is there in the first verse. (It is not repeated at the beginning and the end in Hebrew but is effectively in English!) That word is also unique in the Greek of Matthew γένεσις (genesis!)and occurs only in James thereafter.

Mat(1)

Jam(2)

The Greek for דּוֹרוֹת is γενεαὶ - closer to γεννάω of the prior verses than דּוֹרוֹת is to הוֹלִיד.

Generations

This is a learning blog. If I write what I learn, I learn it better.

Today Matthew 1:1 - sepher toledot yeshua hamashiach ben-david, ben-avraham

I didn't know that second word - the generations. I haven't read any place in the poetry I have translated that used this word - from yeled - ילד - to bear, bring forth, etc.

Here it is in Genesis 2:4 אֵלֶּה תֹולְדֹות הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ בְּהִבָּרְאָם
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

So Matthew - right off the bat - raises the generational language of Genesis to the forefront. 'The generations' is used 13 times in Genesis - and you can see that the phrase has no usage in the Psalms or Job or the Song or any other place where I have dipped my foot into the water.

Gen(13)

Exd(3)

Num(13)

Rth(1)

1Ch(9)

Genesis 5:1 is even closer to Matthew 1:1 - comparing Jesus with Adam סֵפֶר תֹּולְדֹת אָדָם
in the day when God created Adam - בְּיֹום בְּרֹא אֱלֹהִים אָדָם

Adam is the collective humanity so Genesis adds the statement about image in this verse. Even without the article, I would be tempted to render this, in the day when God created the human or humanity, but perhaps it reminds us with more ambiguity of the singular anarthrous adam in Genesis 1.26 - let us create a human in our image. Then - the creation is not complete until the one spoken of in Matthew arrives in the fullness of time.

Generations could be rendered birthings - for so they go on as is easily seen in the Hebrew New Testament (see next post for the full pattern).

אַבְרָהָם הוֹלִיד אֶת־יִצְחָק
וְיִצְחָק הוֹלִיד אֶת־יַעֲקֹב
וְיַעֲקֹב הוֹלִיד אֶת־יְהוּדָה וְאֶת־אֶחָיו

The word for generation in the psalms is dor - used 37 times - e.g. Psalm 24:6 - where one could imagine the interpretation that Jesus, the righteous one, having received the blessing (verse 5) causes the generation following him (us) to seek to find the face of Jacob.

זֶה דֹּור דרשֶׂו מְבַקְשֵׁי פָנֶיךָ יַעֲקֹב
This is the generation seeking him, desiring your face, Jacob.

There's much more to come on Matthew - I am going to post on one blog only from now on. (I still hope to continue with Ruth - we will of course come to her in Matthew - when the Moabite is included in Israel.) Mark Goodacre has a good intro to the genealogy here.

A New Blog Subject

I have decided to move a little back into the New Testament but will not start or continue a new blog - just add the subject of Matthew to this blog - eventually... I hope to concentrate on the poetic sections of Matthew and compare them with the Hebrew poetry I have learned about these last three years.