Chapter One

Genealogy

Why did not the Evangelist say, like the prophets, "vision," or "word"? For they wrote their books in this way: "The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw" (Isaiah 1:1), and also "the word that was in the vision to Isaiah" (Isaiah 2:1). Do you want to know why? For the prophets conversed with the hard-hearted and disobedient, and therefore said, "The divine vision and the word of the Lord." Thus they spoke, that the people might be afraid, and that they might not despise what they said. And Matthew dealt with the faithful, the well-meaning, the obedient, and therefore he did not say anything beforehand like the prophets. I can say something and another: what the prophets saw, they saw with their minds, contemplating with the help of the Holy Spirit, and therefore they called it "vision." But Matthew did not see and contemplate Christ intellectually, but was sensually with Him and sensually listened to Him when He was in the flesh, so he did not say, "The vision that I saw, or contemplation," but said, "Genealogy."

Jesus

The name Jesus is not Greek, but Hebrew, and means "Saviour," for it means "salvation" in the Hebrews.

Christ

Kings and high priests were called Christs, because they were anointed with holy oil, which was poured from a horn on their heads. The Lord is called Christ both as King, because He reigned for the destruction of sin, and as High Priest, because He offered Himself as a sacrifice for us. And He was anointed with true oil, the Holy Spirit, chiefly, for who else had the Spirit as the Lord? In the saints the grace of the Holy Spirit worked miracles, but in Christ it was not the grace of the Holy Spirit that worked, but Christ Himself worked miracles with the Father and the Spirit of One Essence.

Son of David

The Evangelist added the word "Son of David" to the word "Jesus" so that you would not think that he was talking about another Jesus. For there was another famous Jesus, the leader of Israel after Moses, but this one was called the son of Nun, and not the son of David, lived many centuries before David, and did not come from the tribe of Judah, from which David came, but from another.

Son of Abraham

Why did the Evangelist put David before Abraham? Because David was especially famous among the Jews, and he lived later than Abraham, and was a king. For of the kings he was the first to please God, and the first of them to receive the promise that Christ would arise from his seed, wherefore all called Christ the Son of David. David also bore within himself the image of Christ, for just as this one reigned in the place of Saul, who was rejected and hated by God, so Christ came from the Father in the flesh and reigned over us, when Adam lost the kingdom and the power given to him over all living things and over the demons.

Abraham begat Isaac.

The genealogy begins with Abraham, since he was the father of the Jews and was the first to receive the promise that "in his seed all tongues shall be blessed." Thus, from him begins the genealogy of Christ. Christ is the seed of Abraham, in whom all of us, who were formerly Gentiles, received a blessing and under an oath. Abraham means the father of tongues, and Isaac means joy, laughter. The Evangelist does not mention the pre-born children of Abraham, that is, Ishmael and others, because the Jews did not descend from them, but from Isaac.

Isaac begat Jacob; And Jacob begat Judah and his brethren.