The Serpent and the Seed: Week 3

The Battle for Christmas

Matthew 1

1. 1:3 Satan gets all the sons of Judah killed, but Tamar carries on the line of the Seed. Genesis 38.
2. 1:4 The precise line is not yet identified, so in Egypt Satan attempts partial birth abortion for all Jewish males through Pharoah.
3. 1:5 Rahab was the mother of Boaz, see Joshua 2. Ruth was the mother of Obed, the grandfather of David, an obscure shepherd. See the book of Ruth.
4. 1:6 God openly proclaimed David as the line of the Seed. So Satan begins to attempt to wipe out the line of David.
5. 1:8 In 1 Chronicles 22, Athalia murders all the heirs of David. Did he succeed? Not quite. Joash (Ozias) is hidden.
6. 1:11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah[c] and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. In Jeremiah 22:28-30, Jeconiah, son of Josiah was cursed by God:

   “Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah.”

   When God cursed Jeconiah, Satan thought he had checkmate, for there could be no Seed sitting on the throne of David. Or could there?
7. 1:12 Zerubbabel Leads a wave of Jews returning to Jerusalem during the Persian empire. Lays the foundation of the temple. See the book of Ezra.
8. 1:13 In Esther, Haman once again attempts to kill all Jews.
9. 1:13-16 The 400 silent years. Either these men all had these sons in their 40s (quite possible) or it may be abbreviated.
10. 1:20 Jesus was the Son of God, and the adopted son and legal heir of Joseph, who was in the line of Solomon, son of David. Luke 3:23-38, Mary is in the line of Nathan, son of David. It seems that when Isaiah prophesied "behold a virgin shall conceive", it had a double meaning. Satan loses again. Note that, the ancestors of Zerubbabel in Matthew were all kings, the ancestors of Mary from Nathan to Heli were all obscure.