The birth narrative of Jesus does not appear in the book of Mark, the first written gospel, and surfaced at first in the book of Matthew. It is speculated whether there was oral tradition regarding Jesus’ birth before the writings of Matthew, however as Matthew has such a specific theme in telling and composing the birth story, it is easiest to understand that in it’s earliest form the story is carefully and intentionally crafted by Matthew.

Matthew’s main theme regarding the birth narrative is the clear emphasis on Jesus as the Messiah being a part of the Davidic bloodline, and also being fully Jewish. His genealogy is separated into three, roughly fourteen generation parts. A theory for this arrangement is that the numerical value of the name David in Hebrew is fourteen. Another potential reason is the flow or the rhythm of the literary structure as crafted by Matthew; there are three parts of generations, and three different dreams given to Joseph.

The first part of the genealogy begins with Abraham and leads to David, claiming strong ties to his role as a Jew (from Abraham,) and as royalty and “messiah,” or “anointed one,” (from David.) The second is David to Jechoniah at the deportation of Babylon. And the third is from the deportation of Babylon to Joseph, the father of Jesus “who is called the Messiah.” (1:16) Matthew’s intention for this genealogy is largely to emphasize the identity of Jesus as a true Israelite, and to show his ties to the important figures of Abraham and David. This is Matthew’s way of stating the divine parentage (or lineage) of Jesus, which often are tied to birth stories in aretalogies. Matthew focuses on these main figures and ideas to support his claims of Jesus, as there was little circulation of information about his lineage.

The book of Matthew has a strong theme of prophecy and fulfillment, especially from Jewish scriptures. Matthew uses scriptures that aren’t necessarily referencing Jesus, and shapes them to the story of the birth of Jesus. His use of Hosea 11:1 “Out of Egypt I have called my son,” originally speaks of the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt. It is purposed by Matthew to be prophetic for Joseph in his dreams to move out of Egypt. He further related the birth story of Jesus to the Moses tradition by referencing Jeremiah 31:15, “Rachel weeping for her children.” Matthew related this verse to the slaughter of the children found in the Moses story, and then ties it to the order of Herod, which put Jesus in the same circumstances as Moses. Matthew uses these Jewish scriptures, as well as other prophecy fulfillments, to further shape the image of Jesus as divine and set apart by God. Through the line of Abraham and David he is seen as royal and a part of God’s chosen people, and through the references to Exodus and the Moses tradition he is seen as a similar savior to God’s people; a figure with divine purpose as seen in his birth story, or the “anticipated prophet like Moses” (White, 248)