The birth narrative that we find in the book of Matthew is very elaborate and specific, but much of the narrative is unique to only Matthew. One unique detail of Matthew is the genealogy found at the beginning of the birth narrative. This genealogy is unique in that it contains both women and non-Jews, whereas, other biblical genealogies primarily include Jewish males. I observe that there are three functions of this genealogy. The first function is status. This also applies to other genealogies in the Bible. We read each name and find that we have trouble pronouncing half of them, but for people of that time period, these were very well-known names, many of which were very esteemed or had a certain heightened status associated with them. The second function is to link to the past. There are several passages in the old testament that are deemed as prophesies of Jesus’ birth. By giving a family lineage that dates back to the time of these old testament prophesies, Matthew is more effectively able to claim that the old testament contained birth prophesies and he is able to show how they are linked. One such prophesy, the virginal conception, seems to be taken from Isaiah 7:14 to which White states, “It was originally a statement about a contemporaneous event in Isaiah’s own time, probably the birth of the future king Hezekiah himself.” (White, p. 244) The genealogy allows Matthew to link old testament passages to his own writings in a credible way regardless of whether the old testament passages were actually Jesus’ birth prophesies or not. The third function is to link the story of Jesus to the attributes of grace and redemption. In the eyes of Christians, Jesus came to Earth to save his people from their sins and offer the gift of salvation through grace not to the Jews only, but to everyone. The genealogy of Matthew parallels this idea by containing both women, non-Jews, and other people of questionable character. Matthew attempts to show, even through the genealogy, that Christ is for the lost people and the sinners and wants to offer them salvation as well.

The birth narrative outside of the genealogy is also very unique to Matthew in that it has a lot of influence from earlier Jewish texts. Matthew portrays Jesus as a fulfillment of the hope in a savior that the Jewish people so eagerly desired: “O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.” (Psalm 130:7-8) Matthew knew the strong desire that the Jewish people had for a savior and he tried to feed into that desire. The other way that Matthew used the Jewish Scriptures to shape his narrative, was by showing that many Jewish stories were a picture and illustration of Jesus and what was to come. The Exodus story is a great example of this. Matthew is trying to show that in the same way that God delivered his people out of Egypt, Jesus would deliver all people from their sins. The story of David could also be seen as a picture of Jesus. David was of humble beginning as was Jesus, but David served the people as their earthly king, whereas, Jesus served as their spiritual king who came to conquer sin and rule over it.

Matthew’s birth narrative is very unique and can take a long time to unpack. It is helpful to understand the main agenda of Matthew’s writing and find how his story matches up to the other gospels as well as the Jewish scriptures.