Detecting Christmas December 2 Devotional

MATTHEW 1:6, 12 | ⁶ and Jesse the father of King David. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah

¹² And after the deportation to Babylon; Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel

These two verses connect. They have a common resonance. The deportation to Babylon and subsequent captivity was a theological crisis for Israel. Deprived of their now occupied capital, without their temple, separated from their land, they wondered how the covenant could continue without these constitutive elements. The exile forced them to meet a God who was active beyond Jerusalem, beyond Israel. The exilic prophets celebrated a God who created the universe and filled it with his glory. They also began to dream of a David-like Messiah who would restore Israel’s fortunes — a root or branch from the stump of Jesse. In Jesus Israel got far more — they got a direct experience of a king who suffers alongside the exploited and vulnerable, offering them a life stronger than death.

Can you see Israel’s history and hopes in this genealogy?

Gracious God,

Thank you for exceeding our expectations and for identifying with the struggling and beleaguered — with all of us in our need. Amen.