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INTRODUCTION

      The Apostle Matthew begins his gospel detailing "A record of the
genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. . . . there
were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David
to the exile in Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ. "

      That Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, the promised Messiah, may be
demonstrated by the increasingly more specific Messianic prophecies given in
the Old Testament.  By comparing these prophecies with Jesus' genealogy in
the New Testament, one can see how true God's Word is.

THE PROTOEVANGELIUM

      No sooner had the fall of man taken place, than God pronounced His
sentence upon the serpent, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and
between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike
his heel. "  Of course, the full meaning of this prophecy would not have been
known until some time later, but it is the "foregleam" of Messianic prophecy.
All other Messianic prophecy is just an expansion of that which is contained
here.  Some see this verse as nothing more than explaining why people hate
snakes , but the verse is clearly Messianic .

      Ankerberg et. al. point out the relevancy of the phrasing of the verse,
like so:

    God suddenly speaks specifically of "one" of Eve's seed, a
    "he," a male descendant.  God announces this One, "He,"
    will someday bruise the head of the serpent (Satan), and
    Satan will bruise his heel.

      And indeed, Jesus claimed to have come to destroy the works of the
devil .  Although His heel was bitten, that is, He suffered and died, He
crushed Satan's head by inflicting "a fatal blow to the devil's domination
over man. "

      Hence, the Messiah's genealogy begins, in that, in some point in time,
He would be born of a woman.  Obviously then, He is a descendant of Adam.

THE TENTS OF SHEM

      As only the families of Noah and his sons escaped death in the great
flood, the lineage of the Messiah who is to be born of a woman must clearly
come through Noah.  From here, however, an interesting prophecy points the
way.  Noah's final words contain a triple prophecy regarding his three sons,
Ham (Canaan), Shem and Japheth.  Ham receives curses due to his earlier
parental disrespect , but the latter two sons receive blessings.
Specifically, Noah said,

    Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem, and Canaan shall be
    a servant to him.  God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall
    lodge in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be a servant
    to him.

      Although this passage may be initially difficult to understand, Briggs
has a lengthy argument proving it to be Messianic, which is summarised by
Smith like so,

    Yahweh, the God of redemption, is the God of Shem (v. 26).
    The implication here is that redemptive blessing and
    salvation would come through the line of Shem.  Noah
    pronounces a curse on Canaan and he blesses Japheth; but
    he blesses the God of Shem.  Salvation ultimately is of
    God alone, and he alone deserves the praise. . . . This
    clause [Let him dwell in the tents of Shem, verse 27] is
    somewhat ambiguous because the antecedent of the pronoun
    is not clear. . . . It is best, however, to regard God as
    the subject of the clause.  This, then, would be a second
    blessing on Shem.  In the previous verse Yahweh is called
    the God of Shem.  It is altogether proper that the God of
    Shem should be depicted dwelling in the tents of Shem. . .
    . the central idea is that of the advent of God.  Here is
    the seed of the doctrine of the incarnation. . . . The
    Shemites were the chosen race through which God would make
    his entrance into the world.

      Hence, the lineage of the Messiah would be through Shem, thus
immediately eliminating two-thirds of the ancient human race.

THE PATRIARCHAL PROMISES

      With a cluster of prophecies during the Patriarchal era, God defined
more clearly the chosen line through which the Messianic blessing would come
into the world .  It would firstly be through Abraham, to whom God said at
various times over a number of years, "In you shall all clans of the earth be
blessed ", "All nations of the earth shall be blessed in him " and "In your
seed all nations of the earth shall regard themselves as blessed. "  It would
then be through Isaac, to whom God said, "In your seed all nations of the
earth shall regard themselves as blessed. "  And it would later be through
Jacob, to whom God said, "In you and in your seed all clans of the earth
shall be blessed. "

      The Apostle Paul explained precisely what this "blessing is", saying,
"The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith [in
Christ], and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: 'All nations will be
blessed through you [Abraham's seed].'  So those who have faith are blessed
along with Abraham, the man of faith. "

      Hence, the lineage of the Messiah was to come through the Patriarchs,
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Already by this point in history, the promised
lineage had become specific.  One man's descendants were selected from all
men on earth; this was then halved when Isaac was selected, and not Ishmael,
and halved again when Jacob was selected, and not Esau.  That these promises
refer to the Messiah is supported by Smith and Ankerberg .

SHILOH THE REST BRINGER

      The final Messianic prophecy in Genesis, and in the Patriarchal period,
occurs within the context of Jacob's final predictions regarding his sons.
At this point, the channel of blessing narrows further to one particular
tribe - the tribe of Judah.  Here Jacob said,

    The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a ruler's
    staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes, and to him
    shall be the submission of peoples.

      History records that the leadership - the "scepter" and "ruler's staff"
- of Judah endured for some time.  The tribe of Judah had a king until 587
B.C. when King Zedekiah was taken by the Babylonians.  In the post-exilic
community, however, from 538 to (at least) 516 B.C., Judah was governed by
Zerubbabel of that tribe.  During the intertestamental period, the entire
land was called Judea after the name of this tribe.  However, when made a
Roman province in 6 A.D., Judah's political power began to come to an end,
and certainly had ended by 70 A.D. with the destruction of Jerusalem and the
Temple by Titus.  The political demise of Judah coincided with the physical
growth of Jesus of Nazareth .

      The term "Shiloh" has been understood in several ways.  Some see it as
a proper name (thus capitalising it).  This name is etymologically related to
the Hebrew root shala which means to be secure, to rest.  Hence, Shiloh would
mean Peaceful One, or Rest Bringer .  Others think "Shiloh" is a corruption,
the original word being shello or sheloh which would properly be translated
"which belongs to him" .  However, the most likely meaning is that this term
is a personal Messianic title.  The Targum Onkelos reads, "until Messiah
come. "

      Critics such as Becker see this passage as merely "fictive prophecies
of the Davidic monarchy " but this does not account for its accuracy, in
terms of Judah's prosperity, and the time limit for it.

      Hence, the lineage of the Messiah began to extend through the tribe of
Judah.

THE THRONE OF DAVID

      Through the time of Moses and the period of the Judges, not much in the
way of Messianic prophecy was given.  However, by the time King David had
been reigning for about eight years, since taking Jerusalem as his capital,
he desired to build a Temple to house the Ark of the Covenant.  Nathan, the
prophet, declared an oracle to him,

    When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your
    fathers, then I will raise up your seed who has gone out
    from your loins after you, and I will establish his
    kingdom.  He shall build a house for my name, and I will
    establish the throne of his kingdom forever.  I will be
    his father and he shall be my son.  When he commits
    iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with
    the stripes of men.  My lovingkindness shall not depart
    from him as I took it from Saul whom I removed before you.
    Your house and your kingdom shall stand before you; your
    throne shall be established forever.

      Clearly this prophecy had an immediate fulfilment in David's son
Solomon, and indeed David did apply it to him ("He said to me: 'Solomon your
son is the one who will build my house. . . . '") .  Solomon also saw it this
way ("The LORD has kept the promise he made. . . . I have built the temple for
the Name of the LORD. . . . ") .  Yet, Smith sees significance in the fact
that Nathan did not specifically refer to Solomon, rather he merely said the
seed of David would build a house .  Smith perceives that this passage is
important in the development of a theme in the Old Testament, concerning the
restoration of God and man having perfect fellowship, as in the Garden of
Eden.  Firstly, God would some day dwell in the tents of Shem.  Later God
would dwell in the Tabernacle in the midst of Israel.  In the days of Solomon
He made the Jerusalem Temple His earthly throneroom.  Although Solomon
thought the Temple was the everlasting abode of God, it was merely a step in
the direction of the incarnation.   Hence, the ultimate fulfilment of this
prophecy is that the Christ would build a house for God, and indeed under the
New Covenant the Church is the Temple of God , whose abode is in the life of
every obedient believer.

      Further, the prophecy declares that the house, throne and kingdom of
David would be established forever.  This indeed means "forever", as
reinforced by Psalm 89, "I will establish his seed forever, and his throne
like the days of heaven. . . . His seed forever shall continue, and his
throne like the sun before me. . . . Like the moon it shall be established
forever."  Yet, no earthly kingdom and no posterity of any single man has a
duration like that of the sun and moon.  "The posterity of David could only
last forever by running out into a person who lives forever.  Consequently,
Nathan's promise refers to the posterity of David, commencing with Solomon
and culminating in Christ. "  This is indeed what was reiterated by the angel
Gabriel when he announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Messiah
- "The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will
reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end. "

      Thus, in this prophecy some remarkable developments are made.  The
sovereign Messiah would be of the seed of King David, and He would rule
forever.  In fact, from this promise given to David through Nathan the
prophet, many other significant Messianic prophecies have been based, such as
those found in Psalms 89 and 132.  Without doubt, it is the basis of all
Davidic Messianic theology.

THE SON OF GOD

      Luke begins his genealogy, stating that Jesus "was the son, so it was
thought, of Joseph. "  It is true that the Messiah was born of a woman, in
the line of Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah and David.  However, He had
another side to Him.  As John informs, "In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . The Word became flesh and
lived for a while among us. "  Not only was the Messiah a man, He was truly
God.  He clothed Himself with humanity  and this is known as His incarnation.

      In discussing the supremacy of Christ over angels, the writer of the
book of Hebrews applies Psalm 2:7, "For to which of the angels did God every
say, 'You are my Son; today I have become your Father'? "  This is a
Messianic Psalm, and gives quite some indication as to the identity of the
Messiah.  Ringgren protests, "But could the crushing of the enemies really
refer to him who said: 'My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were
of this world, then would my servants fight' (John 18:36)? . . . . He is
therefore the king of Israel. "  Bentzen agrees, with the same logic,
"Neither Psalm 2 nor 110 is concerned with Jesus.  The warlike figure,
breaking the heads of his enemies like the gigantic Pharaoh on Egyptian wall-
pictures, has, directly, nothing to do with the crucified Mediator of the New
Testament. "

      Although the objection may sound reasonable, both of these liberal
scholars are mistaken.  Manson explains,

    . . . . the title Son of God clearly represents the higher
    and Christian equivalent of the Jewish term 'Messiah.'
    This appears plainly by the fact that at the supreme
    moments of the Baptism and the Transfiguration the voice
    from heaven, the word of revelation addressed to Jesus or
    to his followers names him not as the 'Christ,' as Peter
    does at his confession (Mk. viii. 29), but as 'My Son, the
    Beloved' (Mk. i. ii, ix. 7).  It is as Son of God
    accordingly that the demons acclaim Jesus (Mk. iii. ii, v.
    7) and that the centurion at the cross acknowledges him
    (Mk. xv. 39).

      Referring to theories by the German demythologiser Rudolph Bultmann and
others that the Hellenistic concept of the "Son of God" was different to that
of the Jewish mind, Manson continues,

    With the Second Psalm before us, it is needless to resort
    to that hypothesis, and in view of certain features in an
    undoubtedly Palestinian tradition of the teaching of Jesus
    it is not only needless but unjustified.

      Smith explains verse nine, the verse problematic to Ringgren and
Bentzen, "You shall break them with an iron rod, like a potter's vessel you
shall smash them" like so:

    For loyal subjects, for timely penitents he wields a
    golden scepter of tender grace, of loving welcome, of full
    and frank forgiveness.  But the work of Christ is both
    constructive and destructive.  The judgmental work of
    Christ in the New Testament is depicted in language just
    as severe as that employed by the prophet David.  In the
    Book of Revelation, John speaks of Christ as the one who
    rules nations with the rod of iron (Rev. 12:5).  This iron
    rod rule is sandwiched between smiting the nations with
    the sword of his mouth and treading the winepress of the
    fierce wrath of God in Revelation 19:15.  In Revelation
    2:26, 27 Christ promises the one who overcomes the world
    that he will power over the nations "and he shall rule
    them with a rod of iron; as vessels of a potter shall they
    be broken to slivers even as I received of my Father."

      With confidence that Psalm two is Messianic, it is possible to observe
another aspect of the Messiah's lineage - his divinity.  Although born of the
virgin Mary, the Messiah was fully God.

CONCLUSION

      The Old Testament is specific in giving the lineage of the Messiah.
Firstly, He would be born of a woman.  Obviously then, He would be descended
from Adam (as is all humanity), and equally obviously, from Noah (as is all
humanity since the flood).  However, prophecies given to men of God have
since illuminated the path of the Messiah's lineage.  He would come from the
line of Shem.  He would be from the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  He
would be of the tribe of Judah.  He would be of the seed of David.  Other
Messianic prophecies actually state the time the Messiah would come , where
He would be born , and that He would be born of a virgin.   If one considers
the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth, it may be seen that He is a descendant of
Adam , Noah , Shem , Abraham , Isaac , Jacob , Judah  and David .  Not
only this, but the Old Testament states that the Messiah would be the Son of
God.  Indeed this may be observed by the special relationship Jesus had with
the Father.  When these facts are reconciled with the many other Messianic
prophecies in the Old Testament, and their fulfilment in the gospels, it is
clear that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the Christ.


SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ankerberg, John, John Weldon and Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. The
     Case for Jesus The Messiah. Melbourne: Pacific College
     Study Series, 1994.

Becker, Joachim. Messianic Expectation in the Old Testament.
     Translated by David Green. Philadelphia: Fortress Press,
     1980.

Bentzen, Aage. King And Messiah. 2d ed. Edited by G.W.
     Anderson. London: Lutterworth Press, 1970.

Bruce, F. F., ed. The Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Vol. 2,
     Messiah, by J. A. Motyer. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press,
     1980.

Edersheim, Alfred. The Life and Times of Jesus The Messiah.
     Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1993.

Manson, William. Jesus The Messiah. London: Hodder and
     Stoughton, 1943.

Mowinckel, Samuel. He That Cometh. Translated by G.W.
     Anderson. New York: Abingdon Press, 1954

Ringgren, Helmer. The Messiah in the Old Testament. London:
     SCM Press Ltd., 1956.

Scholem, Gershom. The Messianic Idea in Judaism. London:
     George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1971.

Smith, James. The Promised Messiah. Nashville: Thomas Nelson,
     1993.


REFERENCES

         Matthew 1:1, 17.
         Genesis 3:15.
         James Smith, The Promised Messiah (Nashville: Thomas Nelson
Publishers, 1993), 39; Samuel Mowinckel, He That Cometh, translated by
G.W. Anderson (New York: Abingdon Press, 1954), 11.
         Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus The Messiah
(Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1993), 981; John Ankerberg, John
Walter and John Kaiser, The Case For Jesus The Messiah (Melbourne: Pacific
College Study Series, 1994), 109; Smith, op. cit., 38.
         Ankerberg et. al., op. cit., 23.
         John 12:31; 16:11; c.f. Hebrews 2:14; I John 3:8.
         Ankerberg et. al., op. cit., 24.
         Smith, op. cit., 44.
         Genesis 9:26-27.
         Smith, op. cit., 45-46.
         Idem, 47.
         Genesis 12:3.
         Genesis 18:18.
         Genesis 22:18.
         Genesis 26:4.
         Genesis 28:14.
         Galatians 3:8.
         Smith, op. cit., 52-54; Ankerberg. et. al., op. cit., 29.
         Smith, op. cit., 55.
         Ibid.
         Idem, 57.
         Idem, 58.
         Joachim Becker, Messianic Expectation in the Old Testament,
translated by David Green (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980), 33.
         II Samuel 7:12-16.
         I Chronicles 28:6-7.
         I Kings 8:18-20.
         Smith, op. cit., 84.
         Ibid.
         I Corinthians 6:19; I Timothy 3:15.
         John 14:23.
         Smith, op. cit., 85.
         Luke 1:32-33.
         Luke 3:23, emphasis added.
         John 1:1, 14.
         Philippians 2:6-8; Romans 8:3.
         Hebrews 1:5.
         Helmer Ringgren, The Messiah in the Old Testament (London: SCM
Press Ltd., 1956), 12.
         Aage Bentzen, King and Messiah, edited by G.W. Anderson, 2d.
ed. (London: Lutterworth Press, 1970), 35.
         William Manson, Jesus the Messiah (London: Hodder & Stoughton,
1943), 104.
         Idem, 105.
         Smith, op. cit., 159-60.
         Daniel 9:24-27.
         Micah 5:2.
         Isaiah 7:14.
         Luke 3:37.
         Luke 3:36.
         Ibid.
         Matthew 1:2; Luke 3:33.
         Ibid.
         Ibid.
         Ibid.
         Matthew 1:6; Luke 3:31.

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