Journal: Bulletin for Biblical Research
Volume: BBR 25:2 (NA 2015)
Article: “After The Deportation”: Observations In Matthew’s Apocalyptic Genealogy
Author: Nicholas G. Piotrowski

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BBR 25:2 (2015) p. 189

“After The Deportation”: Observations In Matthew’s Apocalyptic Genealogy

Nicholas G. Piotrowski

Crossroads Bible College

A handful of scholars have recently focused on the importance of “the deportation to Babylon” in Matt 1:11, 12, 17 and the determinative role it plays for understanding the author’s conceptualization of redemptive history. Others, however, demur. This article draws attention to three observations heretofore neglected in the discussion of what “the deportation to Babylon” might mean for appreciating the narrative’s theological setting, as well as interpreting the entire gospel: (1) an “interrupted chiasm”; (2) the precise meaning of μετοικεσία in 1:11, 12, 17; and (3) the enumeration of the generations in 1:17. The aggregate effect is to read Matthew’s genealogy in apocalyptic terms as an attempt to assert Yahweh’s covenantal faithfulness despite the chaos of historical events—namely, the exile that inhibits the path to fulfilling Davidic and therefore also Abrahamic promises.

Key Words: Matthew, genealogy, exile, David, apocalyptic, redemptive history

Matthew tells a story that demands a very high level of intertextual awareness. The author is himself acutely aware of Israel’s history and Scriptures, and calls the reader to a hermeneutical sophistication to match.1 The prologue is particularly swarming with more (oral-scribal) intertextuality than the rest of the narrative. The genealogy is a contracted presentation—and interpretation—of Israel’s long history. In just 17 verses, the author covers the entire stretch of redemptive history from Abraham, through David, and beyond the exile. Of Matthew’s 13 formula-quotations—formally introduced direct quotations from the OT—7 are clustered into the prologue.2 Thus, more than half of the narrator’s interpretive comments are packed into the first one-seventh of the book. Finally, from 3:13 to 4:11 the

BBR 25:2 (2015) p. 190

author very clearly evokes Israel’s identity-forming story of all stories: the exodus. Jesus goes through the waters (cf. Exod 14:21–22), ...

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