Incarnation | Knowable Word

Filios Sazeides (2018), public domain

Christmas is coming, and during this season many preachers rightly turn to Luke 2 and the first two chapters of Matthew for their sermons. This is fitting, as the Incarnation is a cataclysmic, earth-rattling truth to be studied and declared through all the earth.

And yet, because we hear and read this story every year, it can become familiar. Our eyes can glaze over despite the glory before us.

Let’s get back to the story in the Bible. We’ll look closely at Matthew 1:18–25. We’ll practice observation, the first step in the OIA (observation, interpretation, application) Bible study process.

Getting Ready

If you haven’t studied the Bible before, don’t worry—this ride is open to everyone. No advanced degrees or long resumes required.

For the sake of space, this post will only be concerned with observation. This is the essential first step in Bible study, like gathering wood for a fire. But it is also incomplete. In the same way that a pile of logs won’t keep you warm, the purpose of observation is to lead to interpretation and application. What you’ll find below is a good start but a terrible end.

If you haven’t already, check out all of our posts on the OIA method of Bible study, but especially these two (and the links contained therein) on observation.

The Christmas Story in Matthew

If you’d like to observe this passage on your own, here’s a printable version of Matthew 1:18–25 to use.

Observations 1–3

The first one is easy. The genre of this passage is narrative. Matthew couldn’t make this more clear (Matthew 1:18).

Let’s make some observations about context. Matthew begins his Gospel with “the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). He traces the lineage from Abraham to David, from David to the deportation to Babylon, and from Babylon to “Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ” (Matthew 1:16).

So, when Matthew refers to “Jesus Christ” (Matthew 1:18), there is a relevant context—the preceding genealogy! Additionally, when Joseph is called “son of David” by the angel (Matthew 1:20), that is a reference to earlier in the chapter as well as portions of the Old Testament.

Observations 4–13

Repeated words are some of the most helpful things to notice. I used e-Sword to find this list of the ten most common words in this passage: his (6 times), he (5), her (5), from (4), Joseph (4), son (4), Jesus (3), Lord (3), name (3), and she (3). Interestingly, “his” refers to Joseph only once and to Jesus five times, while “he” refers to Joseph four times and Jesus only once.

Observations 14–22

As I look at verses 18 and 19, I notice the following.

Matthew refers to “his mother Mary,” a reference back to verse 16.
The verbs used for Mary in verse 18 are passive: “had been betrothed,” “was found to be with child.”
The verbs used for Joseph in verse 19 are active: “being,” “resolved.”
Matthew emphasizes that Mary was found pregnant before she and Joseph “came together.”
Mary “was found to be with child” — yes, that sort of thing becomes obvious after a while in a pregnancy!
Mary was found to be with child “from the Holy Spirit.” Perhaps that refers to what is written in the subsequent verses.
Several words are used to describe Mary and Joseph’s relationship: “betrothed” (18), “husband” (19), and they would need a “divorce” (19) if their relationship were ended. But the angel tells Joseph to “take” Mary as his wife (20), which he does (24).
Joseph’s character is specifically commended in verse 19: “being a just man,” “unwilling to put her to shame.”
The mood of verse 19 is matter-of-fact, this divorce was going to happen.

Observations 23–33

Now we move on to verses 20 and 21.

There is a massive change in the story with the transition word “but” at the beginning of Matthew 1:20. The angel’s appearance to Joseph in the dream turned the plot.
The angel addresses Joseph as “son of David” (20).
A Bible character receiving instruction from God in a dream reminds me of several characters in the Old Testament, including Jacob and Joseph.
The angel gives Joseph two commands in the dream: “do not fear to take Mary as your wife” (20), and “you shall call his name Jesus” (21).
Since the angel tells Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, he must have been afraid to take her as his wife. His consideration of divorce must not have been only for the sake of propriety.
The angel gives Joseph a reason not to be afraid: “for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit” (20).
The angel gives Joseph a reason to call the child’s name Jesus: “for he will save his people from their sins” (21).
The angel does not tell Joseph how this saving from sin will occur.
The angel refers to “his people” in the context of who Jesus will save. This raises a question about who those people are.
The word from the angel must have provided Joseph with both comfort and a lot of questions.
Joseph does not speak to the angel or give any response within the dream.

Observations 34–44

Now, to the next two verses (22 and 23).

Matthew wanted his audience to understand the prophetic fulfillment of Jesus’s conception and birth (verse 22).
God governed the world so that his prophet’s words would be fulfilled. Matthew writes that “all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken” (22).
God spoke by the prophet Isaiah.
The quote from Isaiah begins with “behold,” the same word we also find in verse 20.
The quote comes from Isaiah 7:14.
The context of the quote in Isaiah (chapters 7 and 8) is quite political. Also, the name “Immanuel” shows up two other times.
In the quote, the virgin will conceive and the virgin will bear a son. There may be a connection between this, what we read in verse 18 (before they came together), and what is in verse 25 (Joseph “knew her not until she had given birth”).
The angel said that Joseph will call his son’s name Jesus (21), but in the quote it says “they” will call his name Immanuel.
The names Immanuel and Jesus are not the same. Yet Matthew says that what happens here fulfills the prophecy. (I’ve written about this elsewhere.)
Matthew interprets the name “Immanuel” for his readers.
The Isaiah passage was not spoken to Joseph, it was only included by Matthew for his readers.

Observations 45–48

Here are my observations from the final two verses of this passage (24 and 25).

Joseph obeyed the angel of the Lord (verse 24), which is consistent with what we know of his character (verse 19).
Matthew records three responses of Joseph (verses 24–25). The first (“took his wife”) and third (“called his name Jesus”) correspond explicitly to the commands of the angel (see verses 20 and 21).
The middle action (not knowing Mary until she gave birth) does not correspond to a command of the angel. But it may be relevant to explore connections here (see above).
There are three mentions of naming in this passage: verse 21 (Jesus), verse 23 (Immanuel), and verse 25 (Jesus).

Observations 49 and 50

Here are two final observations on this passage as a whole.

Joseph is the main character of this passage.
This is a clear unit of text. There is an introduction at the beginning (verse 18) and a concluding sentence at the end (verse 25). The next verse (Matthew 2:1) begins a new section of the narrative.

What Comes Next

Don’t stop here. Add your own observations to mine and continue on with interpretation. There is a lot of gold to mine in this passage.

God delivers Moses through a watery judgment to preserve him as a deliverer for his people. But those people reject God’s deliverance through Moses’ hand. Forty years later, God appears to Moses in a bush the burns yet is not consumed. And though he once again calls Moses to a compassionate deliverance of the afflicted people of God, Moses is understandably reluctant to commit. He’s willing to try (or at least not risk God’s further anger – Ex 4:14) and see if it just might work.

Observation of Exodus 4:18-31

Significant repeated words in ESV: Moses (12 times), him (9x), go, LORD/Yahweh (8x), he, said (7x), all (6x), back, Egypt, let, people, son (5x).

This list effectively comprises a good summary of observations: Moses and Yahweh go back to Egypt to let all the people/sons of Israel go.

Names/Titles:

Moses, Yahweh, and Pharaoh are all named multiple times.
Zipporah shows up again, with a feat of courageous valor.
Zipporah’s son is not named (unlike Ex 2:22). He’s just “her son.”
Aaron comes on-stage for the first time.

Structure: This passage takes the form of 4 short scenes marked by the changes in setting and characters:

Paragraph 1 (Ex 4:18-20): Moses request Jethro’s permission to leave. God repeats the mission, and Moses departs with staff in hand.
Paragraph 2 (Ex 4:21-23): Yahweh tells Moses what to expect: Do all the miracles, but I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and threaten his son.
Paragraph 3 (Ex 4:24-26): By means of a sudden, bloody circumcision, Zipporah delivers him when God seeks to put him to death.
Paragraph 4 (Ex 4:27-31): Aaron and Moses meet, gather Israel’s elders, speak God’s words, and perform God’s signs. The people believe and worship.

Interpretation of Exodus 4:18-31

Some of my questions:

Why are the first 3 paragraphs here? The story would have made plenty of sense if Ex 4:17 was immediately followed by Ex 4:27-31. And it would have saved us many questions…
Why does Moses say he wants to see if his brothers are alive (Ex 4:18)? Doesn’t he yet understand his mission to rescue them?
What kind of God would harden someone’s heart (Ex 4:21)? Why would God make this deliverance any more difficult than it needs to be?
What on earth is happening at the lodging place (Ex 4:24-26)? Why would God seek to kill Moses when he went through all the trouble of calling him as the deliverer?

Bob Kelly (2015), Creative Commons

Answers (numbers correspond to the preceding questions):

The terminology of this section has much overlap with Genesis 46, where Jacob and his family move to Egypt: go back to Egypt, see if my brother(s) is/are still alive, took wife and sons, describe what they rode on, preparing to meet Pharaoh, encounter with Yahweh at a lodging place along the way, repetition of “people” and “son,” brother coming the other way from Egypt to meet him, happy reunion. Really, you should read Genesis 46:1-34 back-to-back with Exodus 4:18-31. You can’t miss all the similarities.
This question cements the connection to Israel’s descent into Egypt in Genesis 46 (see especially Gen 45:28, 46:30). I think there is much reason to believe the narrator wants us to see the parallels, and think of Moses’ descent into Egypt as parallel to Israel’s descent to Egypt. We’ve already seen that Moses has begun to experience what Israel will later experience (Ex 3:12). If he is to qualify as their mediator, he should understand what it’s like to be them, right? What better way to do that than to have Moses relive Israel’s experience?
Unfortunately, I don’t think this text answers this question. We’ll have to hang on to it for another day. At this point, it seems all we need to know is that he is, in fact, this kind of God. And that he has some reason for increasing the difficulty level of this challenge.
There is much mystery here. Some translations fill in names where there are none in the Hebrew. Yahweh met “him” and sought to put “him” to death (Ex 4:24). Zipporah cut off her son’s foreskin and touched “his” feet with it (Ex 4:25). So “he” let “him” alone. Many things are unclear, but a few are clear: At a place of lodging, God draws near to put someone to death. It has something to do with the son. The thing that causes God to let him alone is the flinging of blood (blood is even repeated two times). Do you get it? This sounds a lot like Passover, yet to come in chapters 11-13! Moses experiences his own Passover-type event as part of his preparation to be a mediator for the people. It’s easy for us to forget how tense and terrifying that first Passover night must have been for the people of Israel. But Moses had already been through it. He could relate to them, and he could help them through it. It takes a gruesome display of blood to rescue God’s sons and make them his true sons.

Train of thought:

Moses leaves the mountain and descends into Egypt, just as Israel did 400 years earlier.
God will defend his son, even if he has to harden Pharaoh’s heart and kill his son.
Moses must experience the worst of what Israel will soon likewise experience.
With Moses now able to both represent God and understand what his people are going through, all are ready for the great deliverance.

Main Point: One qualified to serve as God’s faithful and merciful mediator must be made like his brothers in every way. Because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Connection to Christ: You’ll see I’ve already drawn heavily on Hebrews 2:17-18:

Therefore [Jesus] had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

It’s no coincidence that the very next verses contrast Jesus, the faithful Son, with Moses, the faithful servant (Heb 3:1-6).

My Application of Exodus 4:18-31

Outward, Hands application: When I want to influence others toward Christ, words are not enough. Of course, I must speak God’s words; I cannot make excuses to do away with that step. But I must also enter in. I must experience what they experience, suffer what they suffer, weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice. My evangelism should be not as focused on packaging the message just right, as it should be focused on crafting the message to connect with the real-world hopes, dreams, fears, and histories of the people God has called me to serve.

Click here to see what I’m doing with this sample Bible study and why I’m doing it.