Bible "MYSTERY"
The word "mystery" (Strong's #3466) occurs twenty-seven (27) times in the New Testament (Gr. 'musterion'), but not at all in the Old Testament.
King David was given his choice of three punishments for his sin of
numbering Israel;
1 Chronicles 21:1-12. It should be remembered how David is number thirty-three in the generations, and how "the foolishness of God is greater than the wisdom of men", 1Cor1:25.
"Either three years famine; or three months to be destroyed by thy foes;
or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence..."
King David seemed to think it was a tough choice: he said "I am in a great
strait", but he (wisely, don't you think?) chose the three days because he
didn't want to fall into the hand of man. 1Chr21:13.
David was living ten centuries before Christ, in 1,000 BC, and maybe
didn't know that a thousand years are as one day with the Lord (Ps90:4,
2Pet3:8), but he probably had heard about previous leaders who had
'numbered Israel', so it isn't clear (a mystery) why it was such a sin.
This story is presented differently in 2Sam24 -- instead of 3 years of
famine, it reads 7 years. "So Gad came to David and told him, and said
unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? Or wilt
thou flee three months before thine enemies while they pursue thee? Or
that there be three days pestilence in thy land?"
The three (3) is replaced with a seven (7) in the 2Sam24 record. It
reminds me of how Jesus spoke of being raised on the third day, and how
WE are now the Body of Christ and when 1,000 yrs = 1 Day then we're
already in the 3rd Day. However, the 3rd day becomes the 7th day when the
count is begun with Adam.
Three of the gospels; Matthew, Luke, and John, all record how Jesus told Simon Peter that he would deny Him three times before the cock crowed. It's the gospel of Mark, 14:30, which throws a monkey wrench into this account by having Jesus say "before the cock crows twice, thou shalt deny me thrice".
My wife told me she was going to scream if she heard any more about that rooster crowing. I went round and round with all four gospels before concluding that Peter had to have denied Jesus three times before the first cockcrow and three more times before the second cockcrow. Six times in all; detailed rather extensively in the four accounts.
The Great Author is thus perceived to have engineered this mystery of
the gospels for the edification of believers. It's part of the banquet table (his Word) He's
prepared for us in the midst of our enemies!
Keeping the name from being eliminated was the apparent reason for a strange law in the Old Testament.
"If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto herThe 'case study' for this law is found in Genesis 38 where Tamar was married in turn to two of Judah's sons; Er, and then his brother Onan, who both died childless. Judah promised his third son, Shelah to the widow Tamar, and his seeming procrastination was why she "played the harlot" with Judah himself. When his own culpability was discovered, he allowed as how Tamar had been more righteous than himself. We may have wondered how Noah knew to differentiate between the clean and unclean animals, because the Bible doesn't spell that out until Leviticus 11, and somehow Judah knew in advance about this law of the brother's wife and naming that offspring accordingly,.because he did exactly that. Seems the widow (the brother, too) had no choice in the matter but had to accept the marriage even if they didn't cotton to one another.. The Sadducee's posed a hypothetical question to Jesus based on this account; wondering whose wife she would be in heaven, Mt22:28, and he told them they didn't know what they were talking about. Ruth was a widow after her husband Mahlon died, Ru4:10, and knew about raising up the name, but after marrying Boaz they named their firstborn 'Obed' instead of the name of Ruth's dead husband. Did they deliberately violate the law by giving baby Obed a new name? (One that had never been used before.) CONSIDER how "God is a husband", Isa54:5 and Jer3:14, married to the Hebrews (the chosen people, like Rachel was to Jacob) and how the death on the Cross has freed that 'wife' to enter into the New Covenant with the Resurrected Jesus. CONSIDER how the Law was UNSUCCESSFUL (not being mixed with faith, Heb4:2), but now with the New Name of Jesus, the Gentiles are being 'fruitful' (as Leah was -- she was the wife who had six sons and one daughter.) The OT mentions surnames in Isa45:4, and several persons in the NT are given surnames, but the modern practice of the wife taking the surname of the husband is not found in scripture, so the reality of how it's the SONS (not the daughters) who carry on the Family-Name, may escape our notice. The New-name theme is found in both Old and New Testaments: Abram became Abraham, Sarai became Sarah (adding the 'h', maybe like in Jesus h. Christ), Jacob became Israel, Simon became Peter, Saul became Paul, etc. So, what's in a name? Are they important, or are they only valid for identification purposes?And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel". Deut25:5,6.
The genealogy of Jesus Christ is recorded in Matthew Chapter One and refers to Jesus as "the son of Abraham, the son of David".
The reader of the Old Testament knows about Ishmael and Isaac being the first two sons of Abraham, and how King David had many sons, and reasons that Jesus was only a "son" in the sense of being a great, great, great, great, etc. GRANDSON. That is, descended from that bloodline via his mother, the virgin Mary. His father, of course, was the Heavenly Father.
Surnames aren't used in the Old Testament, although Isaiah speaks of them. Instead, it's the name of their father which identifies them, and especially when two or more share the same name. It may be worth note how the Book of Jude departs from this custom when it identifies Enoch as the seventh from Adam, rather than 'son of Jared'.A puzzling chapter indeed, is Matthew chapter one. All the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen (father to son, and father to son, etc.), and the generations from David to the carrying away to Babylon are fourteen, and from the carrying away until Jesus are fourteen. Three periods of fourteen according to Matt1:17, but the astute reader soon discovers five Old Testament names are unexpectedly missing from the second column, and the third column appears to be short one generation.
Some names are spelled differently, probably because of the change
in language from Hebrew to Greek. Hezekiah for instance (a famous king)
is spelled Ezekias, and Jechonias was better known in the Old Testament
as Coniah or Jehoiachin.
All the generations from Adam to David are thirty-three (33), and all the generations from David to Jesus are 33. [Compare the analogous logic with Matthew 1:17].
Genesis 5 and 11, 1Chr1-3:17 .................> Three Periods of 14 Generations
| 1. Adam | 20. Abraham | 34. Solomon | 53. Salathiel |
| 2. Seth | 21. Isaac | 35. Rehoboam | 54. Zerubbabel |
| 3. Enos | 22. Jacob I | 36. Abijam | 55. Abiud |
| 4. Cainan | 23. Judah | 37. Asa | 56. Eliakim |
| 5. Mahalaleel | 24. Pharez | 38. Jehoshaphat | 57. Azor |
| 6. Jared | 25. Esrom | 39. Jehoram | 58. Sadoc |
| 7. Enoch II | 26. Aram | 40. * Ahaziah | 59. Achim |
| 8. Methuselah | 27. Aminidab | 41. * Joash | 60. Eliud |
| 9. Lamech II | 28. Naason | 42. * Amaziah | 61. Eleazar |
| 10. NOAH | 29. Salmon(Rahab) | 43. Uzziah | 62. Matthan |
| 11. Shem | 30. Boaz (Ruth) | 44. Jotham | 63. Jacob II |
| 12. Arphaxad | 31. Obed | 45. Ahaz | 64. Joseph (father) |
| 13. Salah/Shelah | 32. Jesse | 46. Hezekiah | 65. Mary |
| 14. Eber | 33. DAVID | 47. Manasses | 66. JESUS |
| 15. Peleg | 48. Amon | ||
| 16. Reu | 49. Josiah | ||
| 17. Serug | 50. * Jehoiakim | ||
| 18. Nahor | 51. Jechonias | ||
| 19. Terah | 52. * Assir |
Notice first that there are thirty-three (33) generations leading to David, and then thirty-three (33) leading to Jesus. Then note that all of the sixty-six names (except for Jacob) are unique and different. The name Jacob means "supplanter", to take the place of...Gen27:36. The generations marked with (*) are recorded in the Old Testament, but aren't found in Matthew: a fact which to this very day continues to baffle many scholars.
The only Joseph in the lineage of Jesus was Mary's father.
The Joseph in Egypt wasn't in His pedigree and neither was Mary's husband. I like to think that we are 'wise virgins' (like Mary), and that
we have a heavenly father and heavenly husband (Isa54:5) with the SAME NAME!! Christ in us; the hope of glory!
