We pick up in Verse 18 of Chapter 1 - The birth of Jesus

Matthew Lesson 2 Study Questions

1. She was found with child of the Holy Spirit: “There was no

other way of his being born; for had he been of a sinful father,

how should he have possessed a sinless nature? He is born of a

woman, that he might be human; but not by man, that he might

not be sinful.” (Spurgeon)

2. “being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public

example, was minded to put her away secretly.” He

obviously couldn’t do this in total secrecy, but when a man of

God has to do a severe thing, let him do it a quietly and tenderly

as possible.

3. Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream:

This was not the Angel of the LORD, but simply an angel of the

Lord.

4. Joseph, son of David: The address son of David should have

alerted Joseph that something was particularly significant about

this message. Son of David is a reference to Joseph’s legal

lineage to the throne of David.

5. You shall call his name JESUS: The name JESUS (“The

Salvation of Yahweh”) was fairly common in that day (Josephus

mentions 12 different men named “Jesus” in his writings), but it

is supremely blessed in our day. As was later said by the Apostle

Peter, there is no other name under heaven by which men must

be saved (Acts 4:12).

6. For He will save His people from their sins: The angelic

messenger briefly and eloquently stated the work of the coming

Messiah, Jesus. He will come as a savior, and come to save His

people from their sins. This description of the work of Jesus

reminds us that Jesus meets us in our sin, but His purpose is to

save us from our sins.

7. Wonderfully, it says “His people.” If it had said, “God’s people,”

we might have thought it was reserved for the Jewish people

alone. But it isn’t belonging to Abraham that brings salvation

from sin; it is belonging to Jesus, being one of His people.

8. “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son,

and they shall call His name Immanuel”: Matthew rightly

understood that the supernatural conception of Jesus was

prophesied in Isaiah 7:14.

9. Immanuel. (God with us) It shows how low God bent down to

save man; He added the nature of one of His own creatures to

His own divine nature, accepting the weaknesses, frailties and

dependency that the creature experiences.

10. Bethlehem was the ancestral home of David, the great

king of Israel and founder of their royal dynasty; however, it

was not a large or significant town. “Bethlehem was quite a little

town six miles to the south of Jerusalem.

11. For we have seen His star in the East: Whatever it was,

it is significant that God met them in their own medium: He

guided the astronomers by a star. This was also in fulfillment

of Numbers 24:17: A Star shall come out of Jacob; a Scepter

shall rise out of Israel. This was widely regarded by ancient

Jewish scholars as a Messianic prediction.

12. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled:

Herod, who wanted to be accepted by the Jews whom he ruled,

was not a Jew at all but an Edomite, and Rome recognized him

as a vassal king over Judea. The Jews tempered their great

hatred of him with admiration for his building projects, such as

the magnificent improvements made to the second temple.