Redemption For The Exiles Series

Introduction

In mid-March, BBC News reported that the United Nations investigators asserted, “Russia's forced deportation of Ukrainian children to areas under its control amounts to a war crime.... The UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said there was evidence of the illegal transfer of hundreds of Ukrainian children to Russia.... Ukraine government figures put the number of children forcibly taken to Russia at 16,221” (see https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64985009).

Any parent would be shattered to have his or her child forcibly taken and relocated to another country. It is unbearable to think about. But it is happening.

But this atrocity is not unique.

Throughout history, it was common for victorious armies to force vanquished people to leave their homeland and go and live in the victorious army’s country.

The Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible defines “exile” as the “mass deportation of large population groups practiced in ancient times usually for political purposes, frequently to destroy the power of an enemy nation and to prevent rebellion” (Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “Exile,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988], 732).

In the Old Testament, there were two main exiles. You may recall that after King Solomon died the nation of Israel split into two kingdoms. The descendants of the twelve tribes of Jacob split into two kingdoms. The ten tribes in the north became known as the kingdom of Israel. And the two tribes in the south became known as the kingdom of Judah.

In 722 BC, the kingdom of Israel was taken into exile by the Assyrians. (We studied this in our recently-completed sermon series on the book of Amos.) The people of Israel never returned to their homeland.

In 586 BC, the southern kingdom of Judah was taken into exile by the Babylonians. The temple in the city of Jerusalem was destroyed. The Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible suggests that “the total number of captives taken in all the deportations from Judah probably did not exceed a total of 70,000 men, women, and children” (Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “Exile,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988], 734). That is still a lot of people who were deported from their homes.

After about fifty years in exile, some Jews returned to Judah in 538 BC. They started rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. They also reconstructed the temple. That was completed in about 516 BC when more Jews returned to their homeland.

The exile was a very dramatic and painful experience for the people of God. It was a major pivotal point for the people of God.

Matthew wrote about the exile—he called it a “deportation”—in the opening section of his Gospel. Today we are going to learn that the exile forms an important part of the genealogy of Jesus.

Scripture

Let’s read Matthew 1:1-17:

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.