The Secret Codes in Matthew: Examining Israel’s Messiah, Part 1, by Kevin M. Williams

From Pneuma Review Spring 2001

Forward:  As a preparatory note, at times I will mention an “Israeli believer.” The distinction is, these are Jewish believers in Messiah Jesus who are also citizens of national Israel. The political situation in the Holy Land is one that, being recognized as a believer in Jesus can mean losing your job, your home, suffering very real persecution, potentially losing your citizenship, and being exiled from your own promised inheritance. So, while I would like to give credit where credit is due, some of the teachers quoted in this text may have to remain anonymous so their identities are protected. I am however, eternally grateful to have been able to learn from these men of God and to be able to pass this information on to Christian brethren everywhere. 

—Kevin Williams

While this is a study on the book of Matthew, it seems prudent to begin in a different gospel account. Jesus said a great deal about himself during his life here on earth. For instance, in Luke 24:44 we read, “Now He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’” We find a similar statement in Luke 24:27, “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He [Jesus] expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”

By the master’s inference, we should be able to go into every page of the Hebrew Scriptures and find evidence of Jesus the Messiah. It is possible, and a worthy effort.

The same is true in the gospels. An obvious statement? Certainly. But the intrinsic Jewishness of Jesus, his message to his people, Israel, and the clues to the nation of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are locked in the gospel of Matthew is such a way that it is easily overlooked in a predominately non-Jewish Christian culture.

And so, we being our study of the Gospel According to Saint Matthew not quoting Matthew, but quoting from the Gospel According to Saint John. Remarkably enough it was during one of the national festivals not commanded in the Bible that Jesus affirms that he has already told us he is the Messiah.

At that time the Feast of the Dedication (Hanukkah) took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. The Jews therefore gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe;” (John 10:22-25).

Yet, as we read through the pages of Matthew, Jesus never comes out and plainly states, “I am the promised Messiah.”

In this study, we shall examine the Messiahship of Jesus, along with many other aspects of this Redeemer and Savior. As we journey down this path, we may find new and wondrous discoveries about Jesus we had not considered before. We may also find out some things, which challenge our traditions and historical way of thinking. If you have any die-hard traditions and interpretations, be forewarned—you may end up placing these sacred cows on the altar! May you do so with a willing heart.

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In 1997, At the Church of the Good Shepherd in Wayne, Ohio, an Israeli believer asked the congregation, “Who can tell me the first verse of the Old Testament?” Naturally, everyone chimed in; “In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth.”

“Quite right,” he said. “It appears we have a room full of Torah scholars.”

Knowing better, the group smirked coyly.

“Okay,” he continued. “How many of you know the first verse of the New Testament?”

A still hush fell over the sanctuary. Perplexed faces glanced at those seated around them, like an unstudied pupil trying to spy answers off a neighbor’s paper.

“Come now,” came his prompting. “Isn’t this a New Testament church? Certainly you know the first verse of your Scriptures as well as you know the Torah.”

Again, uneasy quiet.

In truth, the vast majority of Christians do not know the first verse of the New Testament:

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham . . . .”

It doesn’t sound terribly exciting does it? On the surface, it doesn’t have that same sense of drama we find in Genesis 1:1. It’s merely a list. If you’ve spent any time in the Pentateuch, you know how the lists of genealogies can go on and on filling up columns of text that are frequently used as a cure for insomnia.

Yet, these are the Holy Scriptures. Everything that appears is there for a divine purpose. They are a part of the incredibly designed and ordained record of the Almighty God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (which is in its own right, a genealogical label distinguishing the God of the Bible from the pagan gods).

If genealogies are important to the Creator of the entire universe, if the precious pages of the Word of God have space dedicated to a genealogical record, isn’t it logical to surmise that there must be a message there for us? If not for us, certainly for someone!

In Orthodox Judaism, three systematic approaches are taken when trying to understand Scripture. Each has a relevance all its own and applies to the reader’s life, usually at the level of study. These three approaches can often be used as well when studying the B’rit Chadasha, the New Testament.

The three approaches are:

P’shat = literal

Remez = deeper figurative

Sod = deeper spiritual

A fine example to illustrate these three interpretive forms is found in John 7:38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”

Using the p’shat form, the simplest, most literal application, John 7:38 feels very lyrical. Believe in the Messiah and something wonderfully poetic happens and flows out onto others around you. Even if the actual reality is missed on the reader, the grand imagery it paints is relevant on some level of appreciation. However, if you take the time, you cannot find in Scriptures any verse, which reads, “From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.” So what are you to do?

This is when the rabbis would take a look at the remez application. The simple meaning, or p’shat, paints a delightful picture, but there appears to be something else going on, particularly since there is no directly quoted Scripture verse in John 7:38. The meaning, using the remez interpretation, requires us to look at the figurative meaning of the verse: in this case, looking at the broader context of the entire Scripture. Where is “living water” referenced in the Hebrew Bible? All of these passages come into play in discovering the remez meaning of John 7:38. Living water has a role to play in the Tanakh (Old Testament) and each reference may have relevance to Yeshua’s proclamation.

Looking into this second level of biblical understanding requires work on behalf of the Bible student. Generally, it is not handed to you. Rather, it is more akin to asking your mother how to spell a word, and being told, “Go look it up in the dictionary.” We like to be spoon-fed, and the Bible does spoon-feed us instruction. But if we will mine a little deeper, putting some effort into it, we uncover so much more and are made richer by the experience.

There are rabbis who will take a passage of Scripture and dig even deeper, applying the sod model. As we examine Matthew further, we are going to dig into the living water—known in Hebraic studies as the mayim chayim—and reveal some of the significance and traditions within ancient Judaism. These meanings will give us a sod understanding of Yeshua’s statement on a deeper, spiritual level.

The purpose of this study over all, as we glean the passages of Matthew, is to reveal the remez and the sod interpretations where reasonable and applicable. We assume that the reader already has a firm grasp of the p’shat, or literal interpretation. This will not only give us an Hebraic perspective of this gospel of Jesus Christ, but it will help us peer beneath the surface into the depth of Scripture and what the Messiah was saying in his life, death, and resurrection. When we are done, and we are asked, “Was Jesus the promised Messiah?” we will be able to answer with a stronger conviction that resounds, “Yes and Amen!”

Let’s begin with those genealogies in the first chapter of Matthew.

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It has been bantered about by theologians that Matthew may have been originally written in Hebrew for the Hebrews. If we understand the records of Paul correctly, we know that it was at least 15 years after the resurrection before Paul began proclaiming the good news to the non-Jewish world. Similarly, many theologians place the writing of Matthew within 15 years of the Messiah’s resurrection. Therefore, there is a strong possibility that Matthew wrote it in the Promised Land for the people of the Land, in the language of the people—Hebrew.

Certainly by 300 of the Common Era (300 AD), the historian and scholar Eusebius believed it had been written in Hebrew. In Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, he quotes Papias, “Matthew wrote the words in the Hebrew dialect, and each one interpreted as he could.”

In its 28 chapters, the Tanakh is quoted 93 times, with over 100 easily recognized allusions to the Torah or the Tanakh. There are numerous references to the Oral Law, frequently cast in the positive rather than the generally interpreted negative light.

If, therefore, we can accept that it was written in Hebrew, to proclaim the Messiah to the people of Israel, if we accept its many Tanakh references and inclusions of oral traditions, in short—if we accept that it was written by a Hebrew for Hebrew people—then that context ought to be consistent throughout the document.

If you have made that leap, then you are ready to examine this gospel from its Jewish perspective and relevance. You can look at the words, and then you can look beneath those words, stepping down into the culture, the theology, the sights and smells of ancient Israel, and prepare to walk with the Messiah!

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham . . .” (Matthew 1:1).

If nothing else, we can see that Jesus is Jewish. Not that anyone would argue that point, but for the purposes of taking the gospel message to the Hebrew people, Matthew sets the stage so that no one can misunderstand.

His first proclamation? “Jesus Christ.” In the English, we have some understanding of this title. Yet in the Hebrew, it would be profound: Yeshua Ha Moshiach—literally—“The Anointed One who brings salvation.” To the uninitiated, it is a name followed by a title, not unlike the millions of business cards printed and distributed every year.

In Matthew however, it is the first stepping stone in a book that presents the path of Messiah, and everything which comes after this will build upon this first step. It is not merely a name and title, it was the answer to the Jewish prayer, “May Messiah come soon and in our day.” Matthew proclaims that the Anointed One, the promised One of the Most High has been born and brings salvation to His people, Israel.

“The Son of David.” Not just any “David,” but David Ha Melech—King David. This Yeshua was of noble birth, of the line of David son of Jesse, an heir to the throne of Israel. As such, he would be a picture of David the gentle shepherd, David who takes on giants, David who comes into his power despite great opposition, David of lowly birth but anointed of God, and David the priestly king through whom, “if we endure, we will also reign with Him” (2 Timothy 2:12).

“The Son of Abraham.” Abraham, the first person in the Bible to be called a Hebrew—literally “called out”—a friend of God, the firstfruit of what would become known as the nation of Israel. The one whose name means, “the father of nations,” who through his seed would indeed become the physical and spiritual father of many nations, and to whom all people of Messianic faith in Yeshua are “heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:29).

This first verse of the New Testament is more than relevant—it is foundational. It sets into motion a new era in man’s relationship with God. In the first verse of the Hebrew Bible we read that “God created the heavens and the earth.” In the first verse of the gospels, we can infer that God is renewing, redeeming, and re-affirming His promises and covenants to Israel and to the nations.

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After the list of names of verses 2-16, we reach verse 17, a unique verse that may hide a message all its own. The prior passages, of who begot whom is not completely inclusive. There are names missing.

In this day and age, it was not uncommon to skip the less important names of a genealogy in favor of the more notable ones, particularly if the writer was trying to make a point. We’ve already established that Matthew came to proclaim the Jewish Messiah to the people of Israel. He told us plainly, following the p’shat model. He may have even given us a remez, and hint of something deeper or greater, in verse one. Now, in verse 17, Matthew gives us something to consider for the sod interpretation.

Matthew makes a specific point that there are 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 generations from David to the Babylonian exile, and from the exile to the time of Messiah, another 14 generations. Was Matthew the victim of coincidence, or might he have had a clever purpose in mind?

In the Hebrew language, every letter correlates to a number. The study of the relationship between Hebrew words and numbers is a discipline known as Gematria. Any number of books—most bad, some good—have been published over the last decade diving into these “secret Bible codes.” One example of Gematria is the tetragammaton, the הוהי (yud-hay-vav-hay), or the holy name of God Almighty. Numerically, the tetragammaton is equivalent to the number 613, the same as the number of commandments in the Torah.

There may be a logical reason for Matthew to be exposing, highlighting, or giving us these three sets of 14. In Hebrew, the name דוד (daled-vav-daled: David), corresponds to the number 14. One possible sod interpretation to Matthew’s unique arrangement may be that he was reinforcing to those who could understand this deeper concept, that Jesus was most certainly the Messiah, of the line of David.

He may also have been alluding to another Jewish notion. In Hebrew scholarship, it is believed that time is segregated into four distinct epochs. The first is called Tohu—void. From the time of creation to the birth of Abraham (2,000 years) is considered “void,” a period where there was little knowledge or appreciation of God or His ways. The second 2,000 years is entitled, Torah—instruction. This was the next two millennia, under Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, through the prophets and the establishment of beit midrashism (study houses which came to be known by the Greek term, synagogues) that the study of Torah and of the knowledge of God grew among the Jewish people (with intermittent lapses).

The third era is known as Moshiach—the Messianic age.¹ It was—and is believed to this day among Jewish Orthodoxy—that the Messiah of Israel was to come during this third epoch. This would be the period in which we live currently, in which believers in Jesus understand that circa 2,000 years ago, the promised Redeemer was born.

The fourth epoch, the seventh millennia, is believed to initiate the sabbatical age, a thousand years of peace when the Almighty will rule from Jerusalem.

Is it possible that Matthew, through his three sets of 14, the number of King David, was intimating for those who would understand, that this Yeshua had come to inaugurate the epoch of Moshiach—the Messianic Age?

We cannot state emphatically so, but a Jewish scholar reading this genealogical record could draw that conclusion. In fact, it comes to you now because Jewish scholars imparted it this author and for them, it helped drive home the theological reality of Jesus—Yeshua—as the promised Messiah of Israel.

PR

Endnotes

1. The Soncino edition of the Talmud includes a footnote that the Messiah should have been born at the beginning of this third epoch. While they have no faith that this occurred, they do believe that he will still come within this 2,000-year period