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"So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying
away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen
generations" (Matt. 1:17).
Here we have two patriarchs with whom covenants were made and promises given that find their fulfilment
only in Christ. The failure of Israel led to their rejection and to the rise of Nebuchadnezzar, with whom commenced
the "Times of the Gentiles", and it is suggestive that we meet the word musterion "mystery" for the first time in the
book of Daniel (LXX, Chapter 2).
This great prophetic event throws light upon the turn taken in the Gospel at chapter 13, where we meet, for the
first time, the expression "The mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven". We cannot prove from Matthew 1:1, but we
receive a suggestion from that verse, that Matthew may have subdivided his theme so that his gospel shall set before
us first, Christ as the Son of David, and secondly, Christ as the Son of Abraham, the former title stressing kingship,
the second title referring to the antitypical death and resurrection of the true "Isaac" offered on one of the mountains
of Moriah at a place called Calvary. We discover by reading through the gospel, that there are two great time
periods which cannot be ignored, and these therefore we present as our first pair of items in the discovery of the
structure of Matthew.
"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 4:17).
"From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer
many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day" (Matt.
16:21).
Here most evidently we have two distinct departures, two ministries, two themes. The first stresses the
kingdom, the second the cross. The former ranges under the name "David" the second under the name "Abraham".
One finds its type in Solomon the Son of David, the other in Isaac the son of Abraham.
The next repeated feature which our reading brings to light, is found in the records of the baptism at Jordan
and the transfiguration on the Mount.
"And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17).
"And behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear
ye Him" (Matt. 17:5).
We now have two pairs of corresponding terms,
A The voice from heaven.
B From that time ... began.
B From that time ... began.
A The voice from heaven.
We observe moreover that in chapter sixteen, just before the new revelation is made concerning the Lord's
sufferings, that Peter makes his great confession.
"He saith unto them, But Whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:15,16).
With this we must place the confession made by Christ Himself when adjured by the High Priest :
"I adjure Thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto
him, Thou hast said" (Matt. 26:63,64).
The words "Thou hast said" are in the original su eipas and in the early Greek manuscripts (where there were
many contractions employed to economise space and where no space was allowed between one word and another)
we find that where, in Matthew 16:18 we now read su ei Petros "thou art Peter", the earlier contraction was sueips,
which would naturally be expanded to su eipas "thou hast said", had Peter not been in the immediate context. This
matter needs much more examination and proof than these few notes can supply, but we are convinced that in both
cases the words stand for one and the same thing " an emphatic affirmation, and that Peter's name does not come