Matius 1:18

The Birth of Jesus Christ

1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, ¹  she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

Matius 2:15

2:15 He stayed there until Herod ²  died. In this way what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled: “I called my Son out of Egypt.” ³ 

Matius 22:24

22:24 “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and father children ⁴  for his brother.’ ⁵ 

[1:18]  ¹ tn The connotation of the Greek is “before they came together in marital and domestic union” (so BDAG 970 s.v. συνέρχομαι 3).

[2:15]  ² sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:15]  ³ sn A quotation from Hos 11:1.

[22:24]  ⁴ tn Grk “and raise up seed,” an idiom for fathering children (L&N 23.59).

[22:24]  ⁵ sn A quotation from Deut 25:5. This practice is called levirate marriage (see also Ruth 4:1-12; Mishnah, m. Yevamot; Josephus, Ant. 4.8.23 [4.254-256]). The levirate law is described in Deut 25:5-10. The brother of a man who died without a son had an obligation to marry his brother’s widow. This served several purposes: It provided for the widow in a society where a widow with no children to care for her would be reduced to begging, and it preserved the name of the deceased, who would be regarded as the legal father of the first son produced from that marriage.