Gospel from Matthew. Bible online, read: New Testament, Old Testament

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1 "Genealogy" (literally, "genealogical book") of Christ compiled by the evangelist on the model of Old Testament genealogies ( Gen 5 sl, 1 Par 1:1 sl). The purpose of the author is twofold - to point out the continuity between the two Testaments and to emphasize the messianic nature of Jesus (according to the promise, the Messiah was to be a "son", i.e. a descendant of David). "Jesus" is a common Jewish name (Heb" Joshua", aram" Yeshua"), meaning "the Lord is his salvation." "Christ" is a Greek word meaning the same as the Heb Messiah (Heb " mashiach", aram" Mashiha"), i.e. the Anointed One, sanctified with holy anointing. This was the name of people consecrated to the service of God (prophets, kings), as well as the Savior promised in the OT. The genealogy is opened by the name of Abraham as the forefather of the people of God, "father of believers."

2-17 "Begotten" - a Semitic turnover denoting origin in a straight line. Unlike genealogy Luke 3:23-38), the genealogy of Matthew is more schematic. The Evangelist, as it were, represents in the names the whole history of the Old Testament, mainly the family of David. Matthew divides it (according to the principle of sacred numbers) into three periods, each of which includes 14 names, i.e. twice seven. Of the four women mentioned in the genealogy, two were definitely foreigners: Rahava, a Canaanite, and Ruth, a Moabite; Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and Tamar are probably not Israelites either. In this case, the mention of these women indicates the role of foreigners in the earthly genealogy of the Savior of the world. The genealogy, in accordance with Eastern custom, is in the line of Joseph, and not of the Virgin Mary. However, Her royal lineage is implicitly recognized here (cf. Luke 1:27-38). The difference between the genealogies in Lk and Mt stems from the legal consequences of the so-called levirate: the Mosaic institution is called levirate ( Deut 25:5; Mt 22:24 sl), by virtue of which the brother of an Israeli who died childless was obliged to marry his widow, and the first son from this marriage was considered the son of the deceased (the first husband of the widow). Julius Africanus (died 237), who was familiar with the records of the genealogical traditions of the offspring of David, reports that Eli, the father of St. Joseph, the betrothed of Mary, according to the genealogy of Lk, and Jacob, the father of Joseph according to Matthew, were half-brothers, (sons of the same mother from different fathers), both from the line of David, namely: Eli through the line of Nathan, Jacob through the line of Solomon. Jacob married the widow of the childless Eli, and from this marriage Joseph was born, who, being the son of Jacob, was considered, according to the law of the levirate, the son of Eli. Matthew lists the generations in descending order, Luke in ascending order up to Adam (see Eusebius Ist. 1, VII, 10).

18-19 "Betrothal" was inviolable, like marriage. It could be terminated only in accordance with the charter contained in the Mosaic legislation. Joseph, having learned that Mary was expecting a child not conceived by him, and at the same time knowing about her virtue, did not understand what had happened. "Being righteous," he wanted to "secretly let her go" so that she would not be put to death according to the prescription of the Law of Moses ( Tue 22:20 sll). For "being born of the Holy Spirit" see Lk 1 26 ff.

23 "Virgo" - this verse is borrowed from the book. Is (cm Isaiah 7:14). In the Hebrew text it says " alma", which is usually translated as "young woman". Translators into Greek (LXX) clarified the meaning of the word "alma", rendering it as "parthenos" (virgin), and the evangelist uses it in this sense. " Emmanuel" (Heb) - "God is with us."

24-25 "Joseph ... did not know Her, how at last She gave birth to a Son"- in biblical language, the denial of a fact relating to the past does not mean that it took place later. Holy Tradition and Scripture are imbued with faith in Her virginity.

1. The Evangelist Matthew (which means “gift of God”) was one of the Twelve Apostles (Mt 10:3; Mk 3:18; Lk 6:15; Acts 1:13). Luke (Lk 5:27) calls him Levi, and Mark (Mk 2:14) calls him Levi of Alpheus, i.e. son of Alpheus: it is known that some Jews had two names (for example, Joseph Barnabas or Joseph Caiaphas). Matthew was a tax collector (collector) at the Capernaum customs house, located on the coast of the Sea of ​​Galilee (Mk 2:13-14). Apparently, he was in the service not of the Romans, but of the tetrarch (ruler) of Galilee - Herod Antipas. Matthew's profession required knowledge of the Greek language from him. The future evangelist is depicted in Scripture as a sociable person: many friends gathered in his Capernaum house. This exhausts the data of the New Testament about the person whose name is in the title of the first Gospel. According to legend, after the Ascension of Jesus Christ, he preached the Good News to the Jews in Palestine.

2. Around 120, the disciple of the Apostle John Papias of Hierapolis testifies: “Matthew wrote down the sayings of the Lord (Logia Cyriacus) in Hebrew (Hebrew here should be understood as the Aramaic dialect), and he translated them as best he could” (Eusebius, Church History, III.39). The term Logia (and the corresponding Hebrew dibrei) means not only sayings, but also events. Papias' message repeats ca. 170 St. Irenaeus of Lyons, emphasizing that the evangelist wrote for Jewish Christians (Against Heresies. III.1.1.). The historian Eusebius (4th century) writes that “Matthew, having first preached to the Jews, and then, intending to go to others, expounded in the native language the Gospel, now known under his name” (Church History, III.24). According to most modern scholars, this Aramaic Gospel (Logia) appeared between the 40s and 50s. Probably, Matthew made the first notes when he accompanied the Lord.

The original Aramaic text of the Gospel of Matthew has been lost. We have only the Greek translation, apparently made between the 70s and 80s. Its antiquity is confirmed by the mention in the works of "Apostolic Men" (St. Clement of Rome, St. Ignatius the God-bearer, St. Polycarp). Historians believe that the Greek Ev. Matthew arose in Antioch, where, along with Jewish Christians, large groups of Gentile Christians first appeared.

3. Text Ev. from Matthew indicates that its author was a Palestinian Jew. He is well acquainted with the OT, with the geography, history and customs of his people. His Ev. is closely related to the OT tradition: in particular, it constantly points to the fulfillment of prophecies in the life of the Lord.

Matthew speaks more often than others about the Church. He devotes considerable attention to the question of the conversion of the Gentiles. Of the prophets, Matthew quotes Isaiah the most (21 times). At the center of Matthew's theology is the concept of the Kingdom of God (which, in accordance with Jewish tradition, he usually calls the Kingdom of Heaven). It resides in heaven, and comes to this world in the person of the Messiah. The gospel of the Lord is the gospel of the mystery of the Kingdom (Matthew 13:11). It means the reign of God among people. In the beginning, the Kingdom is present in the world "in an inconspicuous way", and only at the end of time will its fullness be revealed. The coming of the Kingdom of God was foretold in the OT and realized in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Therefore, Matthew often calls Him the Son of David (one of the messianic titles).

4. Plan MF: 1. Prologue. Birth and childhood of Christ (Mt 1-2); 2. Baptism of the Lord and the beginning of the sermon (Mt 3-4); 3. Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5-7); 4. Ministry of Christ in Galilee. Miracles. Those who accepted and rejected Him (Mt 8-18); 5. The road to Jerusalem (Mt 19-25); 6. Passion. Resurrection (Mt 26-28).

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

The Holy Scriptures of the New Testament were written in Greek, with the exception of the Gospel of Matthew, which is said to have been written in Hebrew or Aramaic. But since this Hebrew text has not survived, the Greek text is considered the original for the Gospel of Matthew. Thus, only the Greek text of the New Testament is the original, and numerous editions in various modern languages all over the world are translations from the Greek original.

The Greek language in which the New Testament was written was no longer the classical Greek language and was not, as previously thought, a special New Testament language. This is the colloquial everyday language of the first century A.D., spread in the Greco-Roman world and known in science under the name "κοινη", i.e. "common speech"; yet the style, and turns of speech, and way of thinking of the sacred writers of the New Testament reveal the Hebrew or Aramaic influence.

The original text of the NT has come down to us in a large number of ancient manuscripts, more or less complete, numbering about 5000 (from the 2nd to the 16th century). Before recent years the most ancient of them did not go back beyond the 4th century no P.X. But lately, many fragments of ancient manuscripts of the NT on papyrus (3rd and even 2nd c) have been discovered. So, for example, Bodmer's manuscripts: Ev from John, Luke, 1 and 2 Peter, Jude - were found and published in the 60s of our century. In addition to Greek manuscripts, we have ancient translations or versions into Latin, Syriac, Coptic, and other languages ​​(Vetus Itala, Peshitto, Vulgata, etc.), of which the oldest existed already from the 2nd century AD.

Finally, numerous quotations from the Church Fathers in Greek and other languages ​​have been preserved in such quantity that if the text of the New Testament were lost and all ancient manuscripts were destroyed, then specialists could restore this text from quotations from the works of the Holy Fathers. All this abundant material makes it possible to check and refine the text of the NT and classify it. various forms(the so-called textual criticism). Compared with any ancient author (Homer, Euripides, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Cornelius Nepos, Julius Caesar, Horace, Virgil, etc.), our modern - printed - Greek text of the NT is in an exceptionally favorable position. And by the number of manuscripts, and by the brevity of time separating the oldest of them from the original, and by the number of translations, and by their antiquity, and by the seriousness and volume of critical work carried out on the text, it surpasses all other texts (for details, see "The Hidden Treasures and new life”, Archaeological Discoveries and the Gospel, Bruges, 1959, pp. 34 ff.). The text of the NT as a whole is fixed quite irrefutably.

The New Testament consists of 27 books. They are subdivided by the publishers into 260 chapters of unequal length for the purpose of providing references and citations. The original text does not contain this division. The modern division into chapters in the New Testament, as in the whole of the Bible, has often been attributed to the Dominican Cardinal Hugh (1263), who elaborated it in his symphony to the Latin Vulgate, but it is now thought with great reason that this division goes back to Stephen the Archbishop of Canterbury. Langton, who died in 1228. As for the division into verses now accepted in all editions of the New Testament, it goes back to the publisher of the Greek New Testament text, Robert Stephen, and was introduced by him into his edition in 1551.

The sacred books of the New Testament are usually divided into law-positive (Four Gospels), historical (Acts of the Apostles), teaching (seven epistles and fourteen epistles of the Apostle Paul) and prophetic: the Apocalypse or Revelation of St. John the Evangelist (see the Long Catechism of St. Philaret of Moscow).

However, modern experts consider this distribution outdated: in fact, all the books of the New Testament are law-positive, historical, and instructive, and there is prophecy not only in the Apocalypse. New Testament science pays great attention to the exact establishment of the chronology of the gospel and other New Testament events. Scientific chronology allows the reader to trace with sufficient accuracy, according to the New Testament, the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, the apostles and the original Church (see Appendixes).

The books of the New Testament can be distributed as follows:

1) Three so-called Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and, separately, the fourth: the Gospel of John. New Testament scholarship devotes much attention to the study of the relationship of the first three Gospels and their relation to the Gospel of John (the synoptic problem).

2) The Book of the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of the Apostle Paul ("Corpus Paulinum"), which are usually divided into:

a) Early Epistles: 1 and 2 Thessalonians.

b) Greater Epistles: Galatians, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Romans.

c) Messages from bonds, i.e. written from Rome, where ap. Paul was in prison: Philippians, Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon.

d) Pastoral Epistles: 1st to Timothy, to Titus, 2nd to Timothy.

e) The Epistle to the Hebrews.

3) Catholic Epistles ("Corpus Catholicum").

4) Revelation of John the Theologian. (Sometimes in the NT they single out "Corpus Joannicum", i.e. everything that ap Ying wrote for a comparative study of his Gospel in connection with his epistles and the book of Rev.).

FOUR GOSPEL

1. The word "gospel" (ευανγελιον) in Greek means "good news". This is how our Lord Jesus Christ Himself called His teaching (Mt 24:14; Mt 26:13; Mk 1:15; Mk 13:10; Mk 14:9; Mk 16:15). Therefore, for us, the “gospel” is inextricably linked with Him: it is “ good news about the salvation given to the world through the incarnate Son of God.

Christ and His apostles preached the gospel without writing it down. By the middle of the 1st century, this sermon had been fixed by the Church in a strong oral tradition. The Eastern custom of memorizing sayings, stories, and even large texts by heart helped the Christians of the apostolic age to accurately preserve the unwritten First Gospel. After the 1950s, when eyewitnesses to Christ's earthly ministry began to pass away one by one, the need arose to record the gospel (Luke 1:1). Thus, the “gospel” began to denote the narrative recorded by the apostles about the life and teachings of the Savior. It was read at prayer meetings and in preparing people for baptism.

2. Essential Christian centers 1st century (Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, Ephesus, etc.) had their own gospels. Of these, only four (Mt, Mk, Lk, Jn) are recognized by the Church as inspired by God, i.e. written under the direct influence of the Holy Spirit. They are called "from Matthew", "from Mark", etc. (Greek “kata” corresponds to Russian “according to Matthew”, “according to Mark”, etc.), for the life and teachings of Christ are set forth in these books by these four priests. Their gospels were not summarized in one book, which made it possible to see the gospel story from various points vision. In the 2nd century, St. Irenaeus of Lyon calls the evangelists by name and points to their gospels as the only canonical ones (Against Heresies 2, 28, 2). A contemporary of St. Irenaeus, Tatian, made the first attempt to create a single gospel narrative, composed of various texts of the four gospels, the Diatessaron, i.e. gospel of four.

3. The apostles did not set themselves the goal of creating a historical work in the modern sense of the word. They sought to spread the teachings of Jesus Christ, helped people to believe in Him, correctly understand and fulfill His commandments. The testimonies of the evangelists do not coincide in all details, which proves their independence from each other: the testimonies of eyewitnesses are always individual in color. The Holy Spirit does not certify the accuracy of the details of the facts described in the gospel, but the spiritual meaning contained in them.

The minor contradictions encountered in the presentation of the evangelists are explained by the fact that God gave the priests complete freedom in conveying certain specific facts in relation to different categories of listeners, which further emphasizes the unity of meaning and direction of all four gospels (see also General Introduction, pp. 13 and 14) .

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1 Inscription. The Gospel of Matthew in the Russian and Slavic translations is titled the same. But this title is not similar to the title of the Gospel in Greek. There it is not as clear as in Russian and Slavic, and in short: “according to Matthew”; and the words "gospel" or "gospel" are not. The Greek expression "according to Matthew" requires explanation. The best explanation is the following. The gospel is one and indivisible, and belongs to God and not to men. Different people only expounded the single gospel given to them by God, or the Gospel. There were several such people. But actually four persons are called evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They wrote four Gospels, that is, they presented, each from different points of view and in their own way, a single and common gospel about the single and indivisible Personality of the God-Man. Therefore, the Greek Gospel says: according to Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke and according to John, that is, one gospel of God according to the exposition of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Nothing, of course, prevents us, for the sake of clarity, from adding the word gospel or gospel to these Greek expressions, as was already done in the most remote antiquity, especially since the titles of the gospels: according to Matthew, according to Mark and others did not belong to the evangelists themselves. Similar expressions were used by the Greeks about other persons who wrote something. Yes, in Acts 17:28 it says, "as some of your poets have said," but in the literal translation from the Greek, "according to your poets," and then their own words follow. One of the church fathers Epiphanius of Cyprus, speaks of "the first book of the Pentateuch according to Moses." (Panarius, haer. VIII, 4), understanding that the Pentateuch was written by Moses himself. In the Bible, the word gospel means good news (e.g., 2 Samuel 18:20,25- LXX), and in the New Testament the word is used only about the good news or good news about salvation, about the Savior of the world.

1:1 The Gospel of Matthew begins with the genealogy of the Savior, which is presented from verse 1 to 17. In the Slavonic translation, instead of “genealogy”, “book of kinship”. The Russian and Slavic translations, though accurate, are not literal. In Greek - vivlos geneseos (βίβλος γενέσεως). Vivlos means book, and geneseos (genus. case; name. genesis or genesis) is a word that is untranslatable both into Russian and other languages. Therefore, it passed into some languages, including Russian, without translation (genesis). The word genesis means not so much birth as origin, emergence (German entstehung). In general it signifies a comparatively slow birth, more the process of birth than the act itself, and the word implies generation, growth, and final coming into being. Hence the connection of the Hebrew expression with which some genealogies begin ( Gen 2:4-5:26; 5:1-32 ; 6:9-9:29 ; 10:1 ; 11:10 ; 11:27 listen)) in the Bible, sefer toledot (book of births), with the Greek vivlos geneseos. In Hebrew, the plural is the book of births, and in Greek, the singular is geneseos, because the last word means not one birth, but a whole series of births. Therefore, to denote the plurality of births, the Greek genesis is used in the singular, although it is sometimes found in the plural. Thus, we must recognize our Slavic (book of kinship, book of relatives, calculus of genera) and Russian translations, if not completely, then approximately accurate and admit that it is impossible to translate Greek (“ vivlos geneseos”) otherwise than with the word genealogy, it is impossible, for the lack of a suitable Russian word. If instead of the word origin in Slavic, sometimes being is used, and sometimes life, then such an inaccuracy can be explained by the same reason.

What is the meaning of the words “Jesus Christ” in verse 1? Of course, in the meaning of the proper name of a well-known historical Person (so in verse 18 - the word "Christ" without a member), whose life and work the evangelist intended to present to the readers. But was it not enough to call this historical Person simply Jesus? No, because that would be indeterminate. The Evangelist wants to present the genealogy of Jesus, who has already become known to both Jews and Gentiles as Christ and whom he himself recognizes not as a simple person, but as Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah. Jesus is a Hebrew word converted from Yeshua, or (before the Babylonian captivity) Yehoshua, meaning God the Savior. So it is in the 18th verse. This name was common among the Jews. Christ, in Hebrew Messiah, means the anointed one, or the anointed one. In the Old Testament, this name was a common noun. This was the name of the Jewish kings, priests and prophets, who were anointed with sacred oil, or oil. In the New Testament, the name became proper (which is usually indicated by the Greek term), but not immediately. According to the interpretation of the blessed Theophylact, the Lord is called Christ because, as King, He reigned and reigns over sin; as a Priest, offered a sacrifice for us; and He was anointed, as the Lord, with true oil, by the Holy Spirit.

By naming a well-known historical Person as Christ, the evangelist had to prove His descent from both David and Abraham. The true Christ, or Messiah, had to come from the Jews (be the seed of Abraham) and was unthinkable for them, if he did not come from David and from Abraham. Of some gospel places it can be seen that the Jews not only meant the origin of Christ the Messiah from David, but also His birth in the very city where David was born (for example, Matthew 2:6). The Jews would not recognize as the Messiah a person who was not descended from David and Abraham. These forefathers were given promises about the Messiah. And the Evangelist Matthew wrote his Gospel primarily, undoubtedly, for the Jews. " Nothing could be more pleasant for a Jew than to tell him that Jesus Christ was a descendant of Abraham and David"(John Chrysostom). The prophets prophesied about Christ as about the son of David, for example. Isaiah ( 9:7 ; 55:3 ). Jeremiah ( Jer 23:5), Ezekiel ( Ezekiel 34:23; 37:25 ), Amos ( 9:11 ), etc. Therefore, speaking about Christ, or the Messiah, the evangelist immediately says that He was the Son of David, the Son of Abraham - the Son in the sense of a descendant - so often among the Jews. In words: Son of David, Son of Abraham, both in the Greek Gospel and in Russian, there is some ambiguity. These words can be understood: Jesus Christ, Who was the Son (descendant) of David, who was (in turn) a descendant of Abraham. But it is possible and so: the Son of David and the Son of Abraham. Both interpretations, of course, do not change the essence of the matter in the least. If David was the son (descendant) of Abraham, then, of course, Christ, as the Son of David, was also the descendant of Abraham. But the first interpretation corresponds more closely to the Greek text.

1:2 (Luke 3:34) Saying that Jesus Christ was the Son of David and the Son of Abraham, the evangelist, starting from the 2nd verse, proves this idea in more detail. Naming Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judas, the evangelist points to famous historical figures who were given promises that the Savior of the world would come from them ( Gen 18:18; 22:18 ; 26:4 ; 28:14 etc.).

1:3-4 (Luke 3:32,33) Fares and Zara ( Gen 38:24-30) were twin brothers. Esrom, Aram, Aminadab, and Nahshon were probably all born and lived in Egypt after Jacob and his sons migrated there. Esrom, Aram and Abinadab are mentioned in 1 Chronicles 2:1-15 only by name, but nothing special is known. Nahshon's sister, Elizabeth, married Aaron, the brother of Moses. IN 1 Chronicles 2:10 And Numbers 2:3 Nahsson is called the "prince" or "chief" of the "sons of Judah." He was among the people involved in the calculation of the people in the wilderness of Sinai ( Numbers 1:7), and the first offered a sacrifice at the setting up of the tabernacle ( Numbers 7:2), about forty years before the capture of Jericho.

1:5 Nahshon's son, Salmon, was among the spies in Jericho who were hidden in her house by the harlot Rahab ( Joshua 2:1; 6:24 ). Salmon married her. According to the evangelist, Boaz was born from this marriage. But the Bible does not say that Rahab was the wife of Salmon (see ch. Ruth 4:21; 1 Chronicles 2:11). Hence it is concluded that the evangelist, when compiling the genealogy, "had access to information other than the Old Testament books." The reading of the name Rahab is unsteady and indefinite: Rahav, Rahab, and in Josephus Flavius ​​- Rahava. There are chronological difficulties regarding it. The birth of Obed from Boaz and Ruth is described in detail in the book of Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite, a foreigner, and the Jews hated foreigners. The Evangelist mentions Ruth in order to show that among the Savior's ancestors were not only Jews, but also foreigners. From the reports of Ruth in the Holy Scriptures, it can be concluded that her moral character was very attractive.

1:6 Jesse is known to have had eight sons ( 1 Samuel 16:1-13; on 1 Chronicles 2:13-15 seven). Of these, the youngest was David. Jesse lived in Bethlehem and was the son of an Ephrathite from the tribe of Judah, Obed; in the time of Saul he reached old age and was the eldest among men. During the persecution of David, Saul was in danger. Speaking of the birth of David by Jesse, the Evangelist adds that Jesse begat David the king. There is no such increase when mentioning other kings, descendants of David. Maybe because it was redundant; it was enough to call one David king to show that the generation of kings, the ancestors of the Savior, began with him. David, among others, had sons Solomon and Nathan. The Evangelist Matthew leads further genealogy along the line of Solomon, Luke ( Luke 3:31) - Nathan. Solomon was the son of David from the one who was behind Uriah, that is, from such a woman who had previously been behind Uriah. The details of this are set forth in the 2nd book of Kings, ch. 11-12 and are well known. The Evangelist does not mention Bathsheba by name. But the mention of her serves here as an expression of a desire to indicate deviation from the correct order in the genealogy, since David's marriage to Bathsheba was a crime. Very little is known about Bathsheba. She was the daughter of Ammiel and the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and in all probability she was distinguished by many personal virtues, if she became the favorite wife of the king and had a significant influence on him. Solomon was proclaimed heir to the royal throne at her request.

1:7 Solomon reigned for forty years (1015-975 B.C.). He built a temple in Jerusalem. Rehoboam, or Regovoam, the son of Solomon, reigned in Judah only "over the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah." He entered the kingdom for 41 years and reigned in Jerusalem for 17 years (975-957). After him, his son Abijah came to the throne and reigned for three years (957-955). After Abijah, his son Asa (955-914) reigned.

1:8 After Asa, Jehoshaphat, or Jehosaphat his son, reigned 35 years, and reigned 25 years (914-889). After Jehoshaphat reigned Jehoram, or Jehoram, 32 years old, and reigned 8 years (891-884). Behind Jehoram, Matthew has a pass of three kings: Ahaziah, Jehoash and Amaziah, who reigned in general from 884 to 810. If this omission was made not by chance, by mistake of the scribe, but intentionally, then the reason for the exclusion from the genealogy of the three named kings should be sought in the fact that the evangelist considered them unworthy to be numbered among the heirs of David and the ancestors of Jesus Christ According to popular ideas, neither in the kingdom of Judah, nor in the kingdom of Israel, wickedness and unrest have ever reached such development as in the time of Ahab, with whose house through Athaliah the kings Ahaziah, Jehoash and Amaziah had a connection..

1:9 Jehoram's great-grandson Uzzias (810-758) is also called Azariah in the Bible. After Uzziah, Jotham, or Jotham his son, reigned 25 years, and reigned in Jerusalem 16 years (758-742). After Jotham, his son Ahaz, 20 years old, came to the throne and reigned in Jerusalem for 16 years (742-727).

1:10 After Ahaz, Hezekiah his son reigned and reigned 29 years (727-698). After Hezekiah, his son Manasseh came to the throne, 12 years old and reigned 50 years (698-643). After Manasseh, his son Ammon, or Amon, reigned (in the Gospel of Matthew, according to the oldest manuscripts, Sinai and Vatican, etc., it should be read: Amos; but in other, less valuable, but numerous manuscripts: Amon), 22 years and reigned two years (643-641).

1:11 Josiah came to the throne for 8 years and reigned for 31 years (641-610).

After Josiah, his son, Jehoahaz, the wicked king, reigned only three months, whom "the people of the earth" reigned. But the king of Egypt deposed him. Since Jehoahaz was not among the ancestors of the Savior, the evangelist does not mention him. Instead of Jehoahaz, his brother Eliakim, 25 years old, was enthroned, and he reigned in Jerusalem for 11 years (610-599)). The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, subjugated Eliakim and changed his name to Joachim.

After him his son, Jeconiah (or Joachin), reigned for 18 years, and reigned only three months (in 599). In his reign, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, approached Jerusalem, laid siege to the city, and Jeconiah went out to the king of Babylon with his mother, servants and princes. The king of Babylon took him and moved him to Babylon, and in his place he put Matthaniah, the uncle of Jeconiah, and changed the name of Mattaniah to Zedekiah. Since the evangelist leads the further line from Jeconiah even after the resettlement to Babylon, there was no need to mention Zedekiah. After moving to Babylon, Jehoiachin was imprisoned and stayed in it for 37 years. After this, Evilmerodach, the new king of Babylon, in the year of his accession, brought Jeconiah out of the prison house, spoke to him in a friendly manner, and placed his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon. Jeconiah ended the period of the kings of the Jews, which lasted more than 450 years.

Simple as verse 11 is, its interpretation presents insurmountable and almost insoluble difficulties. In Greek, and precisely in the best manuscripts, not like in Russian: Josiah gave birth to Jeconiah (and not Joachim) ... during (during) the Babylonian migration, i.e. to Babylon. Further in verse 12 the same as in Russian. It is assumed that the words (according to Russian translation) Josiah begat Joachim; Joachim begat Jeconiah(underlined) there is an insertion in the original words of Matthew, - it is true, very ancient, already known to Irenaeus in the second century A.D., but still an insertion, originally made in the margins in order to agree on the genealogy of Matthew with the Old Testament scripture, and then - an answer to the pagans who reproached the Christians for missing the name of Joachim in the Gospel. If the mention of Joachim is genuine, then it is easy to see (from the Russian translation) that from Solomon to Jehoiachin there were not 14 generations or generations, but 15, which contradicts the testimony of the evangelist in 17 art. For an explanation of this omission and recovery correct reading Verse 11 should pay attention to the following. IN 1 Chronicles 3:15,16,17 The sons of King Josiah are listed as follows: "the firstborn Jehoahaz, the second - Jehoiakim, the third - Zedekiah, the fourth - Sellum." This shows that Joachim had three brothers. Further: "Joachim's sons: Jeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son." This shows that Jeconiah had only one brother. Finally: “the sons of Jehoiachin: Assir, Salafiel”, etc. Here the gospel genealogy almost coincides with the genealogy 1 Chronicles 3:17. IN 2 Kings 24:17 Mattaniah or Zedekiah is called the uncle of Jehoiachin. Having carefully examined these testimonies, we see that Josiah had a son (second) Joachim; he had several brothers, of whom the evangelist does not speak; but speaks of the brothers of Jeconiah, meanwhile 1 Chronicles 3:16 the latter had only one brother, Zedekiah, which is inconsistent with the testimony of the Evangelist Matthew. Therefore, it is assumed that there were two Jeconiahs, the first Jeconiah, who was also called Joachim, and the second Jeconiah. Jeconiah the first was originally called Eliakim, then the king of Babylon changed his name to Joachim. The reason why he was still called Jeconiah was explained back in antiquity ( Jerome) by the fact that the scribe could easily confuse Joachin with Joachim, changing x to k and n to m. The word Joachin can easily be read: Jeconiah in Hebrew, due to complete similarity of the consonants used in both names. Accepting such an interpretation, we should read verse 11 of the Gospel of Matthew as follows: “Josiah begat Jeconiah (otherwise Eliakim, Joachim) and his brothers,” etc.; Art. 12: “Jeconiah the second begat Salathiel,” etc. Against such an interpretation, it is objected that such a designation of genera is contrary to the customs observed in the genealogy. If the above interpretation were correct, then the evangelist would have expressed himself thus: “Josiah begat Jeconiah the first, Jeconiah the first begat Jeconiah the second, Jeconiah the second begat Salathiel,” etc. This difficulty, apparently, is not resolved by the assumption that "the names of father and son are so similar that they were accidentally identified or confused when reproduced in Greek." In view of this, other interpreters, in order to resolve this difficulty, suggest that the original reading of verse 11 was: “Josiah begat Jehoiakim and his brothers; Joachim begat Jeconiah during the Babylonian exile." This last interpretation is better. Although it, due to the rearrangement of the words "and his brothers" and does not agree with the existing, confirmed by ancient and important manuscripts, the Greek text of the Gospel of Matthew, however, it can be assumed that the rearrangement was made by mistake by the ancient scribes. In support of the latter interpretation, one can also point out that the existing Greek text, i.e., as mentioned above, “Josiah begat Jeconiah and his brothers during (Russian translation) the Babylonian migration” cannot be accepted without such or other changes and rearrangements and is clearly erroneous, because Josiah did not live during the Babylonian migration or during it, but 20 years earlier. As far as before Jer 22:30, which says about Joachim: “Thus says the Lord: write down a man, his childless, a man unhappy in his days,” then the words “childless” are explained by the subsequent expressions of the prophet, from which it is clear that the children of Jehoiakim will not sit on the throne of David and "to have dominion in Judah." It is in this last sense that the expression "bereft of children" should be understood.

1:12 (Luke 3:27) Among the sons of Jeconiah in 1 Chronicles 3:17 Salafiel is mentioned. But according to Art. 18 and 19 Jeconiah also had a son, Thedaiah, and it was to him that Zerubbabel was born. Thus, in the Gospel of Matthew, here again, apparently, there is a gap - Fedai. Meanwhile, in many other places of scripture and in Josephus Flavius, Zerubbabel is everywhere called the son of Salafiel ( 1 Ride 3:2; Nehemiah 22:1; Hagg 1:1,12; 2:2,23 ; Josephus Flavius. Jude. ancient XI, 3, §1, etc.). To explain this difficulty, it is assumed that Thedaiah, by the law of piety, took the wife of the deceased Salafiel for himself, and thus the children of Thedaiah became the children of Salafiel, his brother, according to the law.

1:13-15 By 1 Chronicles 3:19ff. Abihu is not among the sons and grandsons of Zerubbabel. Based on the similarity of the names of Heb. and Greek suggest that Abihu is identical with Godaviahu v. 24th of the same chapter and Judas Luke 3:26. If so, then in the 13th verse of the Gospel of Matthew there is again a gap; the pedigree in specified place book. Chronicles is stated as follows: Zerubbabel, Hananiah, Isaiah, Shechaniah, Neariah, Elioenai, Godaviahu. Although the replenishment of such a pass with six persons would bring the genealogy of Matthew closer to the genealogy of Luke in terms of the number of generations, with a complete difference in names, however, the identification of Abiud with Godaviahu is very doubtful. However, some recent interpreters accept this explanation. About the persons after Zerubbabel and, perhaps, Abiud, mentioned in verses 13-15, nothing is known either from the Old Testament, or from the writings of Josephus Flavius, or from the Talmudic and other writings. It can only be seen that this contradicts the opinion according to which the evangelist compiled the genealogy of the Savior from the Bible alone, or at least does not confirm this opinion.

1:16 (Luke 3:23) According to the Evangelist Matthew and Luke, the genealogies clearly refer to Joseph. But Matthew calls James the father of Joseph, Luke Luke 3:23- Or me. And according to legend, Joachim and Anna were the father and mother of Mary. The Savior, according to the clear narrative of Matthew and Luke Luke 1:26; 2:5 was not the son of Joseph. Why, then, did the Evangelists need to compile and place in their Gospels the genealogy of Christ, which in reality did not refer to Him? Most interpreters explain this circumstance by the fact that Matthew traces the genealogy of the ancestors of Joseph, wanting to show that Jesus was not a native, but the legitimate Son of Joseph and, therefore, the heir to his rights and advantages as a descendant of David. Luke, if in his genealogy also mentions Joseph, then in reality he sets out the genealogy of Mary. This opinion was first expressed by the ecclesiastical writer Julius Africanus (3rd century), an excerpt from whose work is placed in the Church. history Eusebius (I, 7), with changes repeated in the commentary on the Gospel of Luke Ambrose of Milan, and was known to Irenaeus (Against Heresies III, 32).

1:17 The word "all" refers closest to the generations numbered by Matthew from Abraham to David. In the subsequent expressions of the verse, the Evangelist does not repeat this word when calculating further generations. Therefore, the simplest explanation of the word "all" seems to be the following. The evangelist says “all the genealogies I have indicated in the present genealogy from Abraham to David,” etc. The number 14 was hardly sacred among the Jews, although it was composed of the repeated sacred number 7. It can be thought that the evangelist, having counted fourteen genera from Abraham to David , as well as from Jeconiah to Christ, wanted to show some roundness and correctness in the calculation of genera, why he accepted the number 14 for the middle (royal) period of his genealogy, releasing some genera for this purpose. This technique is somewhat artificial, but it is in full agreement with the customs and thinking of the Jews. Something similar occurs in Gen 5:3ff., 2:10ff., where from Adam to Noah and from Noah to Abraham, up to 10 generations are counted. Generations are understood as generations - from father to son.

Thus, the genealogy of Christ according to Matthew can be presented in the following form: I. Abraham. Isaac. Jacob. Judas. Fares. Esrom. Aram. Aminadab. Nahsson. Salmon. WHO. Ovid. Jesse. David. II. Solomon. Rehoboam. Avia. Asa. Jehoshaphat. Joram. Ozziah. Jotham. Ahaz. Hezekiah. Manasseh. Amon (Amos). Josiah. Joachim. III. Jehoiachin. Salafiel. Zerubbabel. Aviud. Eliakim. Azor. Sadok. Achim. Eliud. Eleazar. Matthan. Jacob. Joseph. Jesus Christ.

1:18 (Luke 2:1,2) At the beginning of this verse, the evangelist uses the same word as at the beginning of verse 1: genesis. In Russian and Slavic, this word is now translated by the word: Christmas. The translation is again inaccurate for lack of a suitable Russian word. In the proper sense, it would be better to translate as follows: "the origin of Jesus Christ (from the virgin Mary) was like this." The betrothal rites of the Jews were somewhat similar to ours, which happen with the blessing of the bride and groom. A contract was drawn up about the betrothal, or a solemn oral promise was given in the presence of witnesses that such and such a person would marry such and such a bride. After the betrothal, the bride was considered the betrothed wife of her groom. Their union could only be destroyed by the right divorce. But between betrothal and marriage, as in our case, whole months sometimes elapsed (cf. Deut 20:7). Mary is a Greek word; in Aramaic - Mariam, and in Heb. - Miriam or Miriam, the word is derived from the Hebrew meri - stubbornness, obstinacy - or otrum, "to be exalted, high." According to Jerome, the name means domina. All productions are questionable.

Before they combined, that is, before the wedding itself took place. Whether Joseph and Mary lived in the same house after their betrothal is unknown. According to Chrysostom, " Maria lived with him(Joseph) in the house." But the expression, "Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife," seems to indicate that Joseph and Mary did not live in the same house. Other interpreters agree with Chrysostom.

It turned out - it became noticeable to strangers.

From the Holy Spirit. All the circumstances that the evangelist speaks of, distinguished by his miraculous character, are incomprehensible to us (cf. Luke 3:22; Acts 1:16; Eph 4:30).

1:19 Her husband - the word man, in the literal translation from the Greek, means literally a husband, not a betrothed. But it is clear that the evangelist uses this word in the sense of a protector, patron, and even, perhaps, betrothed. Otherwise, there would be an obvious contradiction in his own narrative. In the Holy In Scripture, the words husband and wife are sometimes used not in the sense of spouses ( Gen 29:21; Tue 22:24).

Being righteous - Heb. tzaddik. This was the name of the pious people, who always tried to fulfill the decrees of the law. Why Joseph is called so here is clear. Seeing that Mary was pregnant, he thought that she had done wrong, and since the law punished bad deeds, Joseph also set out to punish Mary, although this punishment, due to his kindness, should have been easy. The word righteous, however, does not mean kind or loving. In the Gospel, one can clearly observe the struggle of feelings in the soul of Joseph: on the one hand, he was righteous, and on the other, he treated Mary with pity. According to the law, he had to use power and punish her, but out of love for her, he did not want to publicize her, that is, to slander, tell others about her and then, on the basis of his announcement or story, demand the punishment of Mary. The word righteous by the expression unwilling is not explained; this is the last - an additional and special participle (in Greek participle). Joseph was a strict guardian of the law and, moreover, did not want to publicize Mary. The word read out in Greek is different: 1. One reading read out (δειγματίσαι ) should be explained as follows: set an example, flaunt for the sake of an example. The word is rare, not common among the Greeks, but in the New Testament found only in Col 2:15. It can be equivalent to the expression: just let go. 2. In many other manuscripts, a stronger word is used - to shame or endanger, to announce then to bring something evil, to put to death as a woman who did not turn out to be faithful ( παραδειγματίσαι ). Wanted - another word is used here in Greek, and not unwilling - means a decision, a desire to put one's intention into action. The Greek word translated to let go means to divorce. Divorce could be secret and explicit. The first was done in the presence of only two witnesses, without explaining the reasons for the divorce. The second solemnly and with an explanation of the reasons for the divorce at the court, Joseph set out to do the first. Secretly can also mean here secret negotiations, without a letter of divorce. It was, of course, illegal. Deut 24:1; but a bill of divorce, even if it were secret, would contradict the word secretly used in the Gospel.

1:20 But when Joseph thought this, in the word "thought" in the Greek. hesitations and doubts and even suffering are implied, behold, the angel of the Lord... "The word behold, in Russian here, is used mainly in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke and gives special power to the speech that follows it. The reader or listener is invited here to special attention. Further, the evangelist narrates how the doubts and hesitations of Joseph were eliminated. The angel of the Lord during the annunciation appeared to the Virgin Mary in reality, because on her part a conscious attitude to the gospel of the angel and consent was required; the gospel of the angel Mary was for the future and was supreme. An angel appears to Joseph in a dream, choosing sleep as a tool or means, and at the same time less perfect than waking vision, for communicating the divine will. The gospel to Joseph was not as important as the gospel to Mary, it was just a warning.

Angel means messenger, messenger; but here, of course, not a simple messenger, but the Lord's. As can be inferred from the Gospel of Luke, this was the angel Gabriel. He told Joseph in a dream (Joseph, son of David - nominatives instead of names in Greek) that he should not be afraid to accept Mary, his wife. Do not be afraid - here in the meaning: do not hesitate to do something. Accept - The interpretation of this word depends on whether Mary was in Joseph's house or outside it. If she was, then "accept" would mean the restoration of her rights as a betrothed; if she was not, then, in addition to this restoration, the word will also mean her acceptance into the house of Joseph from the house of her father or relative. Your wife: not in the sense of "as your wife." The reason why Joseph had to accept Mary is born in her, i.e., a baby not yet born or born into the world, but only conceived, therefore the neuter gender. From the time of the dream, Joseph had to become the guardian and patron of both the mother herself and the Infant.

1:21 To give birth to a son - the same verb (τέξεται ) is used as in v. 25, indicating the very act of birth (cf. Gen 17:19; Luke 1:13). The verb γεννάω is used only when it is necessary to indicate the origin of children from the father. And you will name - (so in Greek; in Slavic and some Russian editions: they will name) instead of a name, name it, the future will command instead. look, look, etc.). For He will save His people from their sins. He, it is He, He alone, will save His people (Greek λαòν) His own, that is, a known people belonging to Him, and not to anyone else. First of all, the Jewish people are understood here - this is how Joseph could understand these words; then people from every nation, but from the Jewish and from other peoples only those persons who are His followers, who believe in Him, belong to Him proper. From their sins (Greek, his, that is, the people) - not from the punishment for sins, but from the sins themselves - a very important remark, indicating the authenticity of the Gospel of Matthew. At the very beginning of the gospel evangelism, even when Christ's subsequent activity had not become clear and determined, it is indicated that Jesus Christ will save His people from their sins, not from worldly submission to secular power, but precisely from sins, crimes against the commandments of God. Here we have a clear designation of the nature of the future "spiritual activity of Christ."

1:22 It is not known whose words are given in this verse, the angel or the evangelist. According to Chrysostom, " worthy of a miracle and worthy of himself exclaimed the angel, saying", etc. That is, an angel, according to Chrysostom," sends Joseph to Isaiah, so that, waking up, if he forgets his words, as completely new, being nourished by scripture, he would remember the words of the prophet, and at the same time bring his words to memory". This opinion is also supported by some of the latest interpreters, on the grounds that, if these words were considered to belong to the evangelist, then the speech of the angel would appear unclear and unfinished.

1:23 The words given by the angel (or, in another opinion, by the evangelist himself) are found in Isaiah 7:14. They are given with minor deviations from the LXX translation; were spoken by Isaiah to the Jewish king Ahaz on the occasion of the invasion of Judah by the kings of Syria and Israel. The words of the prophet most closely pointed to the circumstances of his day. Used in the Hebrew original and Greek. transl. the word virgin means literally a virgin who has to give birth to a son naturally and from a husband (cf. Isaiah 8:3), where the same virgin is called a prophetess. But then the prophet's thought expands, he begins to contemplate future events that will come with a complete change in contemporary circumstances - instead of the invasion of the kings of Israel and Syria, Judah will be subdued by the king of Assyria. He “will go through Judea, flood it and rise high - it will reach the neck; and the spread of her wings will be the whole breadth of your land, Emmanuel!” ( Isaiah 8:8). If in the first prophecy one should understand an ordinary maiden, an ordinary birth, and an ordinary Jewish boy named Immanuel, then in Isaiah 8:8 by this name, as can be seen from the words of the prophet, God Himself is called. Although the prophecy did not refer to the Messiah in the Talmudic writings, it can be clearly seen that it has a higher meaning. The messianic application of prophecy was made for the first time in the Gospel of Matthew. If the words of the 23rd Art. and were the words of an angel, then the expression “what does it mean,” etc., should be attributed to the evangelist himself. This is a common Greek expression showing that a Hebrew word or words are translated or interpreted when translated from Hebrew to Greek. According to some interpreters, "what does it mean" is evidence that the Gospel of Matthew was originally written not in Hebrew, but in Greek. On the other hand, it was said that when the Gospel was translated into Greek, the expression was already inserted either by the translator or by the evangelist himself.

1:24 When Joseph woke up from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded (properly planned, established, determined) for him.

1:25 (Luke 2:7) In this verse, it is necessary to explain first of all the words as finally, literally before, Slavic: until, until. According to ancient and modern interpreters, this word does not have such a meaning: before, therefore after (cf. Gen 8:7,14; Ps 89:2 etc.). The correct explanation of this verse is this: the evangelist speaks only of the time before the birth of the Child, and does not speak or reason about the subsequent time. At all " what happened after birth is up to you to judge"(John Chrysostom). The word "firstborn" is not found in the most important and ancient manuscripts, Xin. and V. But in other manuscripts, less important, but numerous, the word is added. It is found in Luke 2:7 where there are no discrepancies. Means the first - the last, but not always. In some cases, the first son followed by others. He called - the expression refers to Joseph. He named the Child according to the command of the angel and, by virtue of his authority, as a legitimate, though not natural, father (cf. Luke 1:62,63).

Gospel

The word "Gospel" (τὸ εὐαγγέλιον) in the classical Greek language was used to denote: a) the reward given to the messenger of joy (τῷ εὐαγγέλῳ), b) the sacrifice sacrificed on the occasion of receiving some kind of good news or a holiday made on the same occasion and c) the good news itself. In the New Testament, this expression means:

a) the good news that Christ accomplished the reconciliation of people with God and brought us the greatest blessings - mainly establishing the Kingdom of God on earth ( Matt. 4:23),

b) the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, preached by Himself and His apostles about Him as the King of this Kingdom, the Messiah and the Son of God ( 2 Cor. 4:4),

c) all New Testament or Christian teaching in general, primarily the narrative of events from the life of Christ, the most important ( 1 Cor. 15:1-4), and then an explanation of the meaning of these events ( Rome. 1:16).

e) Finally, the word "Gospel" is sometimes used to refer to the very process of preaching the Christian doctrine ( Rome. 1:1).

Sometimes the designation and content of it is attached to the word "Gospel". There are, for example, phrases: the gospel of the kingdom ( Matt. 4:23), i.e. joyful tidings of the kingdom of God, the gospel of peace ( Eph. 6:15), i.e. about the world, the gospel of salvation ( Eph. 1:13), i.e. about salvation, etc. Sometimes the genitive following the word "Gospel" means the originator or source of the good news ( Rome. 1:1, 15:16 ; 2 Cor. 11:7; 1 Thess. 2:8) or the identity of the preacher ( Rome. 2:16).

For quite a long time, stories about the life of the Lord Jesus Christ were transmitted only orally. The Lord Himself left no record of His words and deeds. In the same way, the 12 apostles were not born writers: they were “unlearned and simple people” ( Acts. 4:13), although they are literate. Among the Christians of the apostolic time there were also very few "wise according to the flesh, strong" and "noble" ( 1 Cor. 1:26), and for the majority of believers, oral stories about Christ were much more important than written ones. Thus the apostles and preachers or evangelists "transmitted" (παραδιδόναι) the tales of the deeds and speeches of Christ, and the faithful "received" (παραλαμβάνειν), but, of course, not mechanically, only by memory, as can be said of the students of rabbinic schools, but whole soul, as if something living and giving life. But soon this period of oral tradition was to end. On the one hand, Christians must have felt the need for a written presentation of the Gospel in their disputes with the Jews, who, as you know, denied the reality of the miracles of Christ and even claimed that Christ did not declare Himself the Messiah. It was necessary to show the Jews that Christians have authentic stories about Christ of those persons who were either among His apostles, or who were in close communion with eyewitnesses of Christ's deeds. On the other hand, the need for a written presentation of the history of Christ began to be felt because the generation of the first disciples was gradually dying out and the ranks of direct witnesses of the miracles of Christ were thinning out. Therefore, it was necessary to fix in writing individual sayings of the Lord and His whole speeches, as well as the stories about Him of the apostles. It was then that separate records of what was reported in the oral tradition about Christ began to appear here and there. Most carefully they wrote down the words of Christ, which contained the rules of the Christian life, and were much freer in the transfer of various events from the life of Christ, retaining only their general impression. Thus, one thing in these records, due to its originality, was transmitted everywhere in the same way, while the other was modified. These initial notes did not think about the completeness of the narrative. Even our Gospels, as can be seen from the conclusion of the Gospel of John ( In. 21:25), did not intend to report all the words and deeds of Christ. This is evident, among other things, from what is not included in them, for example, such a saying of Christ: “it is more blessed to give than to receive” ( Acts. 20:35). The Evangelist Luke reports such records, saying that many before him had already begun to compose narratives about the life of Christ, but that they did not have the proper fullness and that therefore they did not give sufficient “confirmation” in the faith ( OK. 1:1-4).

Evidently, our canonical gospels arose from the same motives. The period of their appearance can be determined at about thirty years - from 60 to 90 (the last was the Gospel of John). The first three gospels are usually called synoptic in biblical science, because they depict the life of Christ in such a way that their three narratives can be easily viewed in one and combined into one whole narrative (forecasters - from Greek - looking together). They began to be called gospels each separately, perhaps as early as the end of the 1st century, but from church writing we have information that such a name was given to the entire composition of the gospels only in the second half of the 2nd century. As for the names: “The Gospel of Matthew”, “The Gospel of Mark”, etc., then these very ancient names from Greek should be translated as follows: “The Gospel according to Matthew”, “The Gospel according to Mark” (κατὰ Ματθαῖον, κατὰ Μᾶρκον). By this, the Church wanted to say that in all the Gospels there is a single Christian gospel about Christ the Savior, but according to the images of different writers: one image belongs to Matthew, the other to Mark, etc.

four gospel

Thus the ancient Church looked upon the depiction of the life of Christ in our four gospels, not as different gospels or narratives, but as one gospel, one book in four forms. That is why in the Church the name of the Four Gospels was established behind our Gospels. Saint Irenaeus called them "the four-fold Gospel" (τετράμορφον τὸ εὐαγγέλιον - see Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses liber 3, ed. A. Rousseau and L. Doutreleaü Irenée Lyon. Contre les hérésies, livre 3 ., vol. 29 11, 11).

The Fathers of the Church dwell on the question: why did the Church accept not one gospel, but four? So St. John Chrysostom says: “Is it really impossible for one evangelist to write everything that is needed. Of course, he could, but when four people wrote, they did not write at the same time, not in the same place, without communicating or conspiring among themselves, and for all that they wrote in such a way that everything seemed to be pronounced by one mouth, then this is the strongest proof of the truth. You will say: "However, the opposite happened, for the four Gospels are often convicted in disagreement." This is the very sign of truth. For if the Gospels were exactly in agreement with each other in everything, even regarding the very words, then none of the enemies would believe that the Gospels were not written in the usual way. mutual agreement. Now, a slight disagreement between them frees them from all suspicion. For what they say differently about time or place does not in the least impair the truth of their narration. In the main thing, which is the foundation of our life and the essence of preaching, not one of them disagrees with the other in anything and nowhere - that God became a man, worked miracles, was crucified, resurrected, ascended into heaven. ("Conversations on the Gospel of Matthew", 1).

Saint Irenaeus also finds a special symbolic meaning in the quaternary number of our Gospels. “Since there are four parts of the world in which we live, and since the Church is scattered throughout the earth and has its affirmation in the Gospel, it was necessary for her to have four pillars, from everywhere emanating incorruption and reviving the human race. The all-arranging Word, seated on the Cherubim, gave us the Gospel in four forms, but imbued with one spirit. For David also, praying for His appearance, says: "Seated on the Cherubim, reveal Yourself" ( Ps. 79:2). But the Cherubim (in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel and the Apocalypse) have four faces, and their faces are images of the activity of the Son of God. Saint Irenaeus finds it possible to attach the symbol of a lion to the Gospel of John, since this Gospel depicts Christ as the eternal King, and the lion is the king in the animal world; to the Gospel of Luke - the symbol of the calf, since Luke begins his Gospel with the image of the priestly service of Zechariah, who slaughtered the calves; to the Gospel of Matthew - a symbol of a person, since this Gospel mainly depicts the human birth of Christ, and, finally, to the Gospel of Mark - a symbol of an eagle, because Mark begins his Gospel with a mention of the prophets, to whom the Holy Spirit flew, like an eagle on wings "(Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses, liber 3, 11, 11-22). In other Church Fathers, the symbols of the lion and calf are moved and the first is given to Mark, and the second to John. Starting from the 5th c. in this form, the symbols of the evangelists began to join the images of the four evangelists in church painting.

Reciprocity of the Gospels

Each of the four Gospels has its own characteristics, and most of all - the Gospel of John. But the first three, as already mentioned above, have extremely much in common with each other, and this similarity involuntarily catches the eye even with a cursory reading of them. Let us first of all speak of the similarity of the Synoptic Gospels and the causes of this phenomenon.

Even Eusebius of Caesarea in his "canons" divided the Gospel of Matthew into 355 parts and noted that all three forecasters have 111 of them. In recent times, exegetes have developed an even more precise numerical formula for determining the similarity of the Gospels and calculated that the total number of verses common to all weather forecasters goes up to 350. In Matthew, then, 350 verses are peculiar only to him, in Mark there are 68 such verses, in Luke - 541. The similarities are mainly seen in the transmission of the sayings of Christ, and the differences - in the narrative part. When Matthew and Luke literally converge in their Gospels, Mark always agrees with them. The similarity between Luke and Mark is much closer than between Luke and Matthew (Lopukhin - in the Orthodox Theological Encyclopedia. T. V. C. 173). It is also remarkable that some passages in all three evangelists go in the same sequence, for example, the temptation and speech in Galilee, the calling of Matthew and the conversation about fasting, the plucking of ears and the healing of the withered hand, the calming of the storm and the healing of the demoniac of Gadarene, etc. The similarity sometimes extends even to the construction of sentences and expressions (for example, in the citation of the prophecy Mal. 3:1).

As for the differences observed among weather forecasters, there are quite a few of them. Others are reported only by two evangelists, others even by one. So, only Matthew and Luke cite the conversation on the mount of the Lord Jesus Christ, tell the story of the birth and the first years of Christ's life. One Luke speaks of the birth of John the Baptist. Other things one evangelist conveys in a more abbreviated form than another, or in a different connection than another. The details of the events in each Gospel are different, as well as the expressions.

This phenomenon of similarity and difference in the synoptic gospels has long attracted the attention of interpreters of Scripture, and various assumptions have long been put forward to explain this fact. More correct is the opinion that our three evangelists used a common oral source for their narrative of the life of Christ. At that time, evangelists or preachers about Christ went everywhere preaching and repeating in different places in a more or less extensive form, what was considered necessary to offer those who entered the Church. In this way a well-known definite type was formed oral gospel, and this is the type we have in writing in our Synoptic Gospels. Of course, at the same time, depending on the goal that this or that evangelist had, his gospel took on some special features, only characteristic of his work. At the same time, one cannot rule out the possibility that an older gospel might have been known to the evangelist who wrote later. At the same time, the difference between synoptics should be explained by the different goals that each of them had in mind when writing his Gospel.

As we have already said, the synoptic gospels are very different from the gospel of John the Theologian. Thus they depict almost exclusively the activity of Christ in Galilee, while the apostle John depicts mainly the sojourn of Christ in Judea. In regard to content, the synoptic gospels also differ considerably from the gospel of John. They give, so to speak, a more external image of the life, deeds and teachings of Christ, and from the speeches of Christ they cite only those that were accessible to the understanding of the whole people. John, on the contrary, omits a lot of the activities of Christ, for example, he cites only six miracles of Christ, but those speeches and miracles that he cites have a special deep meaning and extreme importance about the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, while the synoptics portray Christ primarily as the founder of the Kingdom of God, and therefore direct their readers' attention to the Kingdom he founded, John draws our attention to the central point of this Kingdom, from which life flows along the peripheries of the Kingdom, i.e. on the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, whom John depicts as the Only Begotten Son of God and as the Light for all mankind. That is why the ancient interpreters called the Gospel of John predominantly spiritual (πνευματικόν), in contrast to synoptic ones, as depicting a predominantly human side in the person of Christ (εὐαγγέλιον σωματικόν), i.e. bodily gospel.

However, it must be said that weather forecasters also have passages that indicate that, as weather forecasters, the activity of Christ in Judea was known ( Matt. 23:37, 27:57 ; OK. 10:38-42), so John has indications of the continuous activity of Christ in Galilee. In the same way, weather forecasters convey such sayings of Christ, which testify to His divine dignity ( Matt. 11:27), and John, for his part, also in places depicts Christ as a true man ( In. 2 etc.; John 8 and etc.). Therefore, one cannot speak of any contradiction between the synoptics and John in the depiction of the face and deed of Christ.

Reliability of the Gospels

Although criticism has long been expressed against the authenticity of the Gospels, and recently these attacks of criticism have become especially intensified (the theory of myths, especially the theory of Drews, who does not at all recognize the existence of Christ), however, all objections of criticism are so insignificant that they are shattered at the slightest collision with Christian apologetics. . Here, however, we will not cite the objections of negative criticism and analyze these objections: this will be done when interpreting the text of the Gospels itself. We will only speak about the main general grounds on which we recognize the Gospels as completely reliable documents. This is, firstly, the existence of the tradition of eyewitnesses, of whom many survived until the era when our Gospels appeared. Why should we refuse to trust these sources of our gospels? Could they have made up everything that is in our gospels? No, all the Gospels are purely historical. Secondly, it is incomprehensible why the Christian consciousness would want - so the mythical theory asserts - to crown the head of a simple rabbi Jesus with the crown of the Messiah and the Son of God? Why, for example, is it not said about the Baptist that he performed miracles? Obviously because he did not create them. And from this it follows that if Christ is said to be the Great Wonderworker, then it means that He really was like that. And why could one deny the authenticity of the miracles of Christ, since the highest miracle - His Resurrection - is witnessed like no other event ancient history(cm. 1 Cor. 15)?

Bibliography of Foreign Works on the Four Gospels

Bengel J. Al. Gnomon Novi Testamentï in quo ex nativa verborum VI simplicitas, profunditas, concinnitas, salubritas sensuum coelestium indicatur. Berolini, 1860.

Blass, Gram. - Blass F. Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Griechisch. Göttingen, 1911.

Westcott - The New Testament in Original Greek the text rev. by Brooke Foss Westcott. New York, 1882.

B. Weiss - Wikiwand Weiss B. Die Evangelien des Markus und Lukas. Göttingen, 1901.

Yog. Weiss (1907) - Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments, von Otto Baumgarten; Wilhelm Bousset. Hrsg. von Johannes Weis_s, Bd. 1: Die drei alteren Evangelien. Die Apostelgeschichte, Matthaeus Apostolus; Marcus Evangelista; Lucas Evangelista. . 2. Aufl. Göttingen, 1907.

Godet - Godet F. Commentar zu dem Evangelium des Johannes. Hanover, 1903.

Name De Wette W.M.L. Kurze Erklärung des Evangeliums Matthäi / Kurzgefasstes exegetisches Handbuch zum Neuen Testament, Band 1, Teil 1. Leipzig, 1857.

Keil (1879) - Keil C.F. Commentar über die Evangelien des Markus und Lukas. Leipzig, 1879.

Keil (1881) - Keil C.F. Commentar über das Evangelium des Johannes. Leipzig, 1881.

Klostermann A. Das Markusevangelium nach seinem Quellenwerthe für die evangelische Geschichte. Göttingen, 1867.

Cornelius a Lapide - Cornelius a Lapide. In SS Matthaeum et Marcum / Commentaria in scripturam sacram, t. 15. Parisiis, 1857.

Lagrange M.-J. Études bibliques: Evangile selon St. Marc. Paris, 1911.

Lange J.P. Das Evangelium nach Matthäus. Bielefeld, 1861.

Loisy (1903) - Loisy A.F. Le quatrième evangile. Paris, 1903.

Loisy (1907-1908) - Loisy A.F. Les evangeles synoptiques, 1-2. : Ceffonds, pres Montier-en-Der, 1907-1908.

Luthardt Ch.E. Das johanneische Evangelium nach seiner Eigenthümlichkeit geschildert und erklärt. Nürnberg, 1876.

Meyer (1864) - Meyer H.A.W. Kritisch exegetisches Commentar über das Neue Testament, Abteilung 1, Hälfte 1: Handbuch über das Evangelium des Matthäus. Göttingen, 1864.

Meyer (1885) - Kritisch-exegetischer Commentar über das Neue Testament hrsg. von Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer, Abteilung 1, Hälfte 2: Bernhard Weiss B. Kritisch exegetisches Handbuch über die Evangelien des Markus und Lukas. Göttingen, 1885. Meyer (1902) - Meyer H.A.W. Das Johannes-Evangelium 9. Auflage, bearbeitet von B. Weiss. Göttingen, 1902.

Merckx (1902) - Merx A. Erläuterung: Matthaeus / Die vier kanonischen Evangelien nach ihrem ältesten bekannten Texte, Teil 2, Hälfte 1. Berlin, 1902.

Merckx (1905) - Merx A. Erläuterung: Markus und Lukas / Die vier kanonischen Evangelien nach ihrem ältesten bekannten Texte. Teil 2, Hälfte 2. Berlin, 1905.

Morison J. A practical commentary on the Gospel according to St. Morison Matthew. London, 1902.

Stanton - Wikiwand Stanton V.H. The Synoptic Gospels / The Gospels as historical documents, Part 2. Cambridge, 1903. Toluc (1856) - Tholuck A. Die Bergpredigt. Gotha, 1856.

Tolyuk (1857) - Tholuck A. Commentar zum Evangelium Johannis. Gotha, 1857.

Heitmüller - see Jog. Weiss (1907).

Holtzmann (1901) - Holtzmann H.J. Die Synoptiker. Tubingen, 1901.

Holtzmann (1908) - Holtzmann H.J. Evangelium, Briefe und Offenbarung des Johannes / Hand-Commentar zum Neuen Testament bearbeitet von H. J. Holtzmann, R. A. Lipsius etc. bd. 4. Freiburg im Breisgau, 1908.

Zahn (1905) - Zahn Th. Das Evangelium des Matthäus / Commentar zum Neuen Testament, Teil 1. Leipzig, 1905.

Zahn (1908) - Zahn Th. Das Evangelium des Johannes ausgelegt / Commentar zum Neuen Testament, Teil 4. Leipzig, 1908.

Schanz (1881) - Schanz P. Commentar über das Evangelium des heiligen Marcus. Freiburg im Breisgau, 1881.

Schanz (1885) - Schanz P. Commentar über das Evangelium des heiligen Johannes. Tubingen, 1885.

Schlatter - Schlatter A. Das Evangelium des Johannes: ausgelegt fur Bibelleser. Stuttgart, 1903.

Schürer, Geschichte - Schürer E., Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi. bd. 1-4. Leipzig, 1901-1911.

Edersheim (1901) - Edersheim A. The life and times of Jesus the Messiah. 2 Vols. London, 1901.

Ellen - Allen W.C. A critical and exegetical commentary of the Gospel according to st. Matthew. Edinburgh, 1907.

Alford - Alford N. The Greek Testament in four volumes, vol. 1. London, 1863.

The sacred book of the Christian religion, a record of God's revelations to man received over many millennia. This is a book of divine instructions. It gives us peace in grief, the solution of life's problems, the condemnation of sin, and the spiritual maturity so necessary to overcome our worries.

The Bible cannot be called one book. It is a whole collection of books, a library, written under the guidance of God by people who lived in different ages. The Bible has history, philosophy, and science. It also includes poetry and drama, biographical information, and prophecy. Reading the Bible gives us inspiration It's no surprise that the Bible, in whole or in part, has been translated into more than 1,200 languages. Every year, the number of copies of the Bible sold worldwide exceeds the number of copies sold of any other book.

The Bible truthfully answers the questions that have worried people from time immemorial "How did man appear?"; "What happens to people after death?"; "Why are we here on earth?"; "Can we know the meaning and meaning of life?" Only the Bible reveals the truth about God, points the way to eternal life, and explains the eternal problems of sin and suffering.

The Bible is divided into two parts: the Old Testament, which tells about the participation of God in the life of the Jewish people before the coming of Jesus Christ, and the New Testament, which gives information about the life and teachings of Christ in all His truth and beauty.

(Greek - "good news") - the biography of Jesus Christ; books revered as sacred in Christianity that tell about the divinity of Jesus Christ, his birth, life, miracles, death, resurrection and ascension.

The translation of the Bible into Russian was started by the Russian Bible Society by the Highest order of the Sovereign Emperor Alexander I in 1816, resumed by the Highest permission of the Sovereign Emperor Alexander II in 1858, completed and published with the blessing of the Holy Synod in 1876. This edition contains the text Synodal translation of 1876, re-checked with the Hebrew text of the Old Testament and the Greek text of the New Testament.

The commentary on the Old and New Testaments and the appendix "The Holy Land in the Time of Our Lord Jesus Christ" are reprinted from the Bible published by the Brussels publishing house "Life with God" (1989).

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1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
2 as it is written in the prophets: Behold, I am sending my angel before your face, who will prepare your way before you.
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight his paths.
4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins....

1 Genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham.
2 Abraham begat Isaac; Isaac begat Jacob; Jacob begat Judah and his brothers;
3 Judah begat Perez and Zerah by Tamar; Perez begat Esrom; Esrom begat Aram;
4 Aram begat Aminadab; Aminadab begat Nahshon; Nahshon begat Salmon;...

1. As many have already begun to compose narratives about events that are completely known between us,
2. as those who from the very beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word told us,
3. then I also decided, after a careful study of everything from the beginning, to describe to you in order, venerable Theophilus,
4. so that you may know the solid foundation of the doctrine in which you have been instructed....

Evangelist Luke

Introduction to the Books of the New Testament

The Scriptures of the New Testament were written in Greek, with the exception of the Gospel of Matthew, which is said to have been written in Hebrew or Aramaic. But since this Hebrew text has not survived, the Greek text is considered the original for the Gospel of Matthew. Thus, only the Greek text of the New Testament is the original, and numerous editions in various modern languages ​​​​of the whole world are translations from the Greek original. The Greek language in which the New Testament was written was no longer the classical ancient Greek language and was not, as previously thought, special New Testament language. This is a spoken everyday language of the 1st century. according to P. X., which has spread throughout the world and is known in science under the name "common speech", nevertheless, both the style and turns of speech and the way of thinking of the sacred writers of the New Testament reveal Hebrew or Aramaic influence.

The original text of the New Testament has come down to us in a large number of ancient manuscripts, more or less complete, numbering about 5000 (from the 2nd to the 16th centuries). Until recent years, the most ancient of them did not go further than the 4th century. according to P. X. But recently, many fragments of ancient manuscripts of the New Testament on papyrus (III and even II century) have been discovered. For example, Bodmer's manuscripts: Jn, Lk, 1 and 2 Pet, Jude - were found and published in the bos of the 20th century. In addition to Greek manuscripts, we have ancient translations or versions in Latin, Syriac, Coptic and other languages ​​(Vetus Itala, Peshitto, Vulgata, etc.), of which the oldest existed already from the 2nd century to P.X.

Finally, numerous quotations from the Church Fathers in Greek and other languages ​​have been preserved in such quantity that if the text of the New Testament were lost and all ancient manuscripts were destroyed, then specialists could restore this text from quotations from the works of the Holy Fathers. All this abundant material makes it possible to check and refine the text of the New Testament and to classify its various forms (the so-called textual criticism). Compared with any ancient author (Homer, Euripides, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Cornelius Nepos, Julius Caesar, Horace, Virgil, etc.), our modern - printed - Greek text of the New Testament is in an exceptionally favorable position. And by the number of manuscripts, and by a short time. separating the oldest of them from the original, and in the number of translations, and in their antiquity, and in the seriousness and volume of critical work carried out on the text, it surpasses all other texts (for details, see: "Hidden Treasures and New Life", archaeological discoveries and the Gospel , Bruges, 1959, pp. 34 ff.).

The text of the New Testament as a whole is fixed absolutely irrefutably.

The New Testament consists of 27 books. They are subdivided into 260 chapters of unequal length by the publishers for ease of reference and quotation. The original text does not contain this division. The modern division into chapters in the New Testament, as in the whole Bible, has often been attributed to the Dominican Cardinal Hugh (1263), who worked it out in composing a symphony to the Latin Vulgate, but it is now thought with great reason that the division goes back to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton, who died in 1228. As for the division into verses now accepted in all editions of the New Testament, it goes back to the publisher of the Greek New Testament text, Robert Stephen, and was introduced by him into his edition in 1551.

The sacred books of the New Testament are usually divided into law-positive (the Four Gospels), historical (the Acts of the Apostles), teaching (seven conciliar epistles and the seventeen epistles of the Apostle Paul) and prophetic: the Apocalypse, or the Revelation of St. John the Theologian (see Metropolitan Philatera's Long Catechism)

However, modern experts consider this distribution outdated: in fact, all the books of the New Testament are both law-positive and historical teaching, and there is prophecy not only in the Apocalypse. New Testament scholarship pays great attention to establishing the exact chronology of the gospels and other New Testament events. Scientific chronology allows the reader to follow with sufficient accuracy the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, the apostles and the original Church according to the New Testament (see Appendixes).

The books of the New Testament can be distributed as follows.

• Three so-called Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and separately, the fourth - the Gospel of John. New Testament scholarship devotes much attention to the study of the relationship of the first three Gospels and their relation to the Gospel of John (the synoptic problem).
• The book of the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of the Apostle Paul ("Corpus Paulinum"), which are usually divided into:
  - Early Epistles: 1 and 2 to the Thessalonians;
  - Great Epistles: to the Galatians, 1 and 2 to the Corinthians, to the Romans;
  - Messages from bonds, i.e., written from Rome, where ap. Paul was in prison: to the Philippians, to the Colossians, to the Ephesians, to Philemon;
  - Pastoral Epistles: 1 to Timothy, to Titus, 2 to Timothy;
  - Epistle to the Hebrews;
• Catholic Epistles ("Corpus Catholicum")
• Revelation of John the Evangelist. (Sometimes in the New Testament they single out "Corpus Joannicum", i.e., everything that the Apostle John wrote for a comparative study of his Gospel in connection with his epistles and Revelation)

four gospel

1. The word "gospel" in Greek means "good news". This is how our Lord Jesus Christ Himself called his teaching (Matthew 24:14; 26:13; Mark 1:15; 13:10; 19:; 16:15). Therefore, for us, the "gospel" is inextricably linked with Him: it is the "good news" of salvation given to the world through the incarnate Son of God. Christ and His apostles preached the gospel without writing it down. By the middle of the 1st century, this sermon was fixed by the Church in a persistent oral tradition. The Eastern custom of memorizing sayings, stories, and even large texts helped the Christians of the apostolic age to accurately preserve the unwritten First Gospel. After the 1950s, when eyewitnesses to Christ's earthly ministry began to pass away one by one, the need arose to record the gospel (Luke 1:1). Thus, the "gospel" began to denote the narration of the teachings of the Savior recorded by the apostles. It was read at prayer meetings and in preparing people for baptism.
2. The most important Christian centers of the 1st c. (Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, Ephesus, etc.) had their own gospels. Of these, only four (Mt, Mk, Lk, Jn) are recognized by the Church as inspired by God, that is, written under the direct influence of the Holy Spirit. They are called "from Matthew", "from Mark", etc. (the Greek kata corresponds to the Russian "according to Matthew", "according to Mark", etc.), because the life and teachings of Christ are set forth in these books by these four priests. Their gospels were not brought together in one book, which made it possible to see the gospel story from different points of view. In the II century. St. Irenaeus of Lyon calls the evangelists by name and points to their gospels as the only canonical ones (Against Heresies, 2, 28, 2). A contemporary of St. Irenaeus Tatian made the first attempt to create a single gospel narrative, composed of various texts of the four gospels, the Diatessaron, i.e., the gospel of the four.
3. The apostles did not set themselves the goal of creating a historical work in the modern sense of the word. They sought to spread the teachings of Jesus Christ, helped people to believe in Him, correctly understand and fulfill His commandments. The testimonies of the evangelists do not coincide in all details, which proves their independence from each other: the testimonies of eyewitnesses are always individual in color. The Holy Spirit does not certify the accuracy of the details of the facts described in the gospel, but the spiritual meaning contained in them.
   The insignificant contradictions encountered in the presentation of the evangelists are explained by the fact that God gave the clergymen complete freedom in conveying certain specific facts in relation to different categories of listeners, which further emphasizes the unity of meaning and direction of all four gospels.

New Testament books

• Gospel of Matthew
• Gospel of Mark
• Gospel of Luke
• Gospel of John

Acts of the Holy Apostles

Cathedral Messages

• The Epistle of James
• First Epistle of Peter
• Second Epistle of Peter
• First Epistle of John
• Second Epistle of John
• Third Epistle of John
• The Epistle of Jude

The Epistles of the Apostle Paul

• Epistle to the Romans
• First Epistle to the Corinthians
• Second Epistle to the Corinthians
• Epistle to the Galatians
• Epistle to the Ephesians
• Epistle to the Philippians
• Epistle to the Colossians
• First Epistle to the Thessalonians
• Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
• First Epistle to Timothy
• Second Epistle to Timothy
• Epistle to Titus
• Epistle to Philemon
• Hebrews

Revelation of John the Evangelist

Bible. Gospel. New Testament. Download Bible. Download Gospel of: Luke, Mark, Matthew, John. Revelation of John the Theologian (Apocalypse). Acts of the Apostles. Epistle of the Apostles. Download format: fb2, doc, docx, pdf, lit, isilo.pdb, rb

How to Study the Bible

Suggested Tips to Help Make Your Bible Study More Fruitful

1. Read the Bible daily, in a quiet and peaceful place where no one bothers you Daily reading, even if you do not read much every day, is more useful than any occasional reading You can start with 15 minutes a day and then gradually increase the time allotted for bible reading
2. Set a goal to know God better and achieve deep love for God in your fellowship with Him. God speaks to us through His Word, and we speak to Him in prayer.
3. Begin your Bible reading with a prayer Ask God to reveal Himself and His will to you Confess to Him sins that may hinder your approach to God.
4. Take brief notes as you read the Bible Write your comments in a notebook or keep a spiritual diary to record your thoughts and inner feelings
5. Read one chapter slowly, maybe two or three chapters You can only read one paragraph, but be sure to reread at least once everything that you have read before in one sitting
6. As a rule, it is very useful in understanding the true meaning of a particular chapter or paragraph to give written answers to the following questions: a What is the main idea of ​​the read text? What is its meaning?
7. Which verse of the text expresses the main idea? (Such “key verses” should be memorized by reading them aloud several times Knowing the verses by heart will allow you to reflect on important spiritual truths during the day, for example, when you are standing in line or riding in public transport, etc. Is there a promise I can claim to keep? d How can I benefit from accepting the truth in the text? Avoid general and vague statements Try to be as clear and specific as possible In your notebook, write how and when you will use the teaching of this or that paragraph or chapter in your life)
8. End with prayer Ask God to give you the inner spiritual strength to draw closer to Him this day Keep talking to God throughout the day His presence will help you be strong in any situation

Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 1 Genealogy of Jesus Christ from Joseph to Abraham. Joseph, at first, did not want to live with Mary because of her unexpected pregnancy, but he obeyed the Angel. They had Jesus. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 2 The magi saw in the sky the star of the birth of the king's son, and they came to congratulate Herod. But, they were sent to Bethlehem, where they gave gold, frankincense, oil to Jesus. Herod killed the babies, but Jesus escaped in Egypt. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 3 John the Baptist does not allow the Pharisees to bathe, because deeds are important for repentance, not words. Jesus asks Him to baptize, John, at first, refuses. Jesus Himself will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 4 The devil tempts Jesus in the desert: make bread out of a stone, jump off a roof, bow down for money. Jesus refused, and began to preach, to call the first apostles, to heal the sick. Became famous. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 5 Sermon on the Mount: 9 Beatitudes, you are the salt of the earth, the light of the world. Don't break the law. Do not be angry, put up, do not be tempted, do not divorce, do not swear, do not fight, help, love enemies. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 6 The Sermon on the Mount: On Secret Almsgiving and the Our Father Prayer. About fasting and forgiveness. A true treasure in Heaven. The eye is a lamp. Or God, or wealth. God knows about the need for food and clothing. Seek the truth. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 7 Sermon on the Mount: Take the beam out of your eye, don't throw pearls. Seek and you will find. Do to others as you do to yourself. The tree bears good fruit, and people will enter Heaven on business. Build a house on stone - taught with authority. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 8 Healing a leper, Peter's mother-in-law. Military faith. Jesus has nowhere to sleep. The way the dead bury themselves. The wind and the sea obey Jesus. Healing of the Possessed. Pigs drowned from demons, and livestock breeders are unhappy. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 9 Is it easier for a paralyzed man to command to walk or to forgive sins? Jesus eats with sinners, fasting - then. About a container for wine, repair of clothes. Resurrection of a girl. Healing the bleeding, the blind, the dumb. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 10 Jesus sends 12 apostles to preach and heal for free, for food and lodging. You will be judged, Jesus will be called the devil. Save yourself with patience. Walk everywhere. There are no secrets. God will watch over you and reward you. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 11 John asks about the Messiah. Jesus praises John that he is greater than a prophet, but lesser with God. Heaven is achieved by effort. To eat or not to eat? Reproach to the cities. God is revealed to infants and workers. Light burden. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 12 God wants mercy and kindness, not sacrifice. You can treat on Saturday - it's not from the devil. Do not blaspheme the Spirit, justification comes from words. Good from the heart. Sign of Jonah. The hope of the peoples is in Jesus, His mother is the disciples. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 13 About the sower: people are fruitful like grain. Parables are easier to understand. Weeds from wheat will be separated later. The Kingdom of Heaven grows like grain, rises like leaven, profitable, like treasure and pearls, like a net with fish. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 14 Herod cut off the head of John the Baptist at the request of his wife and daughter. Jesus healed the sick and fed 5,000 hungry people with five loaves and two fish. At night, Jesus went to the boat on the water, and Peter wanted to do the same. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 15 The disciples do not wash their hands, and the Pharisees do not follow the words, thus they are defiled - blind guides. A bad gift to God, instead of a gift to parents. Dogs eat crumbs - heal your daughter. He treated and fed 4000 with 7 loaves and fish. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 16 A pink sunset signifies clear weather. Avoid the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Jesus is the Christ, they will kill and rise again. Church on Petra-stone. By following Christ to death, you will save your soul, you will be rewarded according to your deeds. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 17 Transfiguration of Jesus. John the Baptist is like the prophet Elijah. Demons are driven out by prayer and fasting, the healing of the lad. Need to believe. Jesus will be killed, but will rise again. Taxes are taken from strangers, but it is easier to pay them to the Temple. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 18 Woe to the one who seduces, it is better to be without an arm, leg and eye. It is not the will of God to die. Farewell obedient 7x70 times. Jesus among two supplicants. Parable about the evil debtor. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 19 one flesh. You won't be able to marry. Let the kids come. God alone is good. Righteous - distribute the estate. It is difficult for a rich man to go to God. Those who follow Jesus will sit down to judge. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 20 Parable: They worked differently, but they paid the same because of bonuses. Jesus will be crucified, but will rise again, and who will sit on the sides depends on God. Do not dominate, but serve like Jesus. Healing of 2 blind people. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 21 Entry into Jerusalem, hosanna to Jesus. The expulsion of merchants from the Temple. Speak with faith. Baptism of John from Heaven? Performed not in words, but in deeds. A parable about the punishment of evil vinedressers. The main stone of God. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 22 In the Kingdom of Heaven, as well as for a wedding, dress up, do not be late, and behave with dignity. Caesar minted coins - return a part, and God - God's. There is no registry office in Heaven. God among the living. Love God and neighbor. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 23 You are brothers, don't get carried away. The temple is worth more than gold. Judgment, mercy, faith. Outwardly beautiful, but inside bad. The blood of the prophets is on the Jerusalemites. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 24 When the end of the world is not clear, but you will understand: the sun will be darkened, signs in the sky, there is the Gospel. Before that: wars, devastation, famine, disease, impostors. Prepare, hide and save yourself. Do everything right. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 25 5 smart girls made it to the wedding, while others didn't. The cunning slave was punished for 0 income, and the profitable ones were promoted. The king will punish the goats, and reward the righteous sheep for good guesses: fed, clothed, visited. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 26 Valuable oil for Jesus, the poor will wait. Judas was hired to betray. Last Supper, Body and Blood. Prayer on the mountain. Judas kisses, arrest of Jesus. Peter fought with a knife, but denied. Jesus was convicted of blasphemy. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 27 Judas repented, quarreled and hanged himself. At the trial, Pilate doubts the crucifixion of Jesus, but the people took the blame: the King of the Jews. Signs and death of Jesus. Burial in a cave, guarded entrance, sealed. Gospel of Matthew. Matt. Chapter 28 On Sunday, a blazing Angel frightened the guards, opened the cave, told the women that Jesus had risen from the dead, would soon appear. They taught the guards: you fell asleep, the body was stolen. Jesus commanded to teach and baptize the nations.

Genealogy of Jesus Christ () and His birth ().

. Genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham.

"Genealogy": the calculus of ancestors in succession descending, as here in ev. Matthew, or ascending, as in Ev. Luke (and gave.), OK. It was customary among Eastern writers in general and among Jewish writers in particular, when describing the life of a famous person, to indicate his genealogical table, as is evident from the books of Moses, Ruth, Kings and Chronicles. But the evangelist Matthew, placing the genealogy of the Lord, no doubt, had a particularly important goal - to show that he descended precisely from those persons to whom the promise of the descent of the Messiah from them was given in ancient times, as can be seen from the further words of the evangelist. And placed at the beginning of the first Gospel, and with it the entire composition of the New Testament books, the genealogy of the Lord constitutes a wonderful transition from the Old Testament to the New.

- “Jesus Christ”: Jesus (in Greek Ἰησjῦς, in Hebrew - Yeshua, shortened from Yehoshua) means the Savior or simply the Savior (see Athan. V. 4, 513), - the name is quite common among the Jews. But here, in its application to Christ, it had a special meaning, expressing the concepts of the work He had done for the salvation of the human race (cf. note, k). - Christ is a Greek word and means anointed - the same as the Jewish Mashiach - the Messiah, which is why Jesus is called either Christ or Messiah, which is all the same (cf.). Among the Jews, kings and high priests, and sometimes prophets, were anointed with oil, which is why they were called anointed (Mashiach - . . . . (cf. ;). Anointing meant the same as the consecration of the elect to a special service to God or the Church of God on earth. It was an external sign of the pouring out of the special gifts of God on the anointed one.In these meanings, the name of Christ - the Messiah - the Anointed One is assimilated primarily to the Lord Jesus, as the king, high priest and prophet, to whom the gifts of the spirit are communicated beyond measure, moreover, His communicant (.). - " Son of David ": the word son among the Jews was used in different meanings: it meant a son in the proper sense (cf. and others), then - an adopted person (.), further - a descendant in general (. and others), had others not eigenvalues. Here this word means descendant David, a later member of the house of David. For the evangelist, who originally wrote his gospel for Jewish believers, it was very important to point to Jesus as a descendant of Davidova because, according to the promise given to this king-prophet (and gave.; and gave.; and gave.; and gave.), it was from his kind that the Messiah was to come; and this confidence was so strong in the Jews that they could not have been persuaded that Jesus was the Messiah, unless it had been proved to them that he was descended from the line of David (cf. . . . and others). - "Son of Abraham": even before David, Abraham, the forefather of the Jewish people, was given a promise by God that the Messiah (Christ) Savior would come from his offspring (, cf. .), and for the same reasons it was very important for the evangelist to show that Christ comes from the kind of father believers - Abraham. Thus, born in humiliation, Jesus, the son of Mary and the imaginary father of his Joseph, was, according to the promises, the descendant of the father of the believers, Abraham, and the greatest of the kings of the Jews, David. “But why didn’t the evangelist first name Abraham’s son, and then David’s? - Because David was especially famous among the Jews both for the fame of his deeds and for the time of his life, for he died long after Abraham. Although he made a promise to both, little was said about the promise given to Abraham, as of old, and the promise given to David, as recent and new, was repeated by everyone (cf.). And no one called Christ the son of Abraham, but everyone called the son of David. Therefore, the evangelist first mentions David, as the most famous, and then turns to Abraham, as the ancestor, and Poelik says to the Jews, he considers it superfluous to start the genealogy from the most ancient generations ”( Gold., cf. Feof.).

. Abraham begat Isaac; Isaac begat Jacob; Jacob begat Judah and his brothers;

The genealogy of Christ from Abraham is as follows: "Abraham begat Isaac"; about this is narrated in the book of Genesis - and gave. The evangelist's genealogy includes only chapters generations from which the Messiah was to come, and not all members of the family. Therefore the birth of Isaac alone is here spoken of, and not the other children of Abraham; further, the birth of Isaac only Jacob is spoken of; of Jacob's children, only Judas is named by name, and so on. - "Isaac begat Jacob": . - "Jacob - Judas" and his brothers: cf. etc. “Why does the evangelist, having mentioned Abraham and said that he begat Isaac, and Isaac of Jacob, does not mention the brother of the latter, whereas after Jacob he mentions Judas and his brothers? The reason for this is given by some to Esau's wickedness, saying the same about some other ancestors. But I will not say this: for if this were so, then why is there a mention of malevolent wives a little after? The reason is that the Saracens and the Ishmaelites, the Arabs and all who descended from those ancestors, had nothing to do with the people of Israel. Therefore, he kept silent about them, and refers directly to the ancestors of Jesus and the people of the Jews ”( Gold.).

. Judah begat Perez and Zerah by Tamar; Perez begat Esrom; Esrom begat Aram; Aram begat Aminadab; Aminadab begat Nahshon; Nahshon begat Salmon; Salmon begat Boaz by Rahava; Boaz begat Obed by Ruth; Obed begat Jesse;

"Judah - Perez and Zara from Tamar": . "Fares - Esroma": . "Esrom - Arama": . "Aram - Aminadava": . "Aminadav - Naassona": . Between Perez (), who moved to Egypt with the family of Jacob, and Nahsson (), who, when the Jews left Egypt, after 430 years of their stay there, was the ancestor of the tribe of Judah (), only three members of the genealogy are named here; it seems - some are omitted, like . There are omissions below, as we will see, made for special purposes (see note to). "Nahsson - Salmona": . "Salmon - Boaz from Rahava": . . "Boaz - Obida from Ruth": . "Ovid - Jesse": .

. Jesse begat David the king; David the king gave birth to Solomon from the former after Uriah;

"Jesse begat David the king": . and d. "David - Solomon from the former for Uriah": . In verses 3, 5 and 6, contrary to the custom of Eastern writers ( Euph. Zig.), are entered into the genealogical table of a woman, and, moreover, as St. Chrysostom, "malicious". In explanation of this he, in the words of the 3rd verse: "Judah begat Perez and Zerah by Tamar", remarks: “What are you doing, inspired man, reminding us of the history of lawless incest? And why is he saying this? - If we began to list the genus of any ordinary person, then it would be decent to keep silent about that matter. But in the genealogy of the incarnate God, not only should not be silent, but it should also be publicly announced about this in order to show His providence and power. For He did not come to avoid our disgrace, but to destroy it ... Christ should be surprised not only because he took on the flesh and became a man, but also because he deigned vicious people to be his relatives, not being ashamed none of our vices; moreover, He also wants to show that everyone, even the forefathers themselves, are guilty of sins. Thus, the patriarch, from whom the very name the Jewish people received, turns out to be a no small sinner: for Tamar denounces him. And David by an adulterous wife gave birth to Solomon. But if these great men have not kept the law, how much more those who are inferior to them. And if they didn’t, then everyone sinned, and the coming of Christ was necessary. Do you see that it is not for a few and unimportant reasons that the evangelist mentioned the whole story of Judas? For the same reason, Ruth and Rahab are mentioned, of whom one was a foreigner, and the other a harlot, i.e. in order to teach you that the Savior came to destroy all our sins, came as a doctor, and not as a judge ... So, the evangelist compiled a genealogy and placed these wives in it in order to shame the Jews with such examples and teach them not to be arrogant ”(cf. . Theophilus.).

. Solomon begat Rehoboam; Rehoboam begat Abijah; Abijah begat Asa; Asa begat Jehoshaphat; Jehoshaphat begat Jehoram; Jehoram begat Uzziah; Uzziah begat Jotham; Jotham begat Ahaz; Ahaz begat Hezekiah; Hezekiah begat Manasseh; Manasseh begat Amon; Amon begat Josiah;

"Solomon begat Rehoboam": . . "Rehoboam - Abijah": . "Avia - Asu":. "Asa begat Jehoshaphat": . "Josaphat-Jorama": . "Joram to Uzziah": . . . Actually, Jehoram begat Ahaziah, Ahaziah - Jehoash, Jehoash - Amaziah, and Amassiah - Uzziah - three kings are omitted (see note to). - "Uzziah begat Jotham": . "Joatham - Ahaz": . Ahaz to Hezekiah: . . "Hezekiah begat Manasseh": . . "Manasseh - Amun": . . "Amon - Josiah": .

. Josiah begat Joachim; Joachim begat Jeconiah and his brothers before moving to Babylon.

"Josiah begat Jeconiah and his brothers". Josiah begat Joachim, Joachim begat Jeconiah: . ; again one member of the genealogy is omitted. However, in some ancient manuscripts it is not omitted and, on the basis of them, it is included in our Slavic translation: (on a breze) and in Russian (in the text). "Before Migration to Babylon": under the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar around 588 BC. Chr. (). Babylon - the capital city of the Babylonian kingdom, vast and powerful then - stood on the Euphrates, a river that flows into the Persian Gulf; now they are looking for the ruins of this magnificent and once rich city. The Jews spent 70 years in captivity, according to the prophecy of the prophet Jeremiah ().

. After moving to Babylon, Jehoiachin gave birth to Salafiel; Salafiel begat Zerubbabel;

"Jehoniah begat Salaphiel": . Jeconiah did not have children according to the flesh: for when he was taken into captivity in Babylon, he was childless (. cf.), but during the captivity in prison and after the captivity in old age he could not have children, and the word of God, spoken through Jeremiah , should have been carried out on it - and it came. Therefore, if several sons of Jeconiah are mentioned: these were his children by adoption or law zhizchistvo(from the word uzik, which means relative). According to this law (. . cf. etc.), the brother or next of kin of the deceased childless had to enter into marriage with his widow and restore his seed; the children born of this were considered the children of the deceased, although according to the flesh they belonged to the one who restored the seed, and thus had two fathers, one according to the flesh, the other (who died) according to the law. Such were the children of Jeconiah, and, moreover, the restorer of the seed was a member not from the offspring of Solomon, but from the offspring of his mother's brother Nathan, since the brothers and closest relatives of Jeconiah and Zedekiah - the last kings before the captivity - were put to death. Thus, Niri (from the descendants of Nathan) is a member of the genealogy, because his son Salathiel was adopted by Jeconiah (cf. and). - "Salafiel begat Zerubbabel": Salafiel, according to the testimony of the 1st book, was childless, but his brother Thedaiia (according to the law of widowhood, bore him children, of which the eldest - Zerubbabel - was revered as the legitimate son of Salafiel.

. Zerubbabel begat Abihu; Abihu begat Eliakim; Eliakim begat Azor; Azor begat Zadok; Zadok begat Achim; Achim begat Elihu; Elihu begat Eleazar; Eleazar begat Matthan; Matthan begat Jacob; James begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom Jesus, called Christ, was born.

"Zerubbabel begat Abihu... Matthan begat Jacob": all names from history are unknown: probably, all these members of the genealogy were preserved in family records or in legend, in any case, the genealogy in this part, no doubt, is reliable. - "Jacob begat Joseph, husband of Mary"“What shows that Christ is descended from David? He was born not from a husband, but from one wife, and the evangelist does not have the genealogy of a virgin; so, why can we know that Christ was a descendant of David? .. Gabriel commands to go to the virgin betrothed to her husband, named Joseph, from the house of David (). What do you desire more clearly than this when you hear that the virgin was from the house of David? This shows that Joseph also came from the same generation. For there was a law that commanded to take a wife not from another, but from the same tribe ... The Jews are not allowed to take a wife not only from another tribe, but from another clan or tribe. And so the words: from the house of David, whether we refer to the virgin, what was said above will remain undoubted, or if we apply it to Joseph, what was said about him will also apply to the virgin. If Joseph was from the house of David, then he took a wife not from a different kind, but from the same one from which he himself came ”( Gold., cf. Theophilus.). - “Husband of Mary”: husband only by betrothal (see note to). - "From whom he was born": cf. .– "Jesus called Christ": cf. approx. to .

. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the migration to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the migration to Babylon to Christ, fourteen generations.

"Fourteen Generations": the evangelist divides the genealogy into three periods and names 2 * 7 = 14 genera in each of them. Although in some periods there were more than 14 births, the superfluous ones are omitted. Probably, this was done to facilitate memory, so that it would be more convenient to remember the pedigree table. According to the explanation of St. 3latoust, “the evangelist divided the entire genealogy into three parts, wishing to show that the Jews did not become better with the change of government, but in the days of the aristocracy, and under the kings, and during the oligarchy, they indulged in the same vices; under the rule of judges, priests and kings, they had no particular success in virtue" (as some of the names in each part testify to this). Periods:

1	2	3
From Abraham to David	From David to Captivity	From captivity to Christ
1. Abraham	1. Solomon	1. Jeconiah
Isaac	Rehoboam	Salafiel
Jacob	Avia	Zerubbabel
Judas	Asa	Aviud
5. Fares	5. Jehoshaphat	5. Eliakim
Esrom	Joram	Azor
Aram	Ozziah	sadok
Aminadav	Jotham	Achim
Nahsson	Ahaz	Eliud
10. Salmon	10. Hezekiah	10. Eleazar
Boaz	Manasia	matfan
Ovid	Ammon	Jacob
Jesse	Josiah	Joseph
David	Joachim	Christ
14	14	14

"The Evangelist ranks Christ himself among the generations, everywhere copulating Him with us" ( Gold.).

. The Nativity of Jesus Christ was like this: after the betrothal of His Mother Mary to Joseph, before they were combined, it turned out that She was pregnant with the Holy Spirit.

“After betrothal”: betrothal among the Jews consisted in an agreement that was concluded between the father of the bride and the father of the groom or, for their fathers, the closest relatives of the groom and bride, and the price of the bride, or gifts, was also given. - “With Joseph”: he was from the family of David (), at that time humiliated; craft - carpenter (cf.). According to legend, he was at that time already elderly and widowed. A distant relative of Mary, he became engaged to her only to be the guardian of her vow of virginity (Chet Min March 25, and December 25–27). - "Before they were combined": between the day of betrothal and the day of marriage, several times passed, sometimes several months, during which the bride, staying in the house of relatives, was already considered the wife of the betrothed; however ("it seems" Gold.) it also happened that the betrothed lived together, but did not have marital communication. Tradition, according to the indication of Ev. Luke, says that the betrothed Mary lived in the house of Joseph in Nazareth. - After the betrothal of Mary to Joseph, before they were combined, it turned out that She had in the womb "from the Holy Spirit". “Very expressively said the evangelist: "it turned out that she had in the womb", - as they usually say about special incidents that happen beyond all expectation and unexpected "( Gold., cf. Euph. Zig.: said - it turned out due to surprise). “Therefore, do not prostrate further, do not demand anything more than what has been said, and do not ask how the Spirit formed the child in the virgin. For if it is impossible to explain the method of this formation during natural action, then how can this be explained when the Spirit worked miraculously? ( Gold.).

. Joseph her husband, being righteous and not wanting to publicize her, wanted to secretly let her go.

"Her husband": only still betrothed. - "Being Righteous": δι'χαιος, 1) just, such a person who gives everyone their due; 2) kind (), loving, who softens the severity of the law with mercy, love, kindness. Joseph showed his justice in the fact that, suspecting his betrothed of infidelity, he did not want to combine with her contrary to the law, but intended to let her go; but his kindness lies in the fact that he wanted to secretly let her go, without publicly disclosing her. - "Not wanting to publicize it": according to the law of Moses, the betrothed, who violated fidelity before the time of marriage, was stoned before the gates of the city (), i.e. suffered the most shameful and painful death. Then the law granted the husband the right to release his wife from himself by giving her a letter of divorce (). It was customary in this divorce letter to indicate the reasons for the divorce, and there had to be witnesses, which was in any case shameful for the wife. Joseph, out of his kindness, not only did not want to subject his betrothed to legal execution, but did not even want to disgrace her by giving her a letter of divorce with the formalities prescribed by the law, but thought, without disclosing the reasons for the divorce, secretly, without dishonor, let her go Push. Joseph, apparently, did not know at all until now about the annunciation and the seedless conception of a baby in the womb of Mary.

. But when he thought this, behold, the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said: Joseph, son of David! do not be afraid to take Mary your wife, for what is born in her is from the Holy Spirit; she will give birth to a Son, and you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

"When He Thought It": Why didn't the angel tell Joseph before he was embarrassed? Lest Joseph discover unbelief, and the same thing happen to him as to Zechariah. It is not difficult to believe a deed when it is already before one's eyes; and when there is no beginning of it, then the words will not be accepted so easily ... For the same reason, the maiden was also silent. For she thought that she would not assure the bridegroom by talking about an unusual deed, but, on the contrary, would upset him by giving the idea that she was covering up the crime that had been committed. If she herself, hearing about the bit of grace bestowed upon her, judges humanly and says: how “This will happen when I don’t know my husband”(); then Joseph would have doubted much more, especially when he heard about this from a suspected wife ”( Gold.). – Angel of the Lord: Angel means messenger; by this name in the Holy Scriptures proper spiritual-intelligent beings are called, who stood in goodness when the devils fell; they live in heaven and are sent by God to proclaim and fulfill His will, and they use various means, appearing in a dream, in a vision, in reality, taking on a human form. - “In a dream”: a way of revealing the will of God, not uncommon in the Old Testament: . and gave. . etc. - “Son of David”: The angel calls Joseph a descendant of David, a reminder of him, arousing faith in his words about his promised descendant to David - the Messiah. - “Do not be afraid” that by accepting your non-idle betrothed, you will break the law and offend God; "Do not be afraid", do not doubt her purity and innocence. - "Accept": to keep her in his house, since in thought Joseph had already let her go. - “What is born in her is from the Holy Spirit”: cf. .- “She will give birth to a son”: eliminating Joseph’s doubt and revealing the secret that confused him, the Angel assures that Mary will give birth to a son and predicts his name; from the explanation of this name, as well as from the instructions of the angel to conceive a son from the Holy Spirit, Joseph could notice that we are talking about the Messiah. - "He will save": the name Jesus means Savior, and He, according to this name, really saved people with his redemptive . - "His people": all those whom the Father gave Him (). The people or people of God were actually called the Jews, because they were especially chosen and generous as his especially beloved people, and they sent the Messiah Jesus to redeem all people through Him. All who turn to Christ from all nations and at all times are people of God and Christ (cf. Gold.). - "From their sins": there is a reason for the separation between God and man and the reason for all evil; therefore, to save from sins means to reconcile people with God and grant them the blessed union with God lost through sin, in which those who truly believe in Christ and stand in spiritual communion with Him are found.

. And all this happened, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would come true, who says: behold, the Virgin in the womb will receive and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel, which means: God is with us.

“And all this happened, so that what was said will come true” etc.: the evangelist Matthew, assigning his gospel initially to believers among the Jews, is therefore in the habit, mainly before other evangelists, in the events of the life of Christ, to indicate the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, which was especially important for the Jews (see and many others. ). So here, in the birth of Christ from a virgin, the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy about this is indicated (St. Golden, Theophilus. And Euph. Zig. the words of verses 22 and 23 are taken as a continuation of the Angel's speech). - May it come true: to be fulfilled. These words (as well as other similar ones) must be understood not so that the Messiah was born in order for the prophecy to be fulfilled, but so that the prophecy was given because the Messiah was to be born, and therefore it came to pass, came true.

"Through the prophet": Isaiah - more than 700 years before the birth of Christ. It was uttered on the occasion of the invasion then under Ahaz of the combined troops of the kings of Israel and Syria on Judah in order to dethrone the house of David, with which the promises of the Messiah were connected. The prophet assures that the plans of these kings will not come true, and in confirmation of this a sign is given as follows: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son" etc. (). The meaning of the prophecy is this: the house of David will not be deprived of the kingdom, for from it the Messiah from a virgin must be born in due time; Until then, the reigning lineage of David will not cease, and the enemies who now threaten him will not succeed in anything. The distant future event is presented by the prophet as a sign or proof of the near future, just as Moses pointed out the future worship of the people on the mountain, as proof that the people will indeed soon leave Egypt ().

"Emmanuel - God is with us": appeared on earth and dwells among men in human form, connecting the deity with humanity (). Why is His name not Immanuel, but Jesus? Because it's not said call, but - they will call, i.e. peoples and the event itself. Here the name is borrowed from the incident, as it is characteristic of Scripture to use incidents instead of names. So the words: "His name will be called Immanuel" mean the very thing that they will see God with people. For although he has always been with people, he has never been so clearly" ( Gold., cf. Theophilus.).

. Rising from sleep, Joseph did as the Angel of the Lord commanded him, and accepted his wife, and did not know Her, how at last She gave birth to her firstborn Son, and he called His name: Jesus.

"I took my wife": only betrothed to him, accepted as a wife to his house, or left her to live in his house (cf. note to); The Jewish bride was called wife. - “Didn't know her. How I finally gave birth: actually - until she gave birth: the doctrine of the ever-virginity of the Most Holy Theotokos. The evangelist used his how long, but you do not suspect from the fact that Joseph later knew her. The Evangelist only lets them know that the virgin before birth was completely inviolable; what happened after birth, that leaves you to judge for yourself. What you need to know from him, he said, i.e. that the virgin was inviolable before birth, and what is self-evident from what has been said as a true consequence, then leaves it to your own reflection, i.e., that such a righteous man (like Joseph) did not want to know the virgin after she so miraculously became a mother and merited to give birth in an unheard-of way and to bring forth an extraordinary fruit" ( Gold. God commands to sanctify to himself every firstborn, regardless of whether there will be children after him or not, and the only begotten was the firstborn. “She calls him the firstborn, not because she had any other son, but simply because he was the first born, and, moreover, the only one: for Christ is both the firstborn, as he was born first, and the only begotten, as he has no brother” ( Theophilus.). If the Gospels mention the brothers of Jesus Christ (. etc.) and they are even called by their names (; . - James, Josiah, Simon and Judas): then they were not relatives, but His named brothers - the children of Joseph the betrothed from the first his marriage Grieg. B., Epith., Kiril. Alexander., Hilary, Eusebius, Theophilus. and others. Cf. Thu Min December 26). Less likely is the opinion that the mentioned persons were cousins ​​of Jesus Christ - the children of Cleopas, brother of Joseph, and Mary, sister of the Mother of God, although they hold this opinion bl. Jerome, Theodoret And Augustine.