Advent 4 – December 19, 2010

Isaiah 7:19-16 and Matthew 1:18-25

            This week I’m struck by the contrast between Ahaz and Joseph, two characters who are both given signs about what God has in store for God’s people.  First, in the OT text, the prophet invites Ahaz, the king of Judah, to ask for a sign from God.  The context is that the Northern Kingdom and Aram have formed an alliance to defeat Judah, and Ahaz is scared.  God tries to reassure Ahaz that there’s nothing to be afraid of from “these two smoldering stumps of firebrands” (7:4) – that Judah is going to be just fine if Ahaz will just cool it.  So then, in verse 10, God invites Ahaz to ask for a sign, any sign:   “Whatever you need me to show you to prove that my credit is good, just tell me.”  But Ahaz makes an excuse: “Oh, I could never do that!  It just wouldn’t be right to go and pull God’s credit report!”  In other words, Ahaz apparently doesn’t want to do business with God, he’d rather just be left alone with his fear.  God’s response?  Like it or not, Ahaz, “God is with us.”  See that young pregnant woman over there? says God.  Well, she’s going to have her baby and name it “Immanuel,” and by the time that child comes of age he’s going to be eating the kind of foods you can’t get when you’re under siege.  Why?  Because in just a few years, both Aram and the northern kingdom will both be defeated.  In other words, God’s sign comes to Ahaz, and God’s promise to God’s people, whether Ahaz likes it or not. 

            Then there’s Joseph.  While Luke’s birth narrative focuses on Mary, Matthew’s focuses on Joseph – I suppose because Matthew is trying especially hard to show Jesus’ descent from David, which comes through Joseph (see 1:16).  Joseph also gets a sign from God.  But while Isaiah shows us that Ahaz has nothing but false piety, with Ahaz’s lame excuses to God, Matthew shows us a guy who is nothing but pious – and then some.  Joseph is a “righteous” man, so when his fiancée turns up pregnant (and clearly not by him) he plans to divorce her quietly – i.e., just call off the engagement rather than subjecting her to public humiliation or worse (see Deut. 22:13ff. if you’re curious).  In other words, as a good Torah-following man, Joseph takes the most gracious path he can think of – which is why God needs to nudge him a little further.  As we well know, an angel comes to him in a dream and tells him the child is not another man’s but God’s; that the child will be named “Jesus” which is related to “Joshua” which means loosely “he saves.”  And Joseph, being true to his OT namesake, interprets the dream correctly and changes his plan, marrying Mary and naming the child Jesus just like the angel told him to.  In other words, Matthew portrays Joseph’s devotion to God as being so sincere that Joseph is open to God doing something unexpected.  And man, this text is noisy with OT echoes bouncing off the walls – Joseph/Joseph, Jesus/Joshua, “he saves”/”God is with us.”

Works consulted:

J. J. M. Roberts' notes to the Isaiah text and Dennis Duling's notes to Matthew in the HarperCollins Study Bible.