😇 Advent 4

📜Isaiah 7 :10-16 🎶Psalm 80 (__ LXX) :1-7, 17-19 ✉️Romans 1 :1-7 😇Matthew 1 :18-25

Central Thesis/Theme: A distinctive six-part Hebraic formula—"You shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name X"—appears only twice in Scripture when spoken by a divine messenger: to Hagar about Ishmael and to Mary about Jesus. This pattern reveals how Matthew and Luke connect Jesus not just to Isaiah's prophecy but to the very first child born according to God's promise.

Key Textual/Historical Insights: The formula consists of two three-part sections. Matthew explicitly cites Isaiah 7:14 and the name Immanuel ("God with us"), but doesn't mention Samson despite the pattern appearing in Judges 13. This may be Matthew's sensitivity to violent figures, even though he doesn't shy from including unsavory characters like Rahab in his genealogy. The Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) provides older textual witnesses than the Masoretic Hebrew text, which wasn't vowel-pointed until the ninth century.

Theological Argument: The name "Ishmael" means "God hears," directly invoking the Shema of Deuteronomy 6. Every time Jews recite the Shema, they evoke Ishmael's name. God hears when deliverance is needed—whether it's Hagar's cry, Abel's blood from the ground, or the promise of a deliverer. Jesus and Ishmael share this unique bond through the six-part formula, linking Christ back to the beginning of God's promise-keeping, before judges and kings. God's deliverance doesn't always come in the package we'd prefer—sometimes it's Samuel, sometimes it's Samson—but God sends what's needed.

Contemporary Application: Just as the Hebrew text required active engagement (reading aloud with only consonants), we're called to wrestle with God's Word rather than passively consume it. Resources like Blue Letter Bible make this accessible without paywalls or gatekeeping. The reminder that "Yahweh" isn't accurately reduced to "Father God of the sky" challenges imperial or patriarchal theology—God is Emmanuel, "with us," embodied and present rather than distant and dominating.

Questions Raised:

• Why does Matthew avoid citing Samson despite the pattern's presence in Judges?
• How does recognizing Ishmael's connection to Jesus reshape our understanding of God's promises and who receives them?
• What does it mean that the Shema evokes Ishmael every time it's spoken?
• How does this six-part formula challenge conventional messianic expectations?