📖 Injili ya Mathayo, Somo la Kina — Sehemu ya 1: Asili ya Mfalme📖 Matthew Intensive — Unit 1: The King's Origins

Andiko: Mathayo 1:23Text: Matthew 1:23

Injili ya MfalmeThe Gospel of the King

Mathayo aliketi kuandika kitabu cha kwanza cha Agano Jipya akiwa na lengo moja kuu: kuwathibitishia watu wake mwenyewe kwamba Yesu wa Nazareti ndiye Mfalme waliyekuwa wakimngoja — Masihi aliyeahidiwa katika Torati na Manabii. Tangu mstari wa kwanza hadi wa mwisho anaendelea kupiga noti moja: hayo yote yamekuwa ili litimie. Yeye ni Injili ya utimilizo. Mara kwa mara anarudi nyuma katika Agano la Kale na kuonyesha kwamba habari iliyoanza na Ibrahimu na kupita kwa Daudi imefikia mwisho wake uliokusudiwa katika mtoto aliyezaliwa Bethlehemu. Kwa hiyo, kabla hatujafika kwenye Mahubiri ya Mlimani au mfano hata mmoja, Mathayo anatumia sura mbili kutueleza mtoto huyu ni nani na ametoka wapi. Anajibu swali la utambulisho kwanza, kwa sababu kila kitu kingine katika kitabu kinategemea jibu hilo.Matthew sat down to write the first book of the New Testament with one great aim: to prove to his own people that Jesus of Nazareth is the King they had waited for — the Messiah promised in the Law and the Prophets. From first verse to last he keeps sounding one note: this was done that it might be fulfilled. He is the Gospel of fulfillment. Again and again he reaches back into the Old Testament and shows that the story which began with Abraham and ran through David has come to its appointed end in a child born in Bethlehem. So before we ever reach the Sermon on the Mount or a single parable, Matthew spends two chapters telling us who this child is and where He came from. He answers the question of identity first, because everything else in the book depends on the answer.

Injili Inayoanza kwa UkooA Gospel That Begins with a Genealogy

Kwa msomaji wa kisasa ni njia ya ajabu ya kufungua kitabu — majina arobaini na kitu, mengi yao magumu kutamka, "Ibrahimu alimzaa Isaka, Isaka akamzaa Yakobo," na kuendelea hivyo. Tunajaribiwa kuiruka orodha na kwenda moja kwa moja kwenye habari yenyewe. Lakini Mathayo hapotezi muda wetu; anaweka msingi. Mstari wa kwanza kabisa unatueleza orodha hii ni ya nini: "Kitabu cha ukoo wa Yesu Kristo, mwana wa Daudi, mwana wa Ibrahimu" (Mathayo 1:1). Majina mawili yanasimama juu kuliko mengine yote. Mwana wa Daudi maana yake ni kwamba Yesu ndiye Mfalme halali, mrithi wa kiti cha enzi cha Daudi, Yule ambaye manabii walisema ufalme wake hautakuwa na mwisho. Mwana wa Ibrahimu maana yake ni kwamba Yeye ndiye Yule ambaye ndani yake, kama Mungu alivyomwahidi Ibrahimu, jamaa zote za dunia zingebarikiwa — si Wayahudi peke yao, bali mataifa. Ukoo huu ni njia ya Mathayo ya kusema: hili si tukio la bahati tu katika historia. Mungu amekuwa akifanya kazi kuelekea mtoto huyu kwa miaka elfu mbili.It strikes the modern reader as a strange way to open a book — forty-some names, most of them hard to pronounce, "Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob," and on it goes. We are tempted to skip it and get to the story. But Matthew is not wasting our time; he is laying a foundation. The very first line tells us what the list is for: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham" (Matthew 1:1). Two names tower over the rest. Son of David means Jesus is the rightful King, the heir of David's throne, the One of whom the prophets said His kingdom would have no end. Son of Abraham means He is the One in whom, as God promised Abraham, all the families of the earth would be blessed — not the Jews only, but the nations. The genealogy is Matthew's way of saying: this is no accident of history. God has been working toward this child for two thousand years.

Mathayo anaipanga orodha katika makundi matatu ya vizazi kumi na vinne — kutoka Ibrahimu hadi Daudi, kutoka Daudi hadi uhamisho, kutoka uhamisho hadi Kristo. Anaonyesha mpangilio wa makusudi, historia inayosonga kwa kusudi kuelekea lengo. Msomaji anakusudiwa kuhisi uchungu mrefu wa kungoja, na kisha faraja ya kufika.Matthew arranges the list in three sets of fourteen — from Abraham to David, from David to the exile, from the exile to Christ. He is showing a deliberate pattern, a history moving on purpose toward a goal. The reader is meant to feel the long ache of waiting, and then the relief of arrival.

Neema Katika Mti wa UkooGrace in the Family Tree

Kisha unakuja mshangao ambao msomaji makini wa ulimwengu wa kale asingeutarajia kamwe. Koo za Kiyahudi zilifuatilia akina baba; wanawake walitajwa mara chache sana. Hata hivyo Mathayo anawataja wanne — wala si mama wakuu wa taifa, Sara, Rebeka na Raheli, bali wanne ambao habari zao zina alama ya mgeni au kumbukumbu ya kashfa. Yupo Tamari, aliyemdanganya Yuda; Rahabu, kahaba wa Yeriko, Mmataifa; Ruthu, Mmoabi mwema ambaye watu wake mwenyewe walikuwa na historia yenye mvutano na Israeli (Kumbukumbu la Torati 23:3), lakini anayesifiwa katika kitabu chake mwenyewe kama mwanamke mwema; na mke wa Uria, Bath-sheba, aliyetajwa kwa namna inayokumbusha dhambi kubwa ya Daudi. Kwa nini kuyatundika majina haya katika mti wa ukoo wa Mfalme? Kwa sababu injili tayari imo ndani ya ukoo. Neema inatiririka katika ukoo huu wa damu. Mwokozi aliyekuja kuwaokoa watu wake na dhambi zao hakuona aibu kuzaliwa katika ukoo wa wenye dhambi na wageni. Ikiwa umewahi kuhisi kwamba maisha yako ya zamani yanakuondolea sifa, itazame orodha hii. Kuna nafasi katika familia yake kwa mgeni na kwa aliyeshindwa. Kuna nafasi kwa ajili yako.Then comes a surprise a careful reader of the ancient world would never expect. Jewish genealogies traced the fathers; women were rarely named. Yet Matthew names four — and not the great matriarchs Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel, but four whose stories carry the mark of the outsider or the memory of scandal. There is Tamar, who deceived Judah; Rahab, the harlot of Jericho, a Gentile; Ruth, the virtuous Moabite whose own people had a fraught history with Israel (Deuteronomy 23:3), yet who is praised in her own book as a woman of noble character; and the wife of Uriah, Bathsheba, named in a way that recalls David's great sin. Why hang these names on the family tree of the King? Because the gospel is already in the genealogy. Grace runs in this bloodline. The Savior who came to save His people from their sins was not ashamed to be born into a line of sinners and strangers. If you have ever felt your past disqualifies you, look at the list. There is room in His family for the outsider and the failure. There is room for you.

Utamwita Jina Lake YesuYou Shall Call His Name Jesus

Yusufu anapojua kwamba Mariamu ana mimba, yeye ni mtu wa haki aliyenaswa katika uamuzi wenye maumivu makali, naye anakusudia kumwacha kwa siri badala ya kumwaibisha hadharani. Lakini malaika anamtokea katika ndoto: "Yusufu, mwana wa Daudi, usihofu kumchukua Mariamu mkeo; kwa maana mimba yake ni kwa uweza wa Roho Mtakatifu. Naye atazaa mwana, nawe utamwita jina lake YESU; kwa maana yeye ndiye atakayewaokoa watu wake na dhambi zao" (Mathayo 1:20-21). Jina Yesu maana yake ni "BWANA huokoa." Linatueleza kwa neno moja kwa nini alikuja — si ili tu astaajabiwe, si ili tu afundishe, bali ili aokoe, na kuokoa si kutoka kwa Rumi wala kutoka katika umaskini, bali kutoka katika utumwa ulio mzito kuliko yote, utumwa wa dhambi. Na mwangalie Yusufu: anapoambiwa afanye jambo gumu, anatii tu. Tutamwona akitii tena na tena katika sura hizi mbili, bila kuuliza maswali, akiondoka Mungu anaposema aondoke. Yeye ni kielelezo kitulivu cha imani ambayo Mathayo anaisifu.When Joseph learns Mary is with child, he is a righteous man caught in an agonizing choice, and he resolves to put her away quietly rather than expose her. But an angel comes to him in a dream: "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:20-21). The name Jesus means "the LORD saves." It tells us in a single word why He came — not merely to be admired, not merely to teach, but to save, and to save not from Rome or from poverty but from the deepest bondage of all, the bondage of sin. And mark Joseph: told to do a hard thing, he simply obeys. We will see him obey again and again in these two chapters, asking no questions, moving when God says move. He is the quiet model of the faith Matthew commends.

Imanueli — Mungu Pamoja NasiImmanuel — God With Us

Kisha Mathayo anainua macho yetu kutoka jina Yesu hadi jina Imanueli, akimnukuu nabii Isaya: "Tazama, bikira atachukua mimba, naye atazaa mwana; nao watamwita jina lake Imanueli," maana yake "Mungu pamoja nasi" (Mathayo 1:23, akinukuu Isaya 7:14). Hili ndilo dai la ujasiri mkubwa kuliko yote la Mathayo. Mtoto huyu si Mfalme tu katika ukoo wa Daudi; Yeye ni Mungu aliyeshuka kukaa pamoja nasi. Wapo watakaokubali kwamba Yesu alikuwa mtu mwema, mwalimu mkuu, hata nabii, kisha wakasimama hapo, wakikana uungu wake. Lakini jina hili moja halituruhusu kusimama hapo. Imanueli. Mungu pamoja nasi. Imani yote ya Kikristo inasimama au kuanguka juu ya jina hili: katika mtoto huyu Muumba wa mbingu ameingia katika uumbaji wake mwenyewe. Ni uhakikisho ulioje kujua kwamba Mungu hayuko mbali akitazama tu, bali yu karibu — pamoja nasi. Yeye yu pamoja nasi; Yeye yuko upande wetu; na kwa Roho wake anakuja kukaa ndani yetu.Matthew then lifts our eyes from the name Jesus to the name Immanuel, citing the prophet Isaiah: "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which means "God with us" (Matthew 1:23, quoting Isaiah 7:14). Here is Matthew's boldest claim. This child is not only the King in David's line; He is God come down to dwell with us. There are those who will grant that Jesus was a good man, a great teacher, even a prophet, and stop there, denying His deity. But this single name will not let us stop there. Immanuel. God with us. The whole of the Christian faith stands or falls on it: in this child the Maker of the heavens has entered His own creation. What an assurance it is to know that God is not far off and watching, but near — with us. He is with us; He is for us; and by His Spirit He comes to be in us.

Neno Kuhusu Utimilizo: Utimilizo Maradufu na Vielelezo (Typology)A Note on Fulfillment: Double-Fulfillment and Typology

Neno la Mathayo "litimie" linazusha swali ambalo wanafunzi wenye kufikiri wanauliza kwa haki. Isaya aliponena kuhusu Imanueli, alikuwa akisema na mfalme halisi katika dharura halisi miaka mia saba kabla ya Bethlehemu. Basi neno hilo "limetimia" vipi katika Yesu? Hapa tunakutana na kile ambacho, miongoni mwa Wakristo wa Kiinjili, ni tafsiri ya kawaida: unabii mwingi wa namna hii una utimilizo maradufu. Kile ambacho Mungu alifanya mara moja katika historia kupitia taifa la Israeli au kupitia mtu mmoja, alikifikisha kwenye ukamilifu wake wa kweli na wa mwisho katika Yesu. Tukio la Agano la Kale ni halisi katika siku zake, na pia ni kielelezo — kivuli (type) — kinachoelekeza mbele zaidi yake chenyewe kwa Kristo. Usomaji huu wa vielelezo umetetewa kwa muda mrefu na wasomi makini kama Albert Barnes na Walter Kaiser.Matthew's word "fulfilled" raises a question thoughtful students rightly ask. When Isaiah spoke of Immanuel, he was speaking to a real king in a real crisis seven hundred years before Bethlehem. How then is it "fulfilled" in Jesus? Here we meet what is, among evangelicals, a common interpretation: many of these prophecies have a double fulfillment. What God did once in history through the nation of Israel or through an individual, He brought to its true and final completion in Jesus. The Old Testament event is real in its own day, and it is also a pattern — a type — that points beyond itself to Christ. This typological reading has long been defended by careful scholars such as Albert Barnes and Walter Kaiser.

Chukua Isaya 7:14 yenyewe. Ishara ya Imanueli ilitolewa kwa Mfalme Ahazi, ambaye, akitishwa na muungano wa maadui, alijaribiwa kutumainia mapatano ya hila na Ashuru badala ya BWANA. Isaya alimwambia amwombe Mungu ishara; Ahazi kwa unafiki alikataa, na Isaya akatangaza kwamba Mungu angetoa ishara hata hivyo — mtoto aitwaye Imanueli. Ishara hiyo isingekuwa na maana kubwa kwa Ahazi kama ingekuwa miaka mia saba mbele yake; kulikuwa na utimilizo katika siku zake mwenyewe, huenda katika kuzaliwa kwa mtoto ambaye kukua kwake kuliashiria uokoaji wa Mungu. Hata hivyo maneno hayo yanafika mbele zaidi ya Ahazi hadi kwa Mwana mkuu zaidi, aliyechukuliwa mimba si kwa uweza wa mwanadamu bali kwa Roho Mtakatifu, ambaye peke yake angeweza kuwa Imanueli wa kweli na kamili, Mungu pamoja nasi.Take Isaiah 7:14 itself. The sign of Immanuel was given to King Ahaz, who, threatened by an alliance of enemies, was tempted to trust a scheming alliance with Assyria rather than the LORD. Isaiah told him to ask God for a sign; Ahaz hypocritically refused, and Isaiah declared God would give a sign anyway — a child called Immanuel. It would have meant little to Ahaz if the sign lay seven hundred years in his future; there was a fulfillment in his own day, likely in the birth of a child whose growing-up marked God's deliverance. And yet the words reach past Ahaz to a greater Son, conceived not by man but by the Holy Spirit, who alone could be the true and full Immanuel, God with us.

Mpangilio huo huo unapita katika Maandiko yote. Hosea 11:1 — "Nalimwita mwanangu atoke Misri" — inatazama nyuma kwa taifa la Israeli likitoka Misri katika tukio la Kutoka; Mathayo analiona neno hilo likitimia tena mtoto Yesu anapotolewa Misri. Isaya 53, mtumishi anayeteswa, inazungumza juu ya watu wanaoteseka na kurejeshwa, na inapata utimilizo wake wa ndani kabisa katika kukataliwa na kifo cha upatanisho cha Kristo. Zaburi 22 inaimba juu ya uchungu wa Daudi mwenyewe — mikono iliyotobolewa, dhihaka, mavazi yaliyogawanywa — na inanukuliwa karibu neno kwa neno pale msalabani. Na miaka arobaini ambayo Israeli walitangatanga nyikani inaonekana tena katika siku arobaini za kujaribiwa kwa Yesu, ambapo Yeye, Israeli wa kweli, anafaulu kumpinga mjaribu pale pale ambapo taifa lilishindwa. Hiki ndicho wasomi wanachokiita urudiaji (recapitulation): Yesu anaishi tena habari ya Israeli na kuifanya sawasawa. Mara nyingi Mungu hufanya mambo kwa ulinganifu. Tukio la kwanza ni kweli; la pili ni kweli zaidi.The same pattern runs through Scripture. Hosea 11:1 — "Out of Egypt I called My son" — looks back to the nation of Israel coming out of Egypt in the Exodus; Matthew sees it fulfilled again when the child Jesus is brought up out of Egypt. Isaiah 53, the suffering servant, speaks of a people who suffer and are restored, and finds its deepest fulfillment in the rejection and atoning death of Christ. Psalm 22 sings of David's own anguish — the pierced hands, the mockery, the divided garments — and is taken up almost word for word at the cross. And the forty years Israel wandered in the wilderness reappear in the forty days of Jesus' temptation, where He, the true Israel, succeeds in resisting the tempter exactly where the nation failed. This is what scholars call recapitulation: Jesus relives Israel's story and gets it right. God often works things in parallel. The first event is true; the second is truer still.

Mamajusi na Mfalme Mwenye HofuWise Men and a Frightened King

Katika sura ya pili mandhari yanabadilika. Watu wenye hekima — Mamajusi — wanakuja kutoka Mashariki wakiifuata nyota, wakiuliza, "Yuko wapi yeye aliyezaliwa mfalme wa Wayahudi? Kwa maana tuliiona nyota yake... nasi tumekuja kumsujudia" (Mathayo 2:2). Hapa pana jambo la ajabu ambalo Mathayo anataka tulihisi: waabudu wa kwanza kumtafuta Mfalme aliyezaliwa ni Mataifa, wageni kutoka nchi ya mbali, wakati Yerusalemu, mji wa Mungu, umelala. Mwana wa Ibrahimu amekuja, na tayari mataifa yanavutwa ndani. Mamajusi wanaleta zawadi zinazohubiri mahubiri yao madogo: dhahabu, kodi impasayo mfalme; uvumba, ubani wa ibada unaotolewa kwa Mungu; na manemane, kiungo kilichotumiwa kuwapaka wafu — kivuli, hata pale horini, cha msalaba ujao.In the second chapter the scene shifts. Wise men — Magi — come from the East following a star, asking, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star... and have come to worship Him" (Matthew 2:2). Here is a wonder Matthew wants us to feel: the first worshipers to seek out the newborn King are Gentiles, foreigners from a distant land, while Jerusalem, the city of God, sleeps. The Son of Abraham has come, and already the nations are being drawn in. The Magi bring gifts that preach their own small sermon: gold, the tribute fit for a king; frankincense, the incense of worship offered to God; and myrrh, a spice used to anoint the dead — a shadow, even at the cradle, of the cross to come.

Lakini kuna mfalme mwingine katika habari hii. Herode anaposikia habari za Mfalme wa Wayahudi aliyezaliwa, hafurahi; anafadhaika, na Yerusalemu yote pamoja naye. Mathayo anawaweka wafalme wawili kando kwa kando, na tofauti yao haingeweza kuwa kali zaidi. Mmoja ni Mfalme anayekuja kuwaokoa watu wake; mwingine ni mfalme ambaye, ili kulinda kiti chake cha enzi, atawaua watoto wa kijiji kizima. Herode, akiwa amezidiwa akili katika hila yake ya kuwatumia Mamajusi kama wapelelezi, anaghadhibika sana na kuamuru kuuawa kwa watoto wachanga wa kiume wa Bethlehemu. Mathayo anasikia ndani yake kilio cha nabii Yeremia: "Sauti ilisikiwa Rama, kilio na maombolezo mengi, Raheli akiwalilia watoto wake, asikubali kufarijiwa, kwa kuwa hawako" (Mathayo 2:18). Tangu mwanzo kabisa, kuja kwa Mfalme kunakabiliwa na jeuri ya ulimwengu unaopenda mamlaka yake wenyewe.But there is another king in the story. When Herod hears of a newborn King of the Jews he does not rejoice; he is troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Matthew sets two kings side by side, and the contrast could not be sharper. One is a King who comes to save His people; the other is a king who, to guard his own throne, will murder a village of children. Herod, outwitted in his plot to use the Magi as informants, flies into a rage and orders the slaughter of the baby boys of Bethlehem. Matthew hears in it the cry of the prophet Jeremiah: "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more" (Matthew 2:18). From the very beginning, the coming of the King is met by the violence of a world that loves its own power.

Kutoka MisriOut of Egypt

Akiwa ameonywa katika ndoto, Yusufu anamchukua mtoto na mama yake usiku na kukimbilia Misri, na huko wanakaa mpaka Herode amekufa. Mathayo anatueleza kwamba jambo hili lilitokea "ili litimie neno lililonenwa na Bwana kwa ujumbe wa nabii, akisema, 'Kutoka Misri nalimwita mwanangu'" (Mathayo 2:15). Israeli wa zamani alishuka Misri na akapandishwa kutoka huko; sasa Mwana wa kweli wa Mungu anapita tena njia ile ile. Hatimaye wanaporudi, wanakaa Nazareti, na hata mji huo duni, uliodharauliwa, unatimiza kile ambacho manabii walikionyesha kwa kivuli: "Ataitwa Mnazorayo" (Mathayo 2:23).Warned in a dream, Joseph takes the child and His mother by night and flees to Egypt, and there they remain until Herod is dead. Matthew tells us this happened "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, 'Out of Egypt I called My Son'" (Matthew 2:15). Israel of old went down into Egypt and was brought up out of it; now the true Son of God retraces that path. When at last they return, they settle in Nazareth, and even that lowly, despised town fulfills what the prophets foreshadowed: "He shall be called a Nazarene" (Matthew 2:23).

Injili Nzima Katika Sura MbiliThe Whole Gospel in Two Chapters

Kabla ya neno moja la mahubiri yake, kabla ya muujiza hata mmoja, Mathayo ametueleza yote tunayohitaji zaidi kujua. Mtoto huyu ni Mwana wa Daudi, Mfalme halali. Yeye ni Mwana wa Ibrahimu, ambaye ndani yake mataifa watabarikiwa. Yeye ni Yesu, atakayewaokoa watu wake na dhambi zao. Yeye ni Imanueli, Mungu pamoja nasi. Yeye ni Israeli wa kweli, anayetimiza ndani yake mwenyewe habari yote ndefu ya watu wake. Na tayari ulimwengu umegawanyika juu yake — Mataifa wakipiga magoti, mfalme mwenye upanga, mama akilia, baba akitii kimya. Mfalme amekuja. Swali pekee ambalo Sehemu ya 1 inakuachia ni swali ambalo Mamajusi walilijibu kwa zawadi zao na Herode alilijibu kwa upanga wake: utamfanyia nini Yeye?Before a word of His preaching, before a single miracle, Matthew has told us all we most need to know. This child is the Son of David, the rightful King. He is the Son of Abraham, in whom the nations will be blessed. He is Jesus, who will save His people from their sins. He is Immanuel, God with us. He is the true Israel, fulfilling in Himself the whole long story of His people. And already the world is divided over Him — Gentiles on their knees, a king with a sword, a mother weeping, a father quietly obeying. The King has come. The only question Unit 1 leaves with you is the question the Magi answered with their gifts and Herod answered with his sword: what will you do with Him?

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