The Son of Abraham in the First Gospel

The first Gospel begins with the words, “An account of the genealogy of Yeshua the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt 1:1).1 It is not difficult to see how the theme “son of David” pervades Matthew’s magnum opus. The term appears ten times, and Yeshua is portrayed as the shepherd-king of Israel throughout.2 But how is “son of Abraham” reflected in the story?3 After all, every Jew is a son (or daughter) of Abraham.4 One fresh approach to this question has been to identify the son of Abraham as the new Isaac, a Messiah who sacrifices himself for the sins of Israel