Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 1:21

"And she shall bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name JESUS; for it is he that shall save his people from their sins." — Matthew 1:21 (ASV)

You shall call his name Jesus — There is nothing strange that this was the first Joseph heard of the name, which Luke tells us (Luke 1:31) had been previously imparted to Mary. The customs of the Jews, as we have seen, were against any communication between the bride and groom during the betrothal period, and the facts of the case (including Mary’s visit to Elizabeth) would have made this even more unlikely.

The name Jesus was full of meaning, but it was not yet a specially sacred name. In its Old Testament form of Jehoshua (Numbers 13:16), Joshua, or Jeshua (Numbers 14:6; Nehemiah 8:17), it meant “Jehovah is salvation.” The change of the name of the captain of Israel from Hoshea, which did not include the divine name, to the form that gave this full significance (Numbers 13:16), had made it the expression of the people’s deepest faith. After the return from Babylon, it gained new prominence in connection with the high priest Joshua, the son of Josedech (Haggai 1:1; Zechariah 3:1). The name also appears in its Greek form in Jesus the father, and again in the son, of Sirach. In the New Testament itself, we find it borne by others (see Note on Matthew 1:1).

However, the name had not been directly associated with Messianic hopes, and the announcement that it was to be the name of the Christ gave a new character to people’s thoughts of the kingdom. This name pointed not to conquest, but to “salvation”—a deliverance not only or chiefly from human enemies, nor from the penalties of sin, but from the sins themselves. As spoken by the angel to the dreamer, it was the answer to prayers and hopes, going beyond those hopes and purifying them from earthly thoughts. As recorded by the Evangelist, it was a witness that he had been taught the true nature of the kingdom of the Christ.