Matthew 1:1 – 17

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:

2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. 4 Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. 5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, 6 and Jesse begot David the king.

David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. 7 Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa. 8 Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah. 9 Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah. 11 Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon.

12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel. 13 Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor. 14 Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud. 15 Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob. 16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.

The word “book” comes from the Greek word “BIBLOS”, same as we use for Bible, which means book, written book, roll, or scroll.

Otherwise these verses consist of Christ's list of ancestors on his earthly father's (Joseph) side. Since Matthew's main focus was writing to the Jews he did not go back any earlier than to Abraham.

Abraham was the first patriarch who the promise of the Messiah was made to come through his lineage. The next important person in the lineage is David the king so he is also mentioned in the introduction of verse one.

Matthew does not list every son of the father, only the sons who were promised for the line to follow through. Isaac(Genesis 21:12; Romans 9:7), Jacob(Genesis 25:23; Romans 9:12 – 13) Jacob's sons are listed as Judah and his brothers.

Judah, was not very honest with his daughter-in-law, Tamar. She was married to Er, the eldest son of Judah. The story is in Genesis 38, Tamar entrapped Judah, but ( So Judah acknowledged them and said, “She has been more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son.” And he never knew her again.[Genesis 38:26]) Tamar became the mother of Perez who was in the bloodline of Christ.

God has allowed imperfect individuals and sometimes immoral events to be part of the bloodline of the perfect Son, the Messiah. This can be a message for us, it is God who is the judge, we are workers and servants.

Salmon marries Rahab the harlot from Jericho after she displayed her faith in God by aiding the spies who were investigating the defenses of Jericho.(Joshua 2 + 6) Rahab the Canaanite woman and Ruth the Moabitess, Rahab's daughter-in-law, show that God was not particular about the bloodline being pure as far as Abraham's family was concerned. Ruth's story is in the book of Ruth.

Usually it is only the father who is listed in the genealogies, but Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth were outstanding in their actions and beliefs so they were mentioned in the genealogy of Christ.

The father of David the king was the grandson of Ruth and great-grandson of Rahab. David was the first of Judah's descendants to become king and Christ was to be the last to fill the throne of David, even though Christ's throne is spiritual. David had two sons who were in the bloodline of Christ, both were sons of Bathsheba, Solomon (Joseph) and Nathan (Mary)

Jeconiah had been taken captive to Babylon and replaced on the throne by the king of Babylon but was still in the bloodline.

During captivity in Babylon the family life continued so the bloodline continued there as well. Verse 12 covers the entire 70 years because it was in the days of Zerubbabel when they came out (Ezra 3:2

Verses 13 – 16 cover four centuries after the captivity to the time of Jacob the father of Joseph. Not every person in the bloodline is listed, but enough to show the continuity of the lineage.

Joseph is not listed as begetting Jesus because the father of Jesus was God through the Holy Spirit but he is listed as being the husband of Mary to show the lineage to Jesus the Christ which means savior and anointed. Which also means savior and king.

The generations are listed in a natural descents, the three sets of 14 generations are arranged for a sake of uniformity, there are a few gaps from Grandfather to grandson instead of grandfather to son to grandson, and there are actually forty generations instead of forty-two because David and Jeconiah are both counted twice.