Joseph's Genealogy (Matthew 1:1-17)

The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham . . (NASB) Matt. 1:1

His first proof that Jesus was and is the Messiah is that He has the genealogy predicted for the Messiah. Many English Bibles say “Jesus the Christ” and not “Jesus the Messiah” but the meaning is the same. “Christ” is the Greek form of the Hebrew word “Messiah.” The Jews would have understood what Matthew was trying to say. Jesus was a descendant of Abraham and King David. Jesus was the son of Abraham and David. In the culture of their day, this meant that Jesus was the distant offspring of Abraham and David. This is the critical information, but it does not prove the point.

Next, Matthew gives us the details of Jesus’ genealogy and gives us more reasons to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. First, the genealogy is broken up into three sections of fourteen names.

So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations. (NASB) Matt. 1:17

The first fourteen names list Jesus’ ancestors from Abraham through King David. The second list of fourteen names starts with Solomon and goes to the deportation of the Israelites to Babylon. The last list of fourteen names starts after the deportation and continues to Jesus’ supposed father, Joseph. All of the names can be found in 1 Chronicles 1-3 and Ruth 4:18-22 up to the deportation to Babylon. The names listed after the deportation vary from the list in 1 Chronicles. It is important to remember that among the Jews it was acceptable not to list every name in a genealogy. It is also interesting to note that the Hebrew letters of David’s name add up to fourteen. Did Matthew want the groups of names in each section to add up to fourteen? This type of symbolism was common among the Jews, and if this is true, then it explains why some names were skipped.