The Genealogy of Jesus

The genealogy of Jesus in Matt. 1:1–17 is the genealogy of Joseph. In chapter 2 of Luke’s Gospel there is another genealogy, which is thought to be the genealogy of Mary. In Matthew, the genealogy begins with Abraham. In Luke, the genealogy proceeds in reverse order, going all the way back to Adam.

Even today, if a Jewish person gets hold of the New Testament and begins reading it from the beginning, the genealogy of Jesus touches them. They encounter familiar names starting with Abraham and are inevitably led to consider whether Jesus might be the expected Messiah.

The opening resembles Genesis chapter 5, which contains the genealogy of Adam. Notice the order in verse 1: David is mentioned first and only then Abraham, even though Abraham lived hundreds of years before David. David was the most important of Israel’s kings. It is also noteworthy that “Son of David” was a title used for the Messiah.

The genealogy includes the kings of Israel beginning with David, showing that Jesus was born into a royal line. Although Jesus was not Joseph’s biological son, he was recognized as his son in a legal sense. As Joseph’s legal son, Jesus was heir to David’s throne.

Jewish genealogies generally did not mention women. In addition to Jesus’ mother, four women are mentioned in the genealogy: Tamar, verse 3; Rahab, verse 5; Ruth, verse 5; and Bathsheba, verse 6. However, many good and respected women are passed over without mention, such as Sarah and Rebekah. Instead, three foreign women are mentioned: Tamar the Canaanite, Rahab the Canaanite, and Ruth the Moabite. It is likely that Bathsheba, as the wife of Uriah the Hittite, was not Jewish either. The mention of foreign women shows that Jesus was also descended from Gentiles and that, in this way, all humanity belongs to his lineage.

In addition, three of these four women had a stain on their reputation. Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba are mentioned in the Old Testament as sinful women. Tamar was Judah’s daughter-in-law. She deceived Judah by posing as a prostitute and bore him twins. This is described in Genesis chapter 38. Rahab, on the other hand, was a prostitute in Jericho who helped the spies escape from the city. Rahab is described in Joshua chapters 2 and 6.

It is noteworthy that Bathsheba is not mentioned by name but as the wife of Uriah. This expression reminds us of David’s adultery and murder (2 Sam. 11). The Bible does not attempt to conceal the failures of its heroes. The same cannot be said of the sacred writings of other religions, such as the Quran.

Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba are clearly mentioned intentionally. Matthew wants to emphasize that Jesus was born into a sinful family line. But it is not only these three women in Jesus’ genealogy who were sinners. All the other ancestors of Jesus mentioned by name were sinners as well, and sinners are precisely the people Jesus came to save.

In verse 17, Matthew divides the genealogy into three periods of fourteen generations: from Abraham to David, from David to the exile, and from the exile to Jesus. The number 14 is important in Judaism because it is the numerical value of the name David.

The genealogy contains both good and bad kings. The good kings were Solomon, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah; the bad kings were Rehoboam, Abijah, Jehoram, Manasseh, and Amon.

The genealogy is not entirely complete. Some names mentioned in the Old Testament are omitted. For example, the kings Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah are missing from verse 8. In addition, the Old Testament does not know Abiud and his descendants mentioned in verses 13–15.