Matthew 1:1-16

An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.

Comment:

This is one of two genealogies of Jesus offered in the gospels. (The other is at Luke 3:23-38.) They differ significantly; for one crucial example, Matthew has Jesus descended from King David through David's son Solomon; Luke also has him descended from David, but through another son, Nathan. Even more bewilderingly, both authors agree that Jesus is descended from David through Joseph, his father. But the church later decreed that Jesus could not have been descended through Joseph, because it was an immaculate conception with no sexual interaction between Mary and Joseph. 

Of course, there was no science of genealogy at the time; there were only memories and folktales dating back through hundreds of generations. The point both authors were trying to make is that Jesus was, indeed, of the lineage of David. Matthew, as a Jew writing for Jewish readers, traces the lineage to Abraham. Luke, who was not himself Jewish, takes it all the way back to Adam. The metaphysical point, I think, is that there is inevitably a long history of trial and error required before we are ready to come into spiritual consciousness as the Christ.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed