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

David fathered Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. 7 Solomon fathered Rehoboam, Rehoboam fathered Abijah, and Abijah fathered Asa. 8 Asa fathered Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat fathered Joram, and Joram fathered Uzziah. 9 Uzziah fathered Jotham, Jotham fathered Ahaz, and Ahaz fathered Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, Manasseh fathered Amon, and Amon fathered Josiah. 11 Josiah fathered Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

12 After the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah fathered Shealtiel, and Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel. 13 Zerubbabel fathered Abihud, Abihud fathered Eliakim, and Eliakim fathered Azor. 14 Azor fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Achim, and Achim fathered Eliud. 15 Eliud fathered Eleazar, Eleazar fathered Matthan, and Matthan fathered Jacob. 16 Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.

17 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.

Lineage of the Messiah

Matthew now presents the lineage of Messiah through his father’s line, Joseph. We know that Jesus was not actually the son of Joseph (since Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus). So what does it matter what Joseph’s lineage is? 

For those of you who were with us for the Genesis study, we see God’s election outside of normal or traditional avenues. More than once he selected the younger over the older to carry the batton of progenitor of Messiah –  for example, Jacob (Genesis 27:1-4) and Judah (Genesis 49:8-12). More specifically, we saw at the end of the book where Jacob “took” Joseph’s sons to be his own and then when Joseph did the same with his grandsons). I believe here God is showing that Joseph is the father who has “rights” to Jesus as Son.

Special mention

In the lineage, we notice something unique about four people. Yes. Four women are mentioned among all the men. “Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar” (v3), “Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab” and “Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth” (v5) and, “David fathered Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.” (v6) We know this is Bathsheba. These four all have special stories. They are not Jews but, they demonstrated faith, the essence of what it means to be a Jew. So were divinely selected to be included. They were even from nations were were enemies of the Jews!

RЯeflection

• Isn’t it cool to see God’s grace in election? It applies to all of us who follow Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9 makes it clear that there’s nothing we do, no good works, that can get us accepted by the Father. It’s all by grace through faith.