Chart of Matthew's Genealogy of Jesus Christ (Mt 1:1-17)
Matthew manipulates the names of Abraham's descendants into 3 sets of 14 individual male descendants to create 42 names of the descendants of Abraham. He manipulates the names to bring attention to the link between God's covenant promises to Abraham and David. David's name is # 14 in the list and the gematria (letter/number equivalent) of his name is number 14. The number 42 also has significance. 42 divided by 12, the number of Israel, yields 3 ½, a prophetic number in both Daniel chapter 12 and in Revelation 11:11. The number 42 is a prophetic number in Revelation 11:2 and 13:5.
Set #1
1. Abraham | fathered | Isaac | |
2. Isaac | fathered | Jacob | |
3. Jacob | fathered | Judah | |
4. Judah | fathered | Perez | |
additional names of Zerah and Tamar (woman #1) | |||
5. Perez | fathered | Hezron | |
6. Hezron | fathered | Ram | |
7. Ram | fathered | Amminadab | |
8. Amminadab | fathered | Nahshon | |
9. Nahshon | fathered | Salmon | |
10. Salmon | fathered | Boaz | |
Rahab (woman #2) | |||
11. Boaz | fathered | Obed | |
Ruth (woman #3) | |||
12. Obed | fathered | Jesse | |
13. Jesse | fathered | ||
14. David |
There are 14 generations
There are 27 total male names (repeats and counting Zerah's name)
There are 3 names of gentile women
Total names: 30 names (note: it was necessary to add Zerah's name to make 30 names)
Set #2
David | fathered | Solomon |
Uriah's wife (note: David's name is repeated) |
1. Solomon | fathered | Rehoboam | |
2. Rehoboam | fathered | Abijah | |
3. Abijah | fathered | Asa | |
4. Asa | fathered | Jehoshaphat | |
5. Jehoshaphat | fathered | Joram | |
6. Joram | fathered | Uzziah | (3 missing kings) |
7. Uzziah | fathered | Jotham | |
8. Jotham | fathered | Ahaz | |
9. Ahaz | fathered | Hezekiah | |
10. Hezekiah | fathered | Manasseh | |
11. Manasseh | fathered | Amon | |
12. Amon | fathered | Josiah | |
13. Josiah | fathered | [see #14] | |
14.Jechoniah | [deportation of Judah to Babylon] |
There are 14 generations (no repeats)
There are 29 names of males total if you include Uriah
There is 1 female mentioned but not counted because unnamed (the wife of Uriah- 4th
gentile woman. 4 is the number of the earth)
Set #3 (after the deportation to Babylon; notice no restoration is mentioned)
1.Jechoniah | fathered | Shealtiel | |
2.Shealtiel | fathered | Zerubbabel | |
3. Zerubbabel | fathered | Abiud | |
4. Abiud | fathered | Eliakim | |
5. Eliakim | fathered | Azor | |
6. Azor | fathered | Zadok | |
7. Zadok | fathered | Achim | |
8. Achim | fathered | Eliud | |
9. Eliud | fathered | Eleazar | |
10. Eleazar | fathered | Matthan | |
11. Matthan | fathered | Jacob | |
12. Jacob | fathered | Joseph | |
13. Joseph | husband of | Mary | (the 5th woman) mother of |
14. Jesus the Christ | (bringing true restoration to Israel) |
Matthew' manipulation of the genealogy is reflected in the fact that he dropped the names of several Judahite kings in Jesus' line:: Ahaziah, Jehoash (Joash), Amaziah, and Jehoiakim. He also doubled the use of name of Jechoniah in order to get 14 generations in the final set. Jesus' name is the 14th generation, but if you count all the names without repeats, Mary's name is the 14th name with Jesus name coming after 6 sets of 7 as the 7th 7. In Scripture, 7 is the number of fullness and perfection. There are 27 names total in this set. The total of all the names given in each set is 86. In Scripture, 8 is the number of salvation; 80 is the number of salvation times divine order (10), and 6 is the number of man. Matthew's message is that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of David and the King of Kings who has come to bring salvation to Israel and to mankind.
Michal Hunt Copyright © Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.
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