Lineage of Jesus
The Lineage of Jesus
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Matthew’s Gospel
The written record of the lineage of Jesus
Image by Scottish Guy from Pixabay
The Bible begins by introducing the main character, God, and the New Testament begins by introducing the main character, Jesus.1 The New Testament records the fulfillment of the promises God made to Israel, beginning with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice to atone for the sins of humanity. Four books, called the Gospels, record these core events, and each gives a slightly different perspective.
None of the Gospels identifies the author. But the early church attributed them to Matthew and John (two of the apostles), John Mark (a disciple of Peter and Paul), and Luke (a disciple of Paul).2 Matthew, also called Levi, was a tax collector until Jesus called him as a disciple.3 His profession required him to speak and write Greek, the common language used when the Israelites interacted with the Romans, who controlled the region.4 He certainly could have written the book of Matthew, but whether he did remains an open question.
Whoever wrote the book, scholars agree Matthew reflects the strongest Jewish perspective of the four Gospels. It contains more Old Testament quotations and references and focuses more on Jesus as the Jewish Messiah and on the arrival of God’s eternal kingdom. The early church struggled with its relationship with Judaism, and Jewish believers faced rejection and persecution from their own people. In response, Matthew categorically denies accusations that followers of Jesus had rejected the God of Israel. On the contrary, Jesus and the kingdom he inaugurated fulfilled all the promises God made to Abraham and his descendants.
The Messiah
The written record of the lineage of Jesus, the Messiah, son of David, son of Abraham:
Edited from Image by Rachael Coate/Basic Training Bible Ministries from Free Bible Images, CC BY-NC 4.0
Matthew introduces Jesus as the Messiah, son of David. Both titles refer to the expectation of most Jews that a descendant of King David would free them from foreign oppression, restore the monarchy, and reign on David’s throne forever.5 The rest of the book of Matthew shows how Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies concerning the promised Messiah. Most importantly, Jesus was a son of David. Through his earthly father, Joseph, Jesus qualified as an heir of the royal line.
In Israel, new kings were anointed with oil, as were priests and sometimes prophets.6 This symbolized their dedication to a special role in Yahweh’s service. Because of this, the Jews called their expected King the Messiah (mashiah), which means “anointed one.” In Greek, “anointed one” translates to christos (“Christ”). Jesus was anointed just before his death in preparation for his burial.7 The Jews rightly expected their Messiah to reign. But first Jesus would serve Yahweh by dying.
Son of Abraham
Abraham fathered Isaac. Isaac fathered Jacob. Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers. Judah fathered Perez and Zerah through Tamar. Perez fathered Hezron. Hezron fathered Ram. Ram fathered Amminadab. Amminadab fathered Nashon. Nashon fathered Salma. Salma fathered Boaz through Rahab. Boaz fathered Obed through Ruth. Obed fathered Jesse. And Jesse fathered King David.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Matthew splits the genealogy of Jesus into three groups of fourteen generations: Abraham to David, David to the Babylonian exile, and the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.8 To obtain the number fourteen, Matthew skips several generations.9 He also highlights David by counting him in both the first and second groups. But the genealogy of the messianic Son of David starts even further back with Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel.
As the Son of Abraham, Jesus inherited God’s covenantal blessings. Through Abraham’s offspring, God promised to bless “every nation” (panta ta ethnē in Greek).10 Matthew portrays Jesus as the culmination of Abraham’s line, the offspring who would bring the blessing to the nations.11 After his resurrection, Jesus commanded his followers to “make disciples from every nation” (panta ta ethnē).12
Despite his insistence on the Jewish nature of Christianity, Matthew vehemently defends the extension of the kingdom to the nations. God chose Abraham so he could bless all humanity through him and through the Messiah who would come from his descendants.
Son of David
David fathered Solomon through Uriah’s wife. Solomon fathered Rehoboam. Rehoboam fathered Abijah. Abijah fathered Asa. Asa fathered Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat fathered Jehoram. Jehoram fathered Uzziah. Uzziah fathered Jotham. Jotham fathered Ahaz. Ahaz fathered Hezekiah. Hezekiah fathered Manasseh. Manasseh fathered Amon. Amon fathered Josiah. And Josiah fathered Jehoiachin and his relatives before the deportation to Babylon.
The second grouping of Jesus’s ancestors begins with David, the second king of Israel. Because the first king, Saul, disobeyed, God took the kingdom away from him and gave it to David.13 David obeyed, so God promised him a son who would reign forever.14 All of Jesus’s ancestors named in this part of the list reigned on David’s throne.
David’s descendants, however, didn’t all remain faithful to God. So God divided the kingdom during the reign of David’s grandson, Rehoboam. Most of the tribes rebelled, and only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the line of David.15 After the death of Josiah, the last righteous king, God punished his people for their unfaithfulness. Two of Josiah’s sons and his grandson Jehoiachin reigned over Judah but were deported and died outside the promised land.16 Jehoiachin went to Babylon, but his descendant survived the exile.17
Matthew shows Jesus as not just a descendant of David but an heir of the royal line. The disobedience of that line had divided the kingdom and brought an end to the monarchy. But that could not nullify God’s promise to David. At the right time, he revealed David’s heir, the eternal King whose faithfulness would surpass even David’s own.
Son of the Exile
After the deportation to Babylon, Jehoiachin fathered Shealtiel. Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel fathered Abiud. Abiud fathered Eliakim. Eliakim fathered Azor. Azor fathered Zadok. Zadok fathered Achim. Achim fathered Eliud. Eliud fathered Eleazar. Eleazar fathered Matthan. Matthan fathered Jacob. And Jacob fathered Joseph.
Image by Sweet Publishing from Free Bible Images, CC BY-SA 3.0
The third grouping of Jesus’s ancestors begins with the deportation to Babylon under King Jehoiachin and the end of the monarchy. Even after the fall of Babylon, David’s descendants never returned to the throne. Jehoiachin’s grandson, Zerubbabel, served as governor of Judah when the Israelites returned and rebuilt the temple.18 But Israel remained under the control of foreign nations except for a brief period.19
Though messianic prophecy dates back to the fall of humanity, the most developed prophecies occurred during and after the exile to Babylon. Ezekiel prophesied that God would restore the kingdom by bringing the people of both Israel and Judah back from exile and reuniting them as one people. He would set a single king from David’s line over them.20 Daniel prophesied about four successive kingdoms, beginning with Babylon.21 Out of the fourth (Rome) would come the kingdom of God, which would grow to fill the earth and destroy all other kingdoms.22
Matthew’s focus on the line of David in exile served as a reminder of these prophesies. Jesus was the exiled King from David’s line who would “restore the kingdom to Israel.”23 Though he didn’t do so the way the Jews expected. Instead of destroying Rome and all the kingdoms that oppressed Israel, Jesus set up his kingdom within the Roman Empire—and included Romans in it! While the Jews prioritized the destruction of their enemies, Jesus prioritized his kingdom filling the earth.24
Son of Mary
And Jacob fathered Joseph, the husband of Mary, who gave birth to Jesus, called the Messiah.
So from Abraham to David, there were fourteen generations. From David to the deportation to Babylon, there were fourteen generations. And from the deportation to the Messiah, there were fourteen generations.
The genealogy follows Jesus’s ancestors from Abraham to a man named Joseph. But it then takes an unexpected turn. Joseph did not father Jesus. Instead, Joseph was the husband of Mary, Jesus’s mother. Matthew goes on to explain how Jesus became the legal heir of a man who was not his father. Yet even within the genealogy, he hints at Mary’s innocence despite the son she bore out of wedlock. In fact, Mary was just one of several women in the line of the Messiah who found themselves caught up in sexual scandal.
Matthew mentions four other women as ancestors of Jesus. He leaves out the honored matriarchs of Israel, Sarah, Rebekah, and Leah. Instead, he lists the controversial figures Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and “Uriah’s wife” (Bathsheba). Tamar, likely a Canaanite, tricked her father-in-law into sleeping with her.25 Rahab, a Canaanite, was a prostitute.26 Ruth, a Moabite, seduced an inebriated Boaz to convince him to marry her.27 Bathsheba, the wife of a Hittite, committed adultery.28
Though the religious elite would have condemned all these women, God instead blessed them. He recognized Judah’s abusive treatment of Tamar.29 He forgave Rahab’s past when she placed her faith in him and risked her life to save the Israelite spies.30 He honored Ruth’s faithfulness to her mother-in-law when Naomi had lost her faith.31 And he showed mercy to Bathsheba, who was taken advantage of by a powerful man. In the same way, the world would condemn Mary because of her pregnancy, but God favored her and chose her as the mother of the Messiah.32
Jesus’s Origin
Now the origin of Jesus, the Messiah, came about like this: His mother, Mary, was betrothed to Joseph. But before they lived together, it was discovered she was pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now Joseph, her husband, was a righteous man, yet he had no desire to publicly disgrace her. So he planned to divorce her privately.
After covering Jesus’s ancestry, Matthew describes his origins. While Mary and Joseph were still betrothed, Mary became pregnant. But she conceived “by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus had no human father. His conception resulted from the creative power of God’s Spirit.33 Jesus would serve as the link between the first creation (through his human mother) and the new creation free from the curse of death.34
The miraculous origin of the Messiah created serious problems for Joseph and Mary. Mary had done nothing wrong but had no way of proving it. The Jews viewed betrothal as a stronger commitment than modern engagement. They called the couple husband and wife and considered any betrayal of the future union as adultery. If Joseph denied the child, Mary would become an outcast. The law required stoning, but the Romans had outlawed this.35
Joseph, who didn’t know the truth, struggled with how to handle the situation. He was a righteous man, which means he kept the law. But following the law by exposing Mary publicly would destroy her life. To avoid this while maintaining his own integrity, he planned to divorce her privately. In his struggle with how to handle his apparently wayward wife, Jesus’s earthly father reflects his true Father. God also struggles with how to handle his wayward people because his justice conflicts with his compassion.36
- See God’s Story.
- 2 Timothy 4:11; Philemon v. 24; 1 Peter 5:13.
- Matthew 9:9; Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27–28.
- Osborn, Matthew, 34; Morris, According to Matthew, 14.
- 1 Chronicles 17:9–14; Isaiah 9:6–7.
- Exodus 28:41; 1 Samuel 10:1; 16:11–13; 1 Kings 19:16.
- Matthew 26:12.
- Matthew 1:17.
- Skipping generations to serve an author’s thematic purpose, called telescoping, was a common and accepted practice in the ancient Near East. Matthew’s original readers would not have assumed he included all of Jesus’s ancestors. Martin A. Shields, “Genealogy,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al. (Lexham Press, 2016), Logos Bible Software.
- Genesis 22:18.
- See Why Israel?
- Matthew 28:19.
- 1 Samuel 16:1–13.
- 1 Chronicles 17:9–14.
- 1 Kings 12:16–20.
- 2 Kings 23:30–34; 24:8–17; 25:1–7.
- 1 Chronicles 3:15–24.
- Haggai 1:13–15.
- Strauss, Four Portraits, 102–104.
- Ezekiel 37:15–24.
- The four major empires, which all ruled over Jerusalem, were Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.
- Daniel 2:37–44.
- Acts 1:6.
- Matthew 24:14.
- See The Pledge.
- Joshua 2:1.
- Ruth 3:1–14.
- 2 Samuel 11:2–5.
- See Left a Widow.
- Joshua 2:1–16.
- Ruth 1:15–18; 2:11–12.
- Luke 1:26–33.
- See The Spirit Above the Water.
- John 1:12–13; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Revelation 21:1; see The Curse of Death.
- Deuteronomy 22:23–24; John 18:31.
- Hosea 11:8.