Roots: Lessons from the Lineage of Jesus
Matthew 1:1-17 
By Dave Redick 

Genealogical lists are found in Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Ruth, 1 Chronicles, Matthew, and Luke. Someone has commented that they are so dull, from the standpoint of our way of thinking that if we were writing a biography and started it with a genealogical list, our editor would cancel the book contract! They don’t make very good devotional reading. Yet they’re in the Word of God and every part of God’s word is important. So what are we to make of them? Why are they there? What would God have us learn from them? In this message I hope to put a sharper point on what most of us probably perceive as a very dull subject.

Please join me in a little mental exercise. What I want you to do is think of the first names of your parents.

If you have the first names of your parents in mind, now think of the first names of your grandparents on your father’s side. Can you name them?

Now go back another generation in your mind. See if you can recall the names of your great grandparents on your grandfather’s side of the family. That’s a little harder, isn’t it? How many of you can do it?

Let’s go one more generation. Think of the first names of your great-great grandparents on your great grandfather’s side.

Is anyone still with us? I dropped out when I got to my great grandparents. I recall seeing a picture of them once, but I don’t know their names or anything about them. Going back beyond them for me is total blank and I suspect that unless we have a genealogy buff with us this morning, the situation is probably the same for the rest of us.

That’s one reason why we have trouble relating to the various genealogical lists in the Bible. You know what I’m referring to - "Somebody (a name we can hardly pronounce) begat somebody else (another name we struggle to pronounce) who begat somebody else."

Genealogical lists are found in Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Ruth, 1 Chronicles, Matthew, and Luke.(1) Someone has commented that they are so dull, from the standpoint of our way of thinking that if we were writing a biography and started it with a genealogical list, our editor would cancel the book contract!(2) They don’t make very good devotional reading. Yet they’re in the Word of God and every part of God’s word is important. So what are we to make of them? Why are they there? What would God have us learn from them? In this message I hope to put a sharper point on what most of us, up to this point, have probably perceived as a very dull subject.

Since the Bible genealogies were written for an ancient culture living thousands of years ago, for us to understand them today, we need to first look at what they meant when they were written. Thankfully, as I will show you today, Bible genealogies are not just lessons in ancient history. They contains some things that still impact us today- which I’ll show you in this message.

Let’s take a look at the genealogical list that most of us encountered that very first time we tried to read though the New Testament – the one found on the very first page of the book of Matthew - Matthew 1:1-17. Please follow along as I read it. No yawning, please.

Let me give you some general facts about genealogies among the Jews that will help us make some sense of all these names. We’ll call it:

The ancient Jews were diligent record keepers. I’ve mentioned before how painstakingly they copied and preserved the Scriptures. They did nearly the same with the records of their "generations" as they called them. The Old Testament says so in several places. In the midst of a lengthy record of the genealogies of the sons of Jacob in 1 Chronicles 4:33 we read, "These were their settlements. And they kept a genealogical record." (NIV) Again in 1 Chronicles 9:1 we read, "All Israel was listed in the genealogies recorded in the book of the kings of Israel."(NIV) The Jews kept these records right down to the time of Christ and beyond until presumably they were ruined when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, who was a contemporary of Jesus, the records of the genealogies of the Jews were accessible to the Jewish public in his day. He even invited those who would question his own Jewish pedigree to access the records to verify his claims.(3) Two things to remember then: The Jews kept meticulous genealogical records and they were available to the Jewish public for examination at the time of Christ.

That kind of diligent ancestral record keeping in our day just isn’t that important. Beyond provoking a little idle curiosity, who my great grandparents were doesn’t effect me one bit today. But not so, the Jews – for a number of reasons. Their genealogical records were used for the enrollment of men in the military.(4) They were used to keep track of their religious duties.(5) Their records were used to determine who was qualified to serve in the priesthood and how the tithe was to be distributed among the Levites.(6) They were also used to establish inheritance rights.(7) And some of them were used to establish a chronological framework for their history.(8) I suppose the closest thing we have to it today would be our Office of Vital Records kept by the county in which we were born. Yet how important is it to us? You probably haven’t made very many trips to the County Courthouse to access your records. Maybe once when you got your Social Security Number (birth certificate required) and maybe once, if you’re married, to get a marriage license.

As I said, among the Jews, each person’s ancestry was available for inspection, which gives us another vital use for their genealogical records. Their long awaited Messiah was to have a certain pedigree. He was to be born from the descendants of King David, something that was easily verified or denied in the public records. Thus we have one of the primary uses for the genealogies recorded in the New Testament like our text in Matthew 1 and the one recorded in Luke 3. At least 14 times in the gospels Jesus is called "the Son [or Descendant] of David." Matthew 1 and Luke 3 are the proof of that. More on that in just a bit.

There are a few more characteristics of the genealogies recorded in the Bible that are helpful to understand. First, Bible genealogy lists were not always intended to be complete records of every individual in a particular Jew’s ancestral line. Sometimes when you lay them down side by side, you may notice that one may have a few more names in it than another. In other words, sometimes names are left out.

Sometimes names were left out for brevity. Those of you who have been in high school or college are probably familiar with Cliff’s Notes. (Somehow whenever I hear that name I think of late night cramming and large pots of coffee. You might understand what I mean.) Anyway, Cliff’s Notes are summaries of major literary works. The idea is that the summery helps you understand the "big picture." Then, as every college student knows (!) if you wish to dig deeper, you read the original work.

The ordinary Jew in ancient times had little access to books and written records. Much of what he knew he had committed to memory. Such might be the case with his genealogy. He would memorize the highlights. When someone asked him about his roots (and such asking was not uncommon) he simply recited it. If they wanted to question it more critically, they could check out the more complete details in the public records.

Sometimes names were left out for brevity. Sometimes they were left out for proportionality. Preachers often use proportionality in their sermons, dividing the material up into two, three, or maybe four parts. This is nothing new. The Jews did it, too. For instance, our text in Matthew, according to verse 17, has three groups of fourteen names in it.

It is fairly obvious that some names were left out of this, as it was written not as a complete genealogical record but as an easy to recall summary to show Jesus’ lineage from Joseph, Jesus’ step-father, through King David, back to Abraham. If anyone wanted to investigate more critically, he could verify the claims by the public records. It went back to Abraham, their common ancestor, because Matthew’s readers were primarily Jews and a person’s lineage back to Abraham was important to them. Luke’s genealogy (Luke 3) written for both Jews and Gentiles, goes all the way back to Adam, their common ancestor.

It is important that you understand these two principles of brevity and proportionality because skeptics have long pointed out that when you lay one Bible genealogy down next to another, and they don’t appear to match up, that this indicates that they are fabrications. But when you understand their purpose, you know that and exact match in these shortened versions wasn’t necessary. The issue is one of organization and culturally approved choices of inclusion/exclusion of material – not totality.

Another thing to understand about Jewish genealogies in our look at "Genealogy 101" is that the Jewish way of describing generational records was different than ours today.

The term "father of" or "begat" does not always indicate a strict line between father and son. A man’s grandson or even his great grandson could also be referred to as his son. A man’s grandfather or even great grandfather was sometimes referred to as his father.

While that sounds strange to us, it was common among the Jews and it often shows up in Biblical historical records.(9) Thus, the modern reader does not easily flag intended "gaps" in an abbreviated genealogy like the ones in Matthew and Luke. A skeptic, not knowing this, often sees a "discrepancy" where really there is none.

To summarize then, the Jews were meticulous genealogical record keepers. They used their genealogies for a number of important purposes in their culture, much more than we do today. Their more complete records were available to their countrymen for further inspection in public archives. There are gaps in some of the Biblical genealogical records because of the need for brevity and proportionality in making the records easier to commit to memory. These gaps are not always immediately evident to the casual reader simply by looking at who was the father (or son) of whom. Understanding these points will go a long way toward answering the questions and objections of skeptics in our modern times.

Let’s move on now to some of the allegations of contradictions in the Bible genealogies brought by skeptics.

There is an issue that needs resolving when we compare Matthew’s genealogical record of Jesus in Matthew 1 with Luke’s record in Luke 3. Aside from the fact that Luke runs his in the opposite direction as Matthew, starting with Jesus and working backward to Adam rather than starting with Abraham and working forward to Jesus, there are some serious discrepancies that are just too big to explain by noticing a few names left out.

So that you can quickly see what I mean I have reversed Luke’s account and put the two lists on a single sheet of paper in your handout material this morning for a side by side comparison.

Notice that everything from Abraham to David is identical in both records. But then moving on down past David, Matthew follows Solomon while Luke follows one of David’s other sons - Nathan. From there they are entirely different until strangely they come together again at Shealtiel and Zerubbabel and then again separate, with Matthew ending at Jacob and Luke ending at Heli. Obviously, the two records bear very little resemblance after David. Why? Is one of them a fraud? Are both of them inaccurate?

The best explanation is that Matthew gives us the genealogy of Joseph, Jesus’ stepfather, who was a descendant of David, while Luke gives us the genealogy of Mary, the mother of Jesus who was also a descendant of David.(10) Thus we have accurate records of both Jesus’ legal ancestry through his adopted father Joseph and His biological ancestry through Mary. Both go back to David, which was critical to the identity of the Messiah. The realization that we have records through both Joseph and Mary gives me confidence that what Matthew and Luke wrote is accurate.

But there is another reason to believe that these records are accurate. You may recall that on a number of occasions, people Jesus encountered called Him "Son of David" or "the Son of David". For instance, two blind men that He healed in Matthew 9:27 are recorded as saying, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" The Canaanite woman with the demon possessed daughter in Matthew 15:22 said, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed." In Mark 10:47, Bartimaeus is quoted as crying out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" The popular view among the multitudes who heard Jesus during His ministry was that He was the Son (or Descendant) of David, which he would have to be because the Messiah could only come from the line of King David.

But Jesus also had enemies who were jealous of His popularity – and this popular view must have rankled them to no end! They opposed Jesus at every turn, doing all they could to discredit Him before the populace. Does anyone really believe that with the temple records publicly available to them (as Josephus has told us) that these religious opponents of Jesus would have said nothing had they been able to find a single error or discrepancy in the genealogical records that would have put Jesus out of the bloodline of David? If there were ever a time when the claims of Jesus as Messiah would have been super vulnerable to criticism it was during Jesus’ time on earth when the temple records were still available. Skeptics today try to show that Jesus wasn’t what people said he was in His day – that is, the descendant of David. But had illegitimacy to the throne of David been in any way provable, they would have shouted it from the rooftops! But they didn’t shout it from the rooftops because it wasn’t true. In fact there was no known objection to the accuracy of either Matthew’s or Luke genealogy until several hundred years later. Jesus’ contemporaries could not charge any discrepancy or inaccuracy because there simply was none. Their silence speaks volumes about the truth of both Matthew and Luke’s records.

OK. So far I’ve given you everything you ever wanted to know about Bible genealogies and a bit more and I’ll admit, it has been a bit involved. But these things are important to know when they are challenged. But perhaps you’re sitting there thinking, "I’m not interested in all that technical stuff. I’m just a simple believer. I don’t have to be convinced of the Bible’s accuracy. What’s in Matthew’s genealogical record for me?" Let me give you a few brief:

One thing easily noticed from Matthew’s genealogy is that:

a. Jesus is the Messiah of all people willing to come to Him.

There is scandal in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. Did you notice it? Matthew does several things in his record that you just didn’t do among the Jews. He mentions Gentiles and women - and not only Gentiles and women but also women with a past, so to speak. Matthew’s list includes Rahab, a Gentile female prostitute from Jericho; Tamar, a Jewess who dressed as a prostitute and seduced her father-in-law; and Ruth, who was a godly woman, but she was a Moabite and the Moabites were a despised race among the Jews.

Remember that this genealogy was written when the New Testament was still well… new. There had not yet been 2000 years of Christian influence. The Jews looked at things differently than we do. Attitudes of exclusivism and sexism were fairly common. Jewish men were often known to start the day thanking God that they were not born as either a Gentile or a woman. What God is saying through Matthew here is that this is not going to be the case under Christ. Jesus is the Messiah of all people, no matter what color, no matter what gender. Some of Jesus’ last words on earth were, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature…" This is something we need to constantly remember, lest we begin to pick and choose only those people that we like or who are like us. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus," says Paul in Galatians 3:28.

Secondly, Matthew’s Genealogy shows us that:

b. God uses both the great and the small.

Everyone can have a part in the plan of God. We see in these lists some big, prominent people like Abraham and David. But we also see relatively small, obscure people like Eliezer and Heli. Most of us probably don’t even know who these latter people were.

God can use you in His service. No one is too small or too insignificant. You service could even be a key link in His work on earth today. If you are faithfully serving God with what He has given you, then know that you are in the mainstream of His will, even though you may not be in a spot that seems very prominent. Today there are mega-churches and huge televangelistic organizations. Church buildings look like shopping malls, sound like concert halls, and attract people like carnivals. The little people working in the little churches across the land can seem pretty hokey and insignificant against a backdrop like that. They can get very discouraged. They can feel useless and even worthless. But God sees it differently. He can and does use both great and small.

Niagara Falls is a huge spectacle of falling water and hydraulic force, but it isn’t Niagara falls that waters the nation. It’s the network of smaller rivers, tiny streams, and buried, unseen wells that give our nation life. Don’t lose sight of it.

Finally, we see here in Matthew’s genealogy that:

You might recall from your Old Testament how the affair between David and Bathsheba rocked the nation of Israel. David, God’s choice king, committed adultery and then tried to cover it up with a murder. But it takes two to tango. There was also Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, who seems to have registered not a single objection to the whole scandalous act. Yet both David and the wife of Uriah are mentioned here in Matthew’s genealogy. When they truly repented, God forgave them and used them. After the death of the child conceived in their sin, God blessed them with the birth of Solomon.

Some of us may be inclined to think that because of our sins, God could never forgive us or, if He does forgive us, he can never again use us. That clearly is not true.

No, I’m not saying that we should, as a result of God’s grace, go out and sin willfully, without concern so that we can come back and receive more of God’s grace. A doctor can heal a broken arm, but it’s not very smart to go out and purposely jump out of trees. Willful sin is never a smart choice.

There is one more record you need to be aware of. It, too, is a genealogical record. God keeps it meticulously. It is current. It is being kept today. I refer to the one mentioned in Rev 20:15. There is says, "And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." This "book of life" contains the names of God's saved. It, like Matthew's genealogy, goes back to Abraham. It contains all of the spiritual descendants of Abraham, the original man to be justified by faith.(11) How do you get your name on that list? Paul said in Galatians 3:7, "Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham." You get on that list when, though faith in Jesus Christ, you die to sin (repent), are buried in baptism, and raise to walk in a new life.(12) In other words, you die to your old life and are "born again" into the family of God.

Are you on that list? If not, why not get on it today?

Footnotes: Use your "back" button to return to your place.

1. Genesis 4-5; 10; 11:10ff; 25:12-19; 36; 46; Exodus 6; Numbers 1; 12; Ruth 4:18-22; 1 Chronicles 1-9; 23-26; Matthew 1; Luke 3.
2. From A Strange Family Tree, http://www.spirittone.com/meditations/matt1-5.html
3. The Life of Flavius Josephus, 1.
4. Numbers 1:20ff; 13:1-16; 1Chr 7:40
5. Numbers 3:14-39; 1Chr 9:22; 23-26
6. 2Chronicles 31:16-20
7. Numbers 27:1-4; 34:16-29; 36:1-9
8. For instance, see Daniel 1:1.
9. For example, Matthew 1:8 says that Joram/Jehoram "begat" Uzziah/Azariah. Yet we know from 1 Chronicles 3:11-12, 2 Chronicles 21-27, and 2 Kings 11-15 that Joram was actually Uzziah’s great-great grandfather. Matthew skipped Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah.
10. It is sometimes alleged that Mary was a descendant of the tribe of Levi rather than Judah, which would have put her completely out of the line of David and thus, ruin the qualifications of Jesus as a descendant of David. This idea comes from the King James Version, which calls Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, Mary’s cousin. (See Luke 1:36) Elizabeth was a Levite married to a Levite. (See Luke 1:5) However, the word translated cousin is not nearly as specific as the KJV translators make it. Other translations do not use cousin in Luke 1:36. The more common translation is kinsman. The very same Greek word is used by Paul in Romans 9:3 to refer to all of his Jewish brethren: "For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites…" NAS. Strong inference that Mary, Jesus’ biological mother, was a descendant of David can be found in Romans 1:3, Hebrews 7:14, and Revelation 22:16.
11. Galatians 3:6
12. Romans 6:3-5

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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