Author: Bill Hall

17: Matthew here introduces a memory device. Three groups of fourteen help in memorizing the genealogy. Matthew explains exactly how the fourteens are to be counted. Abraham to David are counted, which makes fourteen. David to the captivity are counted, which makes fourteen if you do not count David (who has already been counted) and you do count the captivity itself. From the captivity to Jesus are counted, which makes fourteen if you do not count the captivity (which has already been counted).


Personal Journal Entry #12080
Prayer Journal Entry #12080
Daily Bible Reading: Judges 5:1-7:25
Praise Journal entry #12040: Heavenly Father, thank You for every new day You give to us. You always supply our needs a day at a time. Thank You for this day, and this new month, as we seek to serve You. Your power is truly amazing and endless. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

16: Matthew’s wording here is very obvious. This genealogy is that of Joseph, who was thought to be the father of Jesus, and who was so legally. However, Matthew is very specific in that he does not say Jesus is begotten of Joseph. Without the virgin birth there could be no such thing as the gospel of salvation.

Personal Journal Entry #12079
Prayer Journal Entry #12079
Daily Bible Reading: Judges 2:1-4:24
Praise Journal Entry #12039: Heavenly Father, thank You for Christ. You have put Your most precious gift out there for us. You have given more than we will ever give. And yet, many of us will never accept him. Thank You for being so loving. Thank You for making Your plan of salvation available to all. Your grace is truly amazing! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

14-15: For these last couple of verses there are no Old Testament parallels. However, the accuracy of the genealogy in this section has never been seriously challenged.

Personal Journal Entry #12078
Prayer Journal Entry #12078
Daily Bible Reading: Joshua 23:1-Judges 1:36
Praise Journal Entry #12038: Heavenly Father, You have made so many wonderful things. It is amazing how You form a little baby at the beginning of life. Your power is unfathomable. Help us to see Your hand in everything, for You have touched it all. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

12: This Zerubbabel is the great leader who restored the worship of Almighty God in Jerusalem after the return from captivity. Though not a king, he was a very influential leader.
13: If one looks back a the children of Zerubbabel, Abiud will not be found. However, Meshullam, his eldest, was probably Abiud. Beginning around the time of the captivity, Jews often had two names. This is true, for example, for many of the twelve disciples.

Personal Journal Entry #12077
Prayer Journal Entry #12077
Daily Bible Reading: Joshua 20:1-22:34
Praise Journal Entry #12037: Heavenly Father, Your glory is so great! As man tries to understand his surroundings by his own measure, You make Your Measure openly available and invite us to use it. As I survey Your wonderful creation, I am overawed by the glory of You. One who may make a world such as this is truly awesome. Your wisdom, goodness, grace, power, love, and holiness are precious to me. Help us to come to You daily for the truth that we so desperately need. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

11: This verse brings up several difficulties. The first is actually fairly easy to deal with. Jeconias is Jeconiah, Jehoiachin, or Coniah. This king God said to write as childless. In other words, none of his children would sit upon the throne. And, indeed, they did not. However, though the legal line of Christ through his earthly father, Joseph, is here traced, identifying Joseph as his earthly father is a misstatement. He legally descended from Jeconiah, but not physically. Jesus was not born of a man, but of Mary, his mother. He is the seed of the woman mentioned by God way back at the beginning. The genealogy of Mary may be traced without the inclusion of Jeconiah, so no problem exists.
The second difficulty comes in the counting of the genealogy. Matthew explains that there are three groups of fourteen in the generations of Christ. The difficulty comes when one counts the names. Rather than forty-two, there are only forty-one. This would suggest that one is missing. Many, in an attempt to solve this problem, have tried to insert in this verse a variant reading which includes the name of Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim was actually the son of Josiah, Jeconiah, or Jehoiachin, was Josiah’s grandson.
In order to understand how that this verse is correct just as it is found, one must consider several things:
First, There are other places in the genealogy where Matthew omits the names of well-known direct descendants and lists those further down the line. Specifically, after Joram he omits Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah. Thus, it is not out of keeping with Matthew’s construction of the genealogy to admit the omission of a generation.
Second, it must be remembered that Matthew is introducing a memory device with these groups of fourteen. Three groups of fourteen are not somehow required to prove the lineage of Christ. Thus, the three groups can be counted more arbitrarily than one might think.
Finally, Matthew states in verse 17 exactly how the fourteens are to be counted. Abraham to David are counted, which makes fourteen. David to the captivity are counted, which makes fourteen if you do not count David (who has already been counted) and you do count the captivity itself. From the captivity to Jesus are counted, which makes fourteen if you do not count the captivity (which has already been counted). That the captivity should be counted is evidenced by two things. For one, in this verse we see the brethren of Jeconias mentioned, which is a departure from Matthew’s normal construction up to that point. This seems to point to the captivity as being considered an item in the list. For the other, Matthew plainly states in verse 17 that the captivity in Babylon is to be counted in the same manner as David, Jesus, or Abraham.

Personal Journal Entry #12076
Prayer Journal Entry #12076
Daily Bible Reading: Joshua 16:1-19:51
Praise Journal Entry #12037: Heavenly Father, I am so glad that You are not hesitant to communicate Your Truth to mankind. When false information is supplied by the enemy, it takes any form that is convenient. You, on the other hand, have put Your Truth into a form that we can analyze. Of course, doing so without Your Spirit is fruitless. Thank You for guiding our lives and giving us Truth rather than lies that are only designed to lull us into a deadly hypnosis. Oh, God, Almighty God, make Your wisdom known to me! Help us all to understand and heed Your words of love to us. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

10: Hezekiah, though not faultless, was a good king. He is the one who asked God for more years of life, and was given them. His son, Manasseh, was very sinful. However, he repented at the end of his life and had the longest reign of any king of Judah. Manasseh’s son, Amon, also called Amos, had a short reign and was evil. Amon’s son, Josiah, however, was the most godly king in the history of the nation.

Personal Journal Entry #12075
Prayer Journal Entry #12075
Daily Bible Reading: Joshua 13:1-15:63
Praise Journal Entry #12036: Heavenly Father, Your mercy in our individual lives is amazing. Though You do not leave sin without its consequences, You are always ready to forgive those who come to You. Your holiness inspires men to be, by Christ and the power of his gospel, righteous. Godliness makes a man worth something in history. Honoring you is worth so much more than honoring oneself could ever be. Thank You for the examples that You have given in Your Word. You are so wise! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

9: Here we see Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.

Personal Journal Entry #12074
Prayer Journal Entry #12074
Daily Bible Reading: Joshua 10:1-12:24
Praise Journal Entry #12035: Heavenly Father, thank You for Your many blessings. We always talk of blessings as if we could number them and thank You for each one. Be we cannot. Your blessings are too many to count, and too great to truly measure. We will never know just how blessed we are. Thank You for blessing us in ways that we are not even aware of. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

8: Here we have Asaph, Jehoshaphat, Joram, and Uzziah.

Personal Journal Entry #12073
Prayer Journal Entry #12073
Daily Bible Reading: Joshua 7:1-9:27
Praise Journal Entry #12034: Heavenly Father, Your wisdom is so wonderful. May we gain some measure of it in our lives! We know that Your way is perfect. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

7: One of the big things to keep in mind on genealogies in the New Testament is that the spellings of the names are different than what might be expected. The Old Testament, being written in Hebrew, led to names being translated (or transliterated, as the case most often would be), differently from the New Testament, which was recorded in Greek. Indeed, though this might seem to be confusing, it actually leads to the discussion of the authenticity of the New Testament linguistically. Many years ago, the dialect of Greek that the New Testament is written in was not recognized among scholars because of a lack of evidence. It was mocked as a result. However, it has since been discovered that the New Testament is written in Koine, or common, Greek. This lends authenticity to it linguistically speaking. Also, it shows that God wants his word to be available to the common people.
The names we have here, other than Solomon, may be recognized better as, Rehoboam, Abijah, and Asaph.

Personal Journal Entry #12072
Prayer Journal Entry #12072
Daily Bible Reading: Joshua 3:1-6:27
Praise Journal Entry #12033: Heavenly Father, thank You for the plain Truth of Your Word. You have made it simple to see the Truth if someone tries to see. May we always share Your Truth with others. Although we know that faith in Christ is Your command for all mankind, it is so nice that You give us abundant testimony to him in Your Word. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

6: Bathsheba was, of course, the name of this woman by whom David had Solomon. Although David and Bathsheba were both Jewish, it was no more flattering to mention them that the foreigners in the line before. This lineage shows, then, the legal right of Christ to the throne, and the great mercy of God.

Personal Journal Entry #12071
Prayer Journal Entry #12071
Daily Bible Reading: Deuteronomy 33:1-Joshua 2:24
Praise Journal Entry #12032: Heavenly Father, You are so kind to give us Christ. His sacrifice for us is an endless source of comfort to our souls. You give us rest from the enemy, and from ourselves. Thank You for Your forgiveness and help. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.