Jesus' Genealogy

A few further thoughts on the genealogy of Jesus:

1) Twice in Matthew's genealogy, "brothers" are mentioned: Judah (1:2) and Jeconiah (1:11). David Garland suggests that this sets up the theme of Jesus' brothers that runs through the gospel (cf. eg. Matthew 25); like Judah and Jeconiah has His own brothers, His disciples.

2) RT France suggests that one reason for dividing the genealogy into sets of 14 generations is that the Hebrew name "David" (DWD) is numerically fourteen. The genealogy shows that Jesus is, as Matthew says at the outset, "son of David."

3) The Ancient Christian Commentary on Matthew includes several intriguing suggestions. An anonymous preacher on Matthew spins off a typology of redemptive history from the reference to Tamar: Zerah who comes first from her womb is marked with the "scarlet of circumcision" and represents the Jews, who are going to be superceded by the Gentiles (Perez). One of the important things about this is that the Jewish Zerah is born after the fullness of the Gentiles is born. The salvation of the Gentiles is a means for the redemption/birth of Israel.

The same anonymous writer suggests that "Rahab the harlot was a figure of the church." Though some of the specifics of the typology are suspect ("she hid [the spies] on top of the storehouse of her mind, so that the prince of the world, the devil, might not find them"), in the main it is very sound. The scarlet cord is the sign of "the Lord's passion," and Rahab is led through the scarlet-flecked window "out of the world and made chaste, that she became the bride of Christ."

Augustine suggests that the 42-generation scheme for the genealogy is related to the forty-day or forty-year periods elsewhere in Scripture, a period of labor and trial and testing. Along the way, Augustine mentions that Jesus remained with His disciples for forty days after His resurrection so as to "mingle his resurrected life with theirs in the form of human intercourse."

The anonymous preacher mentioned above points out that the three sections of the genealogy correspond to shifts in the socio-religious organization of Israel. From Abraham to David, Israel was under judges; from David to exile, under kings; from exile on, under the high priest. Jesus fulfills all three of these, as the judge, king, and priest.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, November 25, 2005 at 10:31 AM

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