Spoken Gospel podcast with a photo of David and Seth

Matthew 1: Why Genealogies are Awesome

About This Episode

Genealogies aren't lists of names, they are works of art. Matthew's genealogy is expertly designed. It catapults you into the past and prepares you for everything that Jesus does in Matthew's Gospel.

Listen Now Read Show Notes

Listen On

Apple Podcasts Youtube Spotify

Why Genealogies Are Awesome: Matthew 1 and the Art of Biblical Family Trees

Show Notes

David Bowden and Seth Stewart open this episode of the Spoken Gospel Podcast by diving headfirst into what many readers consider the most skippable portion of Scripture: genealogies. Rather than treating the opening chapter of Matthew as a dry list of names to skim past on the way to the "real" story, the hosts make a compelling case that this genealogy is among the most intricately designed pieces of literature in the entire Bible. It functions not merely as historical record but as a theological masterpiece that sets up everything Matthew wants to say about Jesus.

The episode marks the beginning of a slow, deliberate study through Matthew's Gospel, one that examines how the apostle read and interpreted the Old Testament. This approach invites listeners to learn not just facts about Jesus from the New Testament authors but to adopt their methodology for understanding Scripture. The New Testament, as the hosts observe, functions in many ways like a commentary on the Old Testament, showing readers the tools to interpret the Hebrew Scriptures now that the Messiah has come.

Genealogies as High Art

The modern assumption about genealogies is that they are merely lists, perhaps useful for tracing one's ancestry on a DNA website but certainly not high art. Biblical genealogies, however, operate on an entirely different level. They are intricately structured pieces of literature built around specific numerical patterns designed to draw attention to particular figures. Much like a Renaissance painting uses light, positioning, and the gaze of secondary figures to direct the viewer's attention to the central subject, genealogies use numerical structures to highlight key people within the family line.

Matthew's genealogy, for example, is structured around units of 14 generations arranged in three sets. This numerical framework is not arbitrary. The number 14 corresponds to the numerical value of David's name in Hebrew, and David himself is the 14th name on the list. His name appears three times throughout the genealogy, once for each set of 14. This artistic arrangement communicates that David is the high point of Israel's history, and through Jesus, a new David is rising. The genealogy functions like a focal point in visual art, directing readers to pay attention to the one who is coming.

Beyond numerical patterns, genealogies in Scripture serve to qualify individuals for specific tasks. Priests had to descend from Aaron, kings from David, and true Israelites returning from exile had to prove their lineage. They also contain relational clues that foreshadow the character of people yet to appear in the story. When Jezebel is introduced as a Sidonian, ancient readers would have immediately recognized this as a warning, since Sidon was the firstborn of Canaan, whose descendants were consistently portrayed as enemies of God. Genealogies load the narrative with meaning before the action even begins.

The Genesis Foundation

Matthew opens his Gospel with language deliberately borrowed from the Book of Genesis. His phrase, "This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah," mirrors the structure of Genesis 2:4, which says, "This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created." Where Genesis has the creation of the world, Matthew has the Messiah. This parallel is intentional: Matthew wants readers to understand that Jesus is inaugurating a new creation. The old world is being remade, Eden is returning, and the story is beginning again.

The Book of Genesis establishes the dramatic tension that runs through the entire Bible. After the fall in chapter 3, God declares that there will be enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. Two rival genealogies emerge from this curse, and the question of which lineage will ultimately prevail becomes the central drama of Scripture. By the time we reach Genesis 10 and its table of 70 nations, the seed of the serpent seems to have multiplied exponentially while the seed of the woman appears reduced to almost nothing. Then Abraham appears, one tiny branch on a massive family tree, through whom all nations will eventually be blessed.

Genesis 5 presents a particularly sobering genealogy. While the expected pattern of ancient literature would celebrate the first humans as nearly divine beings who lived for thousands of years, Genesis presents a genealogy dominated by death. The refrain "and he died" drums through the chapter like a funeral march. The seed of the woman may be alive, but it is dying. Matthew's genealogy, by contrast, throbs with life and birth, pointing toward the one who will finally break the curse.

Matthew's Artistic Choices

Matthew's genealogy is not a straightforward historical record because straightforward historical records already existed in the Book of Chronicles. Instead, Matthew shapes his genealogy to make theological points. The most notable omission involves the descendants of King Ahab, including rulers like Athaliah, Joram, Joash, and Amaziah. Matthew writes them out of the family tree entirely, following the precedent set by the author of Kings, who refused to give Athaliah a royal genealogy despite her being the only ruling queen in Judah's history. These omissions are not mistakes or ignorance but deliberate judgments.

The skipping of three to four generations also reflects the character of God as described in Deuteronomy, where Yahweh declares that he will hold the guilty accountable to the third and fourth generation while extending his love for thousands of generations. Matthew's genealogy enacts this divine principle. The unworthy descendants of Ahab are judged and excluded, while the genealogy as a whole demonstrates that God's love has indeed extended through countless generations to bring forth Jesus. The Messiah is the living proof of God's faithfulness across millennia.

Matthew also structures his genealogy so that Jesus appears at the beginning of the seventh set of seven generations. Three sets of 14 can also be understood as six sets of seven, making Jesus the firstborn of the seventh generation. Seven has carried meaning since the opening chapter of Genesis as the number of both creation and rest. Jesus arrives as the Sabbath King, the Jubilee Messiah who will free his people from slavery and exile. The genealogy functions as a theological table of contents for the entire Gospel, hinting at the liberation and restoration that Jesus will bring.

Women and Gentiles in the Lineage

Four women appear in the genealogy before Mary: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. Their inclusion is striking because genealogies typically traced patrilineal descent, and there were certainly other women in Israel's history who could have been highlighted. Why these four? Each of them gave birth under circumstances that could have been considered morally scandalous. Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute to seduce her father-in-law. Rahab was an actual prostitute. Ruth's late-night encounter with Boaz raised eyebrows among ancient readers. Bathsheba became pregnant through David's abuse of royal power.

These women prepare the reader for the fifth woman in the genealogy: Mary herself. She lived her entire life under the shadow of scandal, accused of having a premarital affair that resulted in Jesus' birth. But just as Israel came to recognize Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba as virtuous women whose supposed immorality was actually faithfulness, so readers should recognize that the circumstances of Jesus' birth do not diminish his legitimacy. The genealogy vindicates Mary by placing her in a line of faithful women who bore children through unconventional means.

These women are also all Gentiles or closely associated with Gentiles. Rahab was a Canaanite, Ruth was a Moabite, and Bathsheba was married to Uriah the Hittite. Their presence in Jesus' bloodline signals that he is not merely the savior of ethnic Israel but the King who will bring blessing to all nations, fulfilling the promise made to Abraham. Matthew deliberately includes these outsiders because the Messiah's salvation extends beyond the boundaries of any single people group.

Jesus the Priest-King

The genealogy also works to establish Jesus' priestly credentials. While the clearest qualification for priesthood was descent from Aaron, Matthew includes names that evoke the priestly line without making a direct genealogical claim. Names like Zadok, Eleazar, and Abiud appear in the later portions of the genealogy, each carrying associations with the Aaronic priesthood. Whether these individuals were literal descendants of Aaron or simply bear names reminiscent of the priestly family, Matthew intends readers to think "priest" when they encounter these figures.

This means that Jesus arrives not simply as a conquering king but as a priest-king who will preside over his people's relationship with God. He will not only rule and bring Sabbath rest for all people but will also provide a way for his people to be made right with their Creator. The genealogy sets up the entirety of Matthew's portrait of Jesus as the one who fulfills every hope Israel ever had: the seed of the woman who defeats the serpent, the son of Abraham who blesses the nations, the son of David who reigns forever, and the priest who reconciles humanity to God.

The episode concludes with a simple but profound application: do not skip over the genealogies. They are doing heavy theological lifting that rewards careful attention. Matthew has rearranged the history of God's people with thrumming, throbbing energy of hope, showing that Scripture does not end with slavery or exile or the moral failures of kings. God has been working through all of Israel's history, and every thread leads to Jesus the Messiah.

Transcript

Seth: [upbeat music] Go deep-

David: Right

Seth: ... in the genealogies and you'll find a lot of wisdom and truth and hope and in th- Jesus' genealogy, like prophecies about what he will do in the future. Not just who he's descended from, but the hopes-

David: Right

Seth: ... that this kind of person might bring, and all that's included in the genealogies that you'll see in Genesis.

Intro: [upbeat music] Welcome to the Spoken Gospel Podcast. Spoken Gospel is a ministry that's dedicated to speaking the gospel out of every corner of scripture. In Luke 24, Jesus told his disciples that every part of the Bible was about him. So each week, hosts David and Seth work through a passage of scripture to see how it's all about Jesus and his good news. Let's jump in. [upbeat music]

David: Well, welcome everyone to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Thank you so much for joining us. I am David, son of Trey. [laughs]

Seth: Son of Earl.

David: S- son of, I, I'm now out of my genealogy. [laughs]

Seth: Your, [laughs] your genealogy.

David: But we're talking about the opening of Matthew today.

Seth: Yes.

David: And the genealogy that opens it, and why it is the coolest thing ever. How you feeling, Seth?

Seth: I'm, I'm feeling really excited. I love the beginnings of our study in Matthew-

David: Yes

Seth: ... for a couple different reasons.

David: That was so much fun.

Seth: Because one, I feel like, like we can slow down.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And like let's just live in this book, in his world, and how he read an entire book of the Bible, and let's just do it real slow.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So I'm just enjoying that idea.

David: Yeah, our, our podcast pace has been pretty quick through books lately.

Seth: It's-

David: Or lately.

Seth: For like four years.

David: Maybe four years. [laughs]

Seth: Yeah. [laughs] And so I'm just feeling a lot of joy thinking like, "Man, I'm just gonna soak in 15 verses of different names for a while-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... and figure out why that's amazing."

David: Yeah.

Seth: So I'm enjoying the new pace. I'm also just really enjoying learning how to read my Old Testament like m- the Apostle Matthew did.

David: Yeah. You and I have been kind of ruminating on how fun it is to be like the Old Testament according to Matthew.

Seth: Right. And I kind of forget that the apostles, the disciples w- were, were Bible readers.

David: [laughs]

Seth: Uh, and they understood them probably better than me-

David: Oh, yeah

Seth: ... 'cause they were reading them in-

David: The right-

Seth: In the-

David: ... time frame

Seth: ... in the right time frame.

David: Same time frame. Yep.

Seth: You know, like ha- were closer connected to the culture and the ideas present.

David: And the language.

Seth: And the language. But they were also the first ones to explain how scriptures were about Jesus.

David: Right.

Seth: And I'm like, man, I've, I've forgotten that I can learn-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... a Bible study methodology from the authors of the Bible-

David: That's right

Seth: ... and not just learn facts about Jesus from them.

David: Yeah. It's a helpful thing to flag to say that the New Testament authors are in a sense, and I'm not trying to belittle or reduce the New Testament in any way-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... with this statement, but in a way the New Testament is like a commentary on the Old Testament.

Seth: Right.

David: It's saying, "Here's what was happening in this book of the Bible, or this movement of God-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... or this story in the Old Testament." And what we can do if we pay attention is they are teaching us the tools of how to do Old Testament biblical interpretation-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... now that Jesus has come.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And so what we're trying to do here in this study-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... is sit with Matthew and let him teach us how to read the Old Testament now that the Messiah Jesus has come and the-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... gospel is being proclaimed.

Seth: Yes. And we set up in the first podcast that Matthew has structured his gospel to pair it, or to match beat for beat the entire history of Israel, starting in the Book of Genesis and ending in the Book of Chronicles.

David: Which is where the Hebrew Bible ended.

Seth: Which is where the Hebrew Bible ended. And so today we're gonna start at the very beginning of the Book of Matthew, and he takes us all the way back to the Book of Genesis with a long list of names-

David: Yes

Seth: ... and a genealogy.

David: And I should probably say when I say that the Hebrew Bible ended in Chronicles, I don't mean that it stopped like halfway through your Bible, [laughs] your Bible goes.

Seth: Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

David: It, there, the books are in different order-

Seth: That's right

David: ... so that all the same books are there that are in your-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... Bible, but it just ends instead of Malachi it ends with Chronicles.

Seth: Yes.

David: That wa- that could've been confusing.

Seth: Yes.

David: People are like, "Wait, they don't have the, every book? What about Psalms?" But yeah.

Seth: So.

David: Okay. So we're going all the way back now to the Book of Genesis.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And we start with a genealogy.

Seth: So let's start with what is a genealogy and why are they important? [laughs]

David: Okay. Uh, i- is that a question?

Seth: It's a question. A sincere question. Like how would you answer that question?

David: I mean-

Seth: Unprepared.

David: Unprepared I would s- uh, I would s- a list, a, a genealogy is a list ... Like it's, it's a family tree.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Right? Like a genealogy-

Seth: Yep

David: ... is a family tree tracing a particular descendant back up the tree to their great-great-great-grandfather.

Seth: Yes.

David: You know, it's what people do on ancestry.com.

Seth: Yes.

David: And it's so you know where you came from.

Seth: Yeah.

David: That's what I think, when I think of genealogy that's what I think of.

Seth: Right. And there's l- a whole bunch implied in that, right? It's not just a list of names, but like a story.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Oh, my great-great-grandfather immigrated from Italy, oh, the year after World War I started.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And then he moved to Ellis Island, and they were in New York, and then the thing says, you know, however-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... details like-

David: It's true. It's like tho- those, the ancestry.com commercials, they never just show like, "What, see what our tool can do for you" and it's just a list of names.

Seth: Right.

David: It's a story, and it's someone reliving and walking in and telling the story of their ancestors-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and finding their position in it. So yeah, a genealogy is a truncated story across multiple generations.

Seth: That's right. And-

David: Okay, that's cool

Seth: ... and it's a story about i, in, uh, the case of ancestry.com it's like, it's a story about you. It's your story. It's your family story. The story of who you are told over hundreds of years or multiple decades.

David: Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Also, this is not a sponsored podcast by Ancestry. [laughs]

Seth: Yeah. [laughs]But yes, okay, okay.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So that's kind of where I think we, how I, I guess, in our, in our time, we see ancestry-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... that we see genealogies. And I should probably say from a Western perspective especially-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... 'cause family, who your great-great-grandma was probably matters more to other cultures than it does to our culture.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Although we're tapping into something missing, I think, with, you know, all those DNA movements and everything.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: But is that proper to import that onto the Biblical author's view of genealogies? Do they have that same kinda thing or something different going on?

David: Well, I think it's a good place to start, like what are our own assumptions about genealogies-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... 'cause I think that's like, oh, a genealogy tells me the story of me-

Seth: Right

David: ... the story of my family. And the other-

Seth: Who I am, where I came from.

David: Right. And the other misconception or the other, like, assumption we have about genealogy is we already knew, it's just a list.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Right?

Seth: Oh, it's just a boring thing-

David: It's-

Seth: ... that could get passed over because-

David: Right

Seth: ... I don't know. Is this just like the Ellis Island census and it doesn't... It's just [laughs] there-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... as a record and I-

David: Right

Seth: ... can skip it to start the real story.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Yeah.

David: So I think we have, like, n- we're naming, like, how do we approach genealogy-

Seth: Right

David: ... as a starting point for, like, well, how does the Bible think about genealogies?

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Espe- or just lists of names. And I think our assumption is a l- a genealogy is not high art. [laughs]

Seth: Oh, sure.

David: Right? It's not, it doesn't serve a purpose except to edify me in particular or to chart a family tree with an obscene amount of detail, right? Let's-

Seth: I mean, yeah, if, if what you just said is that genealogy could probably tell me a story if I know the, who the characters are or it's just charting a family tree, you're right, I'm definitely not assuming, neither did I even have a category to think I should assume, that it's what you said, high art.

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: I'm not, no, I'm not bring-

David: [laughs]

Seth: You are correct. [laughs]

David: That is an alien thought to me when I think about genealogy. I'm not like, oh, what a well-crafted beautiful use of names.

Seth: Yes.

David: I didn't even know... Is that, is there something online there?

Seth: Yeah.

David: Okay.

Seth: So we'll talk about it, but genealogies throughout scripture are incredibly intricately designed pieces of literature.

David: Mm.

Seth: Not to take away from earlier in the podcast, but an idea is that you'll have a genealogy functions around a certain set of numbers.

David: Okay.

Seth: So for example, this genealogy is based around units of 14.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Three generations of 14. And other genealogies are based around the number seven.

David: Mm.

Seth: And then normally the number seven will be a very important figure in that genealogy. And then the final-

David: The final seven

Seth: ... the final seven is really su- significant.

David: Oh.

Seth: So, like, they're intricately structured pieces of literature that not only tell you a genealogy or a story of somebody-

David: Right

Seth: ... but they tell you who to focus in on-

David: Oh

Seth: ... in that story.

David: I see.

Seth: So they're high art in that way. They're intricately designed.

David: Like a, like a great painting will have a focal point.

Seth: Yeah.

David: You know, like, I, I can't remember what type of painting it is. I'm definitely not a visual arts expert. But I, I think it's some type of Renaissance painting or something.

Seth: Okay.

David: The central figure is the one that all the other figures are looking at.

Seth: Okay. Yeah.

David: So you'll... It'd be like a dinner party scene, you know-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... like by Renoir or something, and everyone's looking somewhere, and all the people who are looking also are a little darker.

Seth: Yep.

David: But the one they're looking at has a little bit more light on his face.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And there's something significant about where he is in the painting, what he's doing, what he's wearing, why he's there-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... that the artist is trying to draw your attention to. So what you're saying is that all the other number one through six [laughs]-

Seth: Yeah. [laughs]

David: ... they are the, the, the characters in the painting that are looking at something.

Seth: Yes.

David: And the artist of the genealogy is trying to draw our attention to this central figure.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And that's typically what's happening.

Seth: Yep.

David: And they're all there part of the story.

Seth: Right.

David: They're all part of the picture.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: But it's doing more than just, and this one and this one and this one-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... and this one.

Seth: Yes.

David: You're looking at a, a broader picture that's drawing your attention somewhere.

Seth: That's right.

David: I've never thought to look at a genealogy like a Renaissance painting or something.

Seth: Yeah.

David: So thanks for that.

Seth: So you should be paying attention to the numbers of a genealogy-

David: Okay

Seth: ... and who's in the numbers, not just the names in a genealogy. A Hebrew mind or a person reading the Bible at Matthew's time would've also had the understanding that a genealogy could prove your qualifications.

David: Mm.

Seth: So a priest had to be descended from the line of Aaron.

David: Right.

Seth: A king of Israel was supposed to descend from David. In the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, they had long genealogies to prove if they were truly Israelites.

David: Right. Yeah.

Seth: Like, there was a sense in which a genealogy proved you were qualified to a particular task.

David: Yeah, that's right. It even, like, in numbers, determined who was going to be a part of the group of people that didn't get land, the Levites.

Seth: Yep. That's right.

David: And it was like, "Okay, who's your dad?"

Seth: Yep.

David: Yeah.

Seth: That's right.

David: All right.

Seth: Genealogies are also full of, like, relational clues or hints.

David: What, like dad? [laughs]

Seth: [laughs] Um, maybe this is not the best way to say it, but the example that I have in front of me right here is that we're told that Sidon-

David: Uh, uh

Seth: ... is the firstborn son of Canaan, who in scripture-

David: Okay, okay.

Seth: So Sidon is the firstborn son of Canaan. Canaan gave birth to the, the Canaanite civilization-

David: Uh-huh

Seth: ... that was famously terrible, and his firstborn son is Sidon. But there's also a whole group of people named the Sidonians.

David: Uh-huh.

Seth: And so when we're introduced to a character in scripture called Jezebel, we're told that she's a Sidonian.

David: Mm.

Seth: And so it actually tells us a lot about that character before we even hear her story.

David: Oh.

Seth: So it can function as, like, a literary foreshadowing of something.

David: I see.

Seth: So you include a detail of somebody's genealogy to tell you something about that person.

David: Mm.

Seth: Jezebel is a, a descendant of the Canaanites, and then more in particular, a firstborn son of the descendant of the Canaanites.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: That should tell you something about Jezebel before the story even starts. You're primed to read her story differently.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Another way that it happens is when we're introduced to the Philistines in scripture.

David: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Seth: We're told they're descendants of the Egyptians.

David: Oh.

Seth: Which should tell you a whole bunch about their relationship with Israel.

David: Right.

Seth: So genealogies are also ways to clue us in on different kinds of relationships between the people and the story that they're a part of.

David: And can I ask a question here-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... that maybe people are asking? The, the biblical authors, I'm guessing, aren't saying like, "Well, you know who their dad was. The apple didn't fall far from the tree. You know, like father, like son."

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: If that's where you came from, if you, if you're descended from Egypt, you are gonna be a terrible person. It's in your genes.

Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

David: They are not doing, like, DNA pigeonholing.

Seth: No.

David: They are telling a literary story to-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... foreshadow-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... like, it's like, I think it's closer probably to maybe you meet a new character. I always go to Star Wars.

Seth: Yeah. [laughs]

David: You meet a new character in Star Wars maybe you've never met before, and in the score, you hear a little bit of the Imperial March, and you're like-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... "Oh, I bet this guy is tied to-

Seth: To

David: ... the empire, and he's a-

Seth: Yes

David: ... bad dude."

Seth: Yeah. That's the function of it.

David: Okay.

Seth: It's not to diminish somebody down to their ethnicity-

David: Right, yeah

Seth: ... or the country they're from.

David: I just kind of, I can feel people thinking that. [laughs]

Seth: But it's like, it's like, oh, we know the Sidonians were bad guys. The last story we heard about them was the Sidonians being terrible.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And then Jezebel comes on the scene. Well, those things, I have categories in those things-

David: Right

Seth: ... in my mind.

David: They speak to each other.

Seth: Yeah.

David: It's a recurring musical theme.

Seth: That's right.

David: Okay.

Seth: And the Egyptians were the slave masters of Israel, so it's significant that the main enemy of Israel is yet again the Philistines.

David: Yeah.

Seth: It's yet again Egypt. They're stuck in the same battle they've always been stuck in.

David: Yeah.

Seth: The Imperial March keeps playing. Why can't it stop?

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Like, it adds to the dramatic tension. It's, it's a function of it being high art.

David: Yeah.

Seth: It's like hinting.

David: Another time that reared its head that we talked about that feels like a deep cut that proves the point-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... is when we were in Esther.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: You know, everyone's talked about Esther, you know, as the central figure, and yeah, of course, she was amazing. Like, we're not belittling that, but there was this really intense battle going on between Mordecai and Haman.

Seth: Oh, yes.

David: And we learn that the reason why that battle's so intense is because of where they are descended from.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: We get a brief genealogy-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... that Mordecai the Jew was descended from King Saul, and Haman was a descendant of Agag?

Seth: Uh, King Agag.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And they had a battle way back in the day-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... that Saul screwed up.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And so now the question is, this is happening again. Will Haman-

Seth: Right

David: ... and Mordecai have the same outcome?

Seth: Yeah.

David: The battle's happening again. Who's gonna win?

Seth: And that genealogical detail gives you much of the dramatic tension-

David: That's right

Seth: ... between Haman and Mordecai, and if you miss that detail, you're missing-

David: Right

Seth: ... the high art of that moment.

David: Ah.

Seth: These things are intricately designed-

David: Right

Seth: ... for you to pick up on some of these clues.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So-

David: So that's what genealogies are doing in biblical literature.

Seth: Yeah, and they do-

David: Oh

Seth: ... one more thing.

David: Okay, go.

Seth: And this, they also include a ton of theology.

David: Oh, okay.

Seth: They like, they teach us things about God himself-

David: Okay

Seth: ... or about the way that God's people should understand the world.

David: Uh, y- you're gonna have to give me an example of this.

Seth: Yeah, so the genealogy in Genesis 10, for example-

David: Okay, yep

Seth: ... lists 70 nations descended from Noah.

David: Right.

Seth: For much of the rest of the scripture, all of the rest of scripture, the number 70 is now shorthand for all the nations of the world.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: All the Gentile nations of the world. So maybe not theology proper, but like-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... genealogies give us categories to understand the biblical world better.

David: Yeah.

Seth: 70 is now shorthand for the nations.

David: Uh-huh.

Seth: So oh, that's interesting, and that's because of a genealogy.

David: Right.

Seth: Does that make sense?

David: Yeah. The genealogies are loading up meaning for us and then unpacking meaning for us-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... way more than most modern readers are prepared for.

Seth: Yes. Maybe this is more theology proper then.

David: Okay.

Seth: So there is a whole book of the Bible called the Book of Numbers-

David: Right

Seth: ... full of genealogies and lists and censuses, censi.

David: There's actually only two.

Seth: But-

David: [laughs] I, I was just gonna say-

Seth: ... that's what they're named after

David: ... when I, when I, [laughs] when I wrote the, the, the devos for Numbers, I was like-

Seth: Right

David: ... the Book of Numbers isn't quite aptly named.

Seth: [laughs] That's very, you're right.

David: There's like two censuses.

Seth: You're right.

David: Other than that, it's a actually a crazy narrative.

Seth: It is.

David: But yes.

Seth: It's mostly about-

David: But there are ginormous, hard to read- [laughs]

Seth: Yes

David: ... censuses and genealogies in there.

Seth: But here's what's interesting.

David: Mm.

Seth: One of those censuses was at the beginning of their wilderness wanderings.

David: Right.

Seth: And one was at the end.

David: Yeah, and one measured how many people were there of the old generation who would die in the wilderness.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And the second one measured the people who were going to be the spiritual successors, their children.

Seth: And what's fascinating is for all the calamity that happened in those wilderness years, the population totals are about the same.

David: Yeah.

Seth: God preserved his people through the wilderness just like he promised.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And more than that, a lot of the numbers in the Book of Numbers, the census numbers in the Book of Numbers, are multiples or copies of astronomical or ancient astrological numbers.

David: Mm.

Seth: Which means that the author of Numbers was mindful of God's promise to Abraham-

David: Oh, right

Seth: ... that said, "Your descendants will be like the stars in the sky."

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And so he has parroted his genealogy-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... or he's made his genealogy prove the point that God has been faithful to his promises, not just by keeping the populations-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... the same before and after calamity-

David: Right

Seth: ... but by making the genealogies fit the astronomical signs of their day.

David: Right.

Seth: He's kind of-

David: Yeah, that is Numbers doing theology.

Seth: That is, yeah, that is a genealogy doing theology.

David: Yeah, that's cool. Okay.

Seth: And then another example would be in the genealogy of Chronicles.

David: Okay.

Seth: Uh, it's nine chapters long. [laughs]

David: The genealogy is nine chapters long? [laughs]

Seth: Is nine chapters long, but it's organized like a mountain or a V-

David: Okay

Seth: ... where the beginning begins with Adam-

David: Uh-huh

Seth: ... and it ends with the exile of God's people. So it's all of Israel's history.

David: Mm.

Seth: But the very center-The very top of the mountain-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... the very center of the literary unit focuses on the descendants of the Levites.

David: Huh.

Seth: The entire history of God's people centers around the worship of God and the temple.

David: Wow.

Seth: And what sends people away from God's presence in the temple, their fail-

David: The de- the destruction of the temple

Seth: ... their destruction of the temple.

David: Mm.

Seth: So that is the Book of Chronicles teaching us something about the way that God interacts with His people throughout history.

David: Wow. Okay.

Seth: So-

David: Genealogies do a lot more than I thought.

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah [laughs].

Seth: And so I hope that prepares us to th- look at the Book of Matthew [laughs]

David: Yeah

Seth: ... and see, like, so what is Matthew doing-

David: Right

Seth: ... with all the details that he gives us in his genealogy? [gentle music]

David: Okay, so that's what genealogies do in the Biblical literature.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: A little bit more than what we do with lists of names.

Seth: A, a little bit more.

David: [laughs]

Seth: Yeah. It's better than just like, "Oh, like, wh- who am... Like-"

David: Yeah

Seth: ... "what, what country am I from?"

David: "Who am I, really?" [laughs]

Seth: "Who am I?"

David: Th- we said, okay, that's how Matthew starts, but we also said that Matthew goes beat for beat throughout the whole Old Testament, and the reason he opens up his gospel with a genealogy is to echo the Book of Genesis-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... because the Book of Genesis opens up with a lot of genealogies.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Uh, even the word genesis, I think we mentioned this in the last Matthew episode, is that the word genesis is, like, the beginning.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And so the beginnings are then unpacked through genealogies.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so I think before we jump into Matthew, we probably need to understand what-

Seth: What's he riffing on?

David: What's he riffing on? Like, what are genealogies doing functionally in the Book of Genesis?

Seth: Yes.

David: Okay.

Seth: So the first time we get the word genealogy or the word record, it's Genesis 2.

David: Mm.

Seth: In chapter four it says, "This is the account of the heavens and the Earth when they were created." Matthew opens up his gospel the same way, "This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah." So he's borrowing that same sentence structure, and where Genesis has creation of the Earth-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... Matthew has Jesus the Messiah.

David: Yeah.

Seth: The record of the creation of the Earth versus the record of the Messiah.

David: Right.

Seth: So he's like, the Messiah is recreating the world. That's his understanding.

David: Oh, I see.

Seth: Right.

David: So, okay, so part of the reason you're saying Matthew's riffing on this is because when he parrots the language of Genesis, he's doing it in the context of the creation narrative-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... where the world was made.

Seth: Yep.

David: And so he's saying a new creation is about to come. God's about to remake the world. He's bringing Eden back. He's gonna start the story again.

Seth: Yep.

David: You could scratch out the word Matthew and put the word Genesis, and theologically that would make sense-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... 'cause this is the new beginning of the story.

Seth: Yes.

David: Not that anyone should deface their Bibles or, or change anything. [laughs]

Seth: Right. [laughs] Yeah, so this is a new creation-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... that Jesus is starting-

David: That's cool

Seth: ... in his Messiahship.

David: Uh, can I ask you a question about chapter one?

Seth: Yeah.

David: Well, I mean, one, just-

Seth: Chapter one of Genesis

David: ... of Genesis.

Seth: Yeah.

David: 'Cause I mean, one, the, you know, in the beginning are the first words.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: That is the word Genesis.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: That's where we get the word genesis, because-

Seth: Seblas Canaceo.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Yeah.

David: 'Cause a, a lot of times, um, our names for our, the first five books of our Bible, uh, not every time, but a lotta times just come from the first word.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Uh, or the, or those were the traditional Hebrew names of the books were-

Seth: Yes

David: ... the first word of the scroll.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And so that's what Matthew is doing w- when he says-

Seth: Mm

David: ... "The beginning of the genealogy," he's just quoting also-

Seth: Mm

David: ... chapter one verse one-

Seth: Yes

David: ... which is cool to get us into the Genesis thing. But o- one thing I think about with Genesis and genealogy is I think about the seeds and, well, what's the language, each one after their own kind-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... is even like-

Seth: Oh, right, right

David: ... the fish and the birds and the vegetation, and Adam and Eve, they all have this-

Seth: They reproduce after their own kind

David: ... they reproduce after their own kind. They, they have this kind of-

Seth: Mm

David: ... poetic genealogy happening-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... that creates the flourishing of the world.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And so there seems to be, like, some other-

Seth: Right

David: ... less mechanical genealogy happening that I've always-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... kinda meditated on, and I, I didn't know if Matthew's trying to pull anything there-

Seth: That's interesting

David: ... or if that's just cool. I don't know.

Seth: I mean, what's interesting about Genesis, it's, it's the beginning of all genealogies.

David: Right.

Seth: So Adam and Eve, the first fish, the first two deer are the beginning of all the genealogies.

David: Yeah.

Seth: They're the very beginning of it all.

David: Right.

Seth: Thematically-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... it makes total sense that, oh, Genesis begins with the genealogy of all created things, where all created things came from-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... the word of God.

David: It's also interesting to think about, like, the, the genealogy doesn't just affect human beings. You know-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... I think we can be kind of anthropocentric-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... in salvation [laughs] where-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... it's all about humans.

Seth: Right.

David: And the story of genealogy actually-

Seth: Right

David: ... involves all creation, that-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... the oceans will be recreated and the forests and-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... that God loves the whole Earth-

Seth: Yes

David: ... and is recreating it through what's happening in Matthew's-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... story with the Messiah.

Seth: Right. The book of beginnings of the Messiah-

David: Uh-huh

Seth: ... is a book of the beginnings of the wh- a whole new created world.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Not just created humans, but a whole new created world that will come when he comes-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... again.

David: Okay. So what's our next way station then in Genesis genealogy land?

Seth: Uh, well, it would be in Genesis chapter five is the next-

David: Okay

Seth: ... genealogy.

David: I had a question then-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... 'cause th- the, the genealogy that we picked up then in chapters one and two-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... these are the generations of the Earth and-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... the world is being created, and the fish and all that, land, and Adam and Eve-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... they're all being created. And then it seems like the genealogy of Adam and Eve-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... gets, like, a curse on it-

Seth: Yes

David: ... in chapter three.

Seth: Oh, yes, in chapter three.

David: Right, 'cause God puts enmity-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... between, like, the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, and you get these, like, two rival genealogies-

Seth: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm

David: ... that grow out of-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... what should've been-

Seth: Right

David: ... one great family tree.

Seth: Right.

David: And now there's twoAnd one is going to be the family tree of the serpent, and one's gonna be the family tree of Eve.

Seth: Yep.

David: And it's just interesting then that what is the biggest battle on the line in the opening pages of Genesis are two rival genealogies. [laughs]

Seth: I understand.

David: It is like-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... you've got the world and Satan versus-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... his remnant and God.

Seth: Mm.

David: And it's like two genealogies fighting-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... each other. And that's the drama of the Bible-

Seth: Mm

David: ... is like which genealogy's gonna win?

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Is the, is the seed-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... of the serpent gonna win out and eat the child, [laughs] or-

Seth: Right

David: ... are you just gonna win?

Seth: That definitely gets picked up really explicitly in Noah's genealogy-

David: Mm

Seth: ... especially. In Genesis 5, we have like Adam's family line, so presumably the seed of, the seed of the woman, the genealogy of the woman, right?

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: What's heartbreaking is it's not a genealogy of life like in Genesis 1. It's a genealogy of death.

David: Oh, right.

Seth: It's just telling us that every descendant after Eve dies.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Um-

David: Which can be confusing because I get sidetracked when I read chapter five-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... because it's like, "Oh, and he lived 912 years."

Seth: Yeah, yeah. [laughs]

David: "He lived 815 years." And I'm just like, "How did they live that long? I wonder what happened. When did people stop living that long?" A- and I'm missing-

Seth: Yes

David: ... the point there. [laughs]

Seth: Right, yeah. We talked about this way-

David: Way back

Seth: ... back in our Genesis episode, but like these are supposed to be the first humans. These were in, in ancient society, the first humans were like, were like gods.

David: Yeah.

Seth: The first generations were like supernatural beings.

David: Right.

Seth: And if you go read some ancient literature, the first humans in the Mesopotamian em- epics, the first kings of the Mesopotamian epics lived thousands and thousands and thousands of years.

David: Right, so 815 is like you died as a two-year-old.

Seth: Right. So th- an ancient mind would have read this like, "Why are they dying so quickly?"

David: What is up with these-

Seth: Um

David: ... these feeble gods?

Seth: Yeah, right. And more, more importantly than even like comparing it to ancient literature is that the most repeated word in this is death.

David: Right.

Seth: Like-

David: Which is really interesting because like I look at the Matthew genealogy, it's... And isn't it begat?

Seth: He was born.

David: There's, there's life, and there's life-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... and there's life. [laughs] But then-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... this one's like, "And he died, and..." It's a Debbie Downer of genealogies.

Seth: Yes, it is. Yeah, and he died, and he dies.

David: Mm.

Seth: The drumbeat of death after the fall.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Yeah. And then we have another genealogy in Genesis as well, the one in Genesis 10, where-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... it's the 70 nations of the world.

David: Right.

Seth: And this is where we also start to get the seed of the serpent come in to full effect. We have whole nations.

David: Mm.

Seth: This is where Canaan and Sidon and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites, the enemies of God-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... are finally popping up in the genealogy even of God's people.

David: Right. And we're gonna, he's gonna lay out this table of nations, the 70 families. And then in tw- in 12, we're gonna zoom in on one tiny part of this huge table of nations in Abraham.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And then we're only gonna follow his family tree out.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Which is like r- really g- Now that I'm trying to view genealogy as art-

Seth: Yeah, yeah

David: ... it is really good art because-

Seth: Yes

David: ... you've got this drama happening between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And by chapter 10, the seed of the, of the s- of the serpent has like 69 maybe-

Seth: Mm

David: ... families. And maybe-

Seth: Right

David: ... and maybe is there o- which one is the seed of the woman?

Seth: Right.

David: It's getting swallowed up in the sheer-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... volume of names.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And then we meet, "Oh, there's one. It's Abraham."

Seth: I think we've more than proven our point-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... that genealogies have a lot going on in them, and we b- should be paying attention to them.

David: It's really cool.

Seth: And I would like to start talking about Matthew's genealogy-

David: I, I mean, I guess we should

Seth: ... and why it's so cool. [laughs]

David: 'Cause the title of this episode is gonna have something to do with Matthew.

Seth: Yes.

David: Okay.

Seth: Um, okay. So let's start at the very end of Matthew's genealogy where he says this in verse 17, "So all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations, from David to the deportation of Babylon 14 generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah 14 generations."

David: So three sets of 14 generations-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... going all the way from Abraham to Jesus.

Seth: That's right. So why is he doing that?

David: It-

Seth: Is, is the question

David: ... probably, probably science.

Seth: Probably science.

David: [laughs]

Seth: So what's interesting is that in order... If you just read the names, there's more than three sets of 14 names.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Uh, there's more names than that in each genealogy. So you kinda have to read between the lines in order to get 14 names in each genealogy.

David: Right.

Seth: Here's what I mean by that. In the first set of 14, you have to count both Abraham and David's name, but in the second list, to get 14 names, you have to exclude-

David: Yes

Seth: ... David's name.

David: Right.

Seth: And then in the third list, you have to count both Jeconiah and Jesus, the one who it's all leading to, to get to 14. So I guess the question is why not just have three really clear lists of 14 different names?

David: Yeah.

Seth: It's, the answer is because Matthew is structuring his genealogy after the way Chronicles structured its genealogy in the first nine chapters.

David: He's riffing again.

Seth: He's riffing again. And Chronicles is a genealogy based in units of 14 around the entire history of God from Adam to the exile.

David: So when people say that, 'cause I've heard this before-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... that people are like, "Matthew must have been like the worst mathematician ever-

Seth: Right

David: ... 'cause he can't do simple addition. He can't just count numbers."

Seth: Yes. [laughs]

David: It's like, no, stop having chronological snobbery.

Seth: Yeah. [laughs]

David: Matthew's not a bad mathematician. He's a phenomenal linguist.

Seth: He's giving you all the names you need-

David: Right

Seth: ... to give you an accurate history, but he's also counting them differently than would be intuited so that you would know he's riffing on the Book of Chronicles-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... which is trying to give you a picture of the entire world.

David: Right.

Seth: Which means that Matthew wants you to see his genealogy as a summary of the history and, of the entire world that leads up to Jesus, the child born to Mary.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: So the reason why he's structuring his genealogy off the Book of Chronicles is because he wants you to see Jesus as the summation and climax of all of the world, all of Israel's history.

David: Okay.

Seth: Does that make sense?

David: It does, but let me, let me hone in.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Because I think there's so many arguments around this passage that I'm just familiar with.

Seth: Okay.

David: Like one is-Add up all these generations, there's no way they span the amount of history-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... from Abraham to Jesus.

Seth: Yeah.

David: The, the timeline just doesn't match.

Seth: Right.

David: And even what you said, like yeah, totally, it took Chronicles nine chapters to do what Matthew did in half a chapter.

Seth: Yep.

David: So what's going on there?

Seth: Yeah.

David: Is, is he skipping, he's skipping generations, he's jumping time? Like-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... I think for somebody in the, the, the age of written modern history-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... it's like something wrong feels like it's going on for most-

Seth: Right

David: ... modern readers. But what's his aim?

Seth: 'Cause we're assuming he's doing it maliciously or out of a lack of knowledge.

David: Yeah, he's, he's, yeah, he's dumb or he's, he's trying to mess with history.

Seth: No, he's doing that, those things intentionally.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: He has chosen representative names-

David: Mm

Seth: ... to give you the sense of a person's history and to highlight certain people in that history, but also to exclude on purpose certain people.

David: Right.

Seth: So let me, let's go to the exclusions. So why leave out some names that should be there-

David: Sure

Seth: ... is one of the questions. The most notable exception of the people that he has left out are all of the descendants associated with King Ahab.

David: Mm.

Seth: King Ahab was a member of the King David's-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... family tree, and so he should be included-

David: Right

Seth: ... in the lineage of anybody associated with King David. But what's fascinating is if you read the book of Kings, there is only one ruling queen in Judas history, but, and her name is Athaliah.

David: Okay.

Seth: But the author of Kings, you know what he does to prove that she's not a true ruler of Israel?

David: I do not, actually.

Seth: She, he refuses to give her a genealogy.

David: Mm.

Seth: All the other rulers of Israel are given genealogies. He's the son of this person, the son of this person. Athaliah is never given that. She's the only monarch to have no genealogy. So Matthew does to the descendants of Ahab what the author of Kings did to the des- the kings that came after Ahab.

David: Mm.

Seth: He wrote them out of history.

David: Wow.

Seth: Not true people of the line of David.

David: That is brilliant.

Seth: Right? It's super brilliant.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And-

David: That's crazy

Seth: ... I was gonna save this one for later, but we're, because we're here now.

David: Let's go.

Seth: Um, so what's significant then is he, he leaves out three or four generations of names.

David: Mm.

Seth: So there was, I forget m- all the different names, but there's Athaliah, and there's Joram, and Joash, and-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... Amaziah, and a whole bunch of others.

David: Okay.

Seth: Uh, but he leaves three or four generations out, and they are judged unworthy of being included in God's family tree, the family of David's tree. So why three or four generations? Well, because that's exactly how God describes himself in the Book of Deuteronomy.

David: Stop.

Seth: Go- [laughs]

David: I see where you're going with this. [laughs]

Seth: God says that He will hold accountable the sins-

David: The, the guilty

Seth: ... the guilty-

David: To the third and fourth generation

Seth: ... but his love towards his people will extend for-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... thousands of generations. So Matthew, in his genealogy, is reflecting the character of God.

David: Oh my God. [laughs]

Seth: He's judging those unworthy, leading us to Jesus.

David: Wow.

Seth: So which makes Jesus the historical and genealogical proof that God extends his love for thousands of generations.

David: That is incredible.

Seth: Isn't that incredible? [laughs]

David: That is incredible. Oh my goodness. Okay, so that's why he's skipping over names-

Seth: Yeah. [laughs]

David: ... is to, to tell us stories-

Seth: He's making better points than-

David: He's making better points than-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... just like, "Yes, I'm an accurate historian who can give you a list of names that you could just look up in Chronicles."

Seth: Yes.

David: That would be pointless. He's like, "You kn- you want a list of names from this person to this person? It already exists."

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: "I'm not doing history here. I'm doing theology."

Seth: Yes.

David: "So pay attention."

Seth: Yes.

David: "Stop quibbling about the stuff that doesn't matter and l- try to look and pay attention to what does."

Seth: "I'm trying to reveal God in the flesh to you-

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: ... in the genealogical flesh to you, so let me do it."

David: [laughs] [gentle music] I guess the other question I would have is why introduce Jesus? Like, if you sat down, you're Matthew, you sit down to write your story-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... of the savior of the world, the man that you love, your God, your King, Jesus, the Messiah, why do you start with a genealogy?

Seth: Well, it's for all the reasons that we've already said.

David: Okay.

Seth: We've said that genealogies communicate theology, so in a sense, a genealogy can give you, like, a theological table of contents-

David: Mm

Seth: ... for what's to come in the Book of Matthew.

David: Oh.

Seth: And so can we talk some more about numbers so I can prove the point to you?

David: I, I guess so. You're gonna have to come back to the other things genealogies do and why Matthew's using them.

Seth: Yeah.

David: So yes.

Seth: But, but one thing, again, th- they're meant to communicate theology.

David: Yep.

Seth: And so a genealogy functions like a theological table of contents-

David: Yep

Seth: ... for what's to come.

David: Yep.

Seth: So another way to... So let's just get funky with the, the 3 times 14 for a second.

David: Okay. I'm in.

Seth: Another way of saying three sets of 14 generations-

David: Is six sets of seven

Seth: ... is six sets of seven generations. And seven, since the beginning of the Bible, is the number of, like, both creation-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and rest.

David: Right.

Seth: So perhaps that means we're supposed to understand that Jesus is the firstborn son at the start of the seventh generation.

David: Oh, because there were six cycles of seven, so this is the seventh seven.

Seth: Jesus begins the seventh seven. He's-

David: Which is the year of Jubilee

Seth: ... he's the son of the Sabbath. He ends one era of history and the start of a new era of creation, and more than that, as you said, he's the seventh son of the seventh generation, a Jubilee s- Messiah. So Matthew has organized his history so that we would see Jesus, the Messiah, who brings a Jubilee-styleRest, which means a lot of things, but the most iconic is the freedom of slavery-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... and the return of Israel to their ancestral lands. So what is Jesus gonna do? He's going to free Israel from s- from slavery to their sins, but also they will no longer be exiles.

David: Mm.

Seth: That's what he's come to do.

David: Yeah. So it's setting up why he's here and what he's here to do-

Seth: That's right

David: ... just by making him the beginning of the seventh set-

Seth: Yes

David: ... of seven.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And, and I guess the assumed continuation of that genealogy would be everyone born to Jesus-

Seth: That's right

David: ... will be sons and daughters of rest-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... in the new creation.

Seth: Yeah.

David: [laughs]

Seth: Yeah, I'm going a little bit out of order of my notes here, but one of the interesting things about this genealogy is it has two references to brothers, the brothers of Jeconiah and the brothers of Judah. And so unlike some of the other things we'll discuss, this genealogy actually points us forward like a table of contents to the rest of the book. And the idea that brotherhood is a central theme of Jesus' teaching in the Book of Matthew. All of us are brothers and sisters of one another, children of a common heavenly Father, not born by blood, but by faith and obedience. So in Matthew 12:50, his brothers-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and his mother are waiting for Jesus outside of a house.

David: Oh, right. Yeah.

Seth: And then what does Jesus say to them?

David: Who are my mother?

Seth: "Who are my true mothers and brothers?"

David: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Seth: "Those who do the will of my Father." We aren't supposed to be angry with our brothers in Matthew 5. We're supposed to remove the log from our own eye before we remove the speck out of our-

David: Brother's eye

Seth: ... brother's eye. We're, in Matthew 18, we're told how to approach a brother's sins. Matthew 18, we're told that God won't forgive us our sins if we don't forgive our brother's-

David: Mm

Seth: ... their sins. Uh, we shouldn't call each other teacher or rabbi because we are all brothers.

David: Wow.

Seth: So Jesus' genealogy is telling us that we're all part of a common family too, and we're all children of God.

David: Right.

Seth: Brothers to Jesus, just like you were saying.

David: Wow. Okay. [laughs] What... Are, are there any other table of contents things in here?

Seth: Yes, there's so many more. [laughs]

David: Oh, my gosh. [laughs]

Seth: So yeah, you want me to keep going?

David: I, I mean, you have to now.

Seth: Um-

David: Just give me some highlights on what are, what are the other things that are somehow hidden in this [laughs] genealogy that are actually just a table of contents?

Seth: Um, I've got three, uh, four more.

David: Okay.

Seth: Four more table of contents type things in the-

David: All right

Seth: ... genealogy.

David: Hit it, hit them.

Seth: One is the king- the kingship of David. Like, he's-

David: Oh, yes

Seth: ... we have being qualified for the task of priesthood.

David: Mm.

Seth: So, like, genealogies can... I said another thing genealogy does-

David: Oh

Seth: ... is qualify you for a task.

David: Right.

Seth: So there's a whole bunch of priestly names in here-

David: Mm

Seth: ... that prove that Jesus is qualified to do, to that task.

David: Right. And you said that he's riffing off of Chronicles, which the peak-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... of Chronicles was-

Seth: Yep

David: ... the priesthood.

Seth: Yep.

David: And so he's like, "Jesus is the qualified priest."

Seth: There's also a whole bunch of women and Gentiles in this-

David: Mm

Seth: ... which are significant for different reasons. So let's go through them all.

David: Okay.

Seth: Right?

David: But, but then also you said David.

Seth: Yeah, so Dave, let's start with David.

David: Okay.

Seth: So remember back a second ago, I said that some genealogies can be based around numbers-

David: Uh-huh

Seth: ... or names-

David: Right

Seth: ... or sometimes both. So in Genesis 46, the whole genealogy is based around the number seven.

David: Okay.

Seth: And the seventh name on that list is the name Gad.

David: One of the sons of Jacob.

Seth: Yep.

David: Yep.

Seth: And hi- his... And in Hebrew, all letters have numerical values.

David: Right.

Seth: And the numerical value of the seventh name on the list is seven. [laughs]

David: So Gad equals seven.

Seth: Gad equals seven, and he's the seventh name on the list.

David: Seventh name.

Seth: He has seven sons.

David: Oh, my gosh.

Seth: And at the end of the genealogy, we're told there are 70 people. [laughs]

David: Oh.

Seth: So, like, seven's important-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... the whole genealogy. Matthew does the same thing, but with David.

David: Okay.

Seth: And he's already told us how to find it. He's told us the numerical framing device-

David: 14

Seth: ... is 14. So who's the 14th name on the list?

David: I don't know. Is it David?

Seth: It's David.

David: I didn't even count, but I'm just-

Seth: It's, it's-

David: [laughs] I'm guessing

Seth: ... it's David.

David: Okay.

Seth: And do you know... And the numerical value of the name David is-

David: 13

Seth: ... 14. [laughs]

David: [laughs] I was so close.

Seth: You're so close. And David's name is mentioned three times.

David: Oh, 'cause there's three sets of 14.

Seth: 'Cause there's three sets of 14.

David: Ah.

Seth: So-

David: So that's why, like, the double... Why, why is David's name listed-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... multiple times?

Seth: Right.

David: It's 'cause he's doing something cooler-

Seth: He's doing something cooler

David: ... than just accidentally being redundant.

Seth: Right. And so Dav- who is David to Israel? He's the high point of Israel's history, and through the low point of his exile, his dynasty takes a dive. But in Jesus, a new David is ri- rising.

David: Mm.

Seth: A new messianic hope is rising in Jesus just as it rose in David.

David: Mm.

Seth: So there's-

David: So-

Seth: The kingship of David is on the line.

David: Okay, so hold on.

Seth: [laughs] Yeah.

David: All right. So, so far we've said that Jesus is continuing the genealogy from Genesis.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Showing us that the seed of the woman that will finally defeat the seed of the serpent is still going.

Seth: Yep.

David: And that the battle will finally be won in this person.

Seth: Yeah.

David: We've said that Jesus-

Seth: Is recreating the world

David: ... he's recreating the world, right.

Seth: Yeah.

David: We, we said that Jesus is a, a qualified priest.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: That he is going to be able to represent a man to God.

Seth: We haven't gone deep in that yet.

David: Okay.

Seth: But yes, that is one of them.

David: Okay. And now we've said that he's a qualified king-

Seth: Qualified king

David: ... in the line of David.

Seth: That's right.

David: Okay.

Seth: Uh, he's also the Jubilee Messiah-

David: Oh, right, Jubi-

Seth: ... coming to get, free us from slavery.

David: How can one genealogy-

Seth: Um

David: ... do this many things? [laughs]

Seth: He's also a king, a historian who will judge the leaders of the past as not worthy of being his history, the way that he cut out-

David: Oh, right

Seth: ... a Habakkuk line.

David: A Habakkuk line by, by, by-

Seth: Uh

David: ... skipping three and, and four generations.

Seth: Yes.

David: Okay.

Seth: It's also telling us that we are brothers with Jesus.

David: Right.

Seth: Flagging that main theme throughout Matthew.

David: Okay.

Seth: And we can keep going.

David: I mean, what about Abraham?Oh, 'cause he said, yeah, this is the, this is the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, which we've covered-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... the son of Abraham.

Seth: Yeah. So-

David: Which is where kinda the, the Genesis story we, uh-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... kinda left off, where it's like, oh, here's the seed of the woman. So he's completing that, but there's more going on 'cause Abraham was given a specific promise, just like David was.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: David was given a promise for an eternal dynasty, that someone in his line-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... meaning this genealogy, would sit on his throne forever and rule the kingdom.

Seth: Yeah.

David: But also, Abraham was given a genealogical promise-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... that through his seed, through his offspring, all the Gentiles, all the nations-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... of the world would be blessed.

Seth: Yes, which is why Jesus's genealogy includes four women.

David: Ah.

Seth: So the four women in Jesus' genealogy, a couple of different things are happening. Uh, so on one level it's the women Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba.

David: Mm.

Seth: And so Tam-

David: Heavy hitters.

Seth: Heavy hitters, all people considered faithful women-

David: Yeah, definitely

Seth: ... in redemptive history.

David: And many of them, if not all of them, really deeply connected to keeping the genealogy alive.

Seth: Yes. They, like, so Tamar dresses up like a prostitute-

David: Right

Seth: ... seduces her father-in-law to have his twin sons.

David: Because he would not, he was, like, not gonna carry on the line of Judah, right?

Seth: That's right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Rahab is an actual prostitute, but she hides Israelite spies to give them a way into their ancestral land.

David: Thus possibly preserving the entirety of Israel.

Seth: Yes. Ruth is a Moabite, and she-

David: Through Naomi

Seth: ... through Naomi provides the descendant of King David.

David: Right.

Seth: And then Bathsheba is another woman, ah, who David abuses his power on, but through her, the Messianic line does continue.

David: Wow.

Seth: So what's, so a couple different things are interesting th- here. One is why these women in particular.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: So we've already hinted at the answer. Well, they're all Gentiles.

David: Right. Are they?

Seth: Yes. Well, maybe. So here, here's, here's-

David: Okay

Seth: ... we'll get to that.

David: Okay.

Seth: But first, why these women? Why not more faithful women? Why not Sarah? Why not Rachel? Why not Abigail? Why women who all have some kind of morally problematic story surrounding the birth of their-

David: Mm

Seth: ... sons?

David: Right.

Seth: Or th- their, just their sexuality in general.

David: Right.

Seth: Tamar dresses up like a prostitute and seduces her father-in-law.

David: Right.

Seth: That's weird.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Rahab is a prostitute-

David: Mm

Seth: ... but fathers Boaz. Ruth-

David: Oh, wait, no

Seth: ... um-

David: Rahab. Wait, Rahab fathers Boaz.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Oh, you're right.

Seth: Yeah.

David: I forgot that.

Seth: Right.

David: That sounded wrong [laughs] but you're right.

Seth: And then Boaz marries Ruth-

David: Ruth

Seth: ... another foreigner-

David: Oh my gosh

Seth: ... a Moabite. And her story's really interesting, and we talked about this a long time ago.

David: We did, yeah.

Seth: She's pretty aggressive in her pursuit of Boaz.

David: Yeah.

Seth: She's the one who proposes marriage, so much so that people think she might have done something untoward-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... in how she approached him. Um, and then Bathsheba obviously was abused-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... by David and became pregnant that way.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So, like, why have all these women who had children with some sort of moral gray area-

David: Yeah, something-

Seth: ... surrounding the p- pregnancy

David: ... something tinged, and usually, and, and, or in pretty much all of them, like, nothing to speak against the women.

Seth: Right.

David: Like, they're usually the victim or they're the hero.

Seth: I... Yes. So I think they're in here because they're supposed to help you prepare for the fifth woman in the genealogy.

David: Mary.

Seth: Mary.

David: Whoa.

Seth: Uh, all of these women had children born to them in circumstance that could've been communicated as immoral-

David: Oh, right, um-

Seth: ... or scandalous.

David: Yes, Tamar was almost burned to death.

Seth: Right. But all these women point to Mary-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... who lived her entire life being accused of having a premarital affair in order to have Jesus.

David: Oh my gosh, yes.

Seth: So despite their supposed immorality, the people of Israel ha- have accepted these women as virtues and paragons of faith.

David: Right.

Seth: And so now they should not reject Mary or the Messiah because of another story of potential sexual immorality.

David: Right. That is incredible.

Seth: Isn't that fascinating?

David: I just, I, again, I said it, I said it before-

Seth: [laughs]

David: ... how can one genealogy do this much work?

Seth: Right.

David: It's so artfully crafted.

Seth: It's doing so much work.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And then we've already hinted at it, but they're all in some way or another Gentiles or closely associated with being Gentiles.

David: Right, 'cause, like, Bathsheba was married to a Gentile.

Seth: Yeah, so Tamar is interesting.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: She is possibly a Canaanite.

David: Right.

Seth: But we don't know that. We're never told.

David: I think we talked about that in the, back in the Genesis podcast years ago.

Seth: Yeah, we, we, we were never told her-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... ethnicity.

David: Right.

Seth: We know-

David: We know Rahab is, we know Ruth is.

Seth: Yeah, we know they're both foreigners. As you said, Bathsheba is a, is in the household of a Gentile.

David: Right, a Hittite, right?

Seth: A Hittite.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Yeah, which by the way is one of those names in the first genealogy that should set off alarm bells.

David: Oh, yeah.

Seth: It was a Sidonian, a Jebusite, and a Hittite-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... the third-born son of, of Canaan.

David: One of the original baddies.

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So it's like, oh, gosh, why are these, why are Gentiles-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... in Jesus' family tree? And then we've already hinted at it.

David: You're skipping over kingly Jews to include-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... like Gentiles?

Seth: Yes.

David: What's going on here? Yeah.

Seth: He, and so I think what you're supposed to see that Jesus in his own bloodline is including people that are not ethnically Jewish-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... because he's going to be the Sabbath king for all people.

David: Yeah.

Seth: He's gonna bring Jubilee for all nations. He's going to bring, uh, be the king for every people, tribe, and tongue.

David: Right.

Seth: Like, that's, and I think that one's probably pretty obvious. I think a lot of people are familiar with that one.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: But it's still super significant, and to go back to the point that started all this, that proves Abraham's promises are coming true.

David: Right, that all nations of the world will be blessed.

Seth: Because in Jesus they will be blessed.

David: Right.

Seth: He's the son of mixed blood, right?

David: Yeah.

Seth: And he will save all people.

David: Mm. Do you have anything else in that bag of tricks over there?

Seth: I do have [laughs] one more.Uh, one more.

David: Okay.

Seth: Uh, and-

David: I think I have... I've, I think me and everyone else have room for one more.

Seth: Uh-

David: I'm ready

Seth: ... the final, final thing to flag in the table of contents that is, uh, the genealogy is that a genealogy can function as a qualifier for a specific task.

David: Right.

Seth: And so a true king of Israel-

David: Yep, we talked about that

Seth: ... would be the son of David.

David: Yep.

Seth: But a true priest of Israel had to be-

David: We've touched on that

Seth: ... a descendant of Aaron or Zadok, either one.

David: Okay. Or Melchizedek.

Seth: Um, well-

David: No, I'm just kidding. [laughs]

Seth: Yeah, yeah. We'll, we'll get there eventually.

David: [laughs]

Seth: So Matthew spends a good amount of time proving that Jesus has a priestly lineage of some kind as well.

David: Mm.

Seth: So there's a name in here called Abihud, or I don't quite know how to pronounce it.

David: Abiud.

Seth: Abiud, perhaps. And that's a variation on Abijah, which was the name of one of Aaron's sons. Zadok is also mentioned here. Eleazar, another one of Aaron's sons, is also mentioned here.

David: Mm.

Seth: And they're all in that back half, that, the, the furthest to and towards Jesus's birth.

David: Mm.

Seth: So what's interesting there is, like, not necessarily of the priestly line of Aaron.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Reminiscent of, reminds you of, makes you think about the priestly line of Aaron.

David: Right.

Seth: But are they descend- It, it's not quite clear.

David: Yeah, it's not a clear-cut line.

Seth: But regardless of whether they're actual descendants or not, Matthew intends you to think priest, priest, priest, priest every time you read those names-

David: Mm

Seth: ... who are closely associated with the priesthood.

David: Right.

Seth: Zadok, Eleazar, Abiud.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So that means that when Jesus comes, he isn't just a king who's gonna rule and bring Sabbath rest for all people, but he's a priest-king-

David: Right

Seth: ... who's going to preside over his kingdom's relationship with their God and provide a way for his people to be right with his-

David: Mm

Seth: ... their God, too.

David: Yeah. And that's how he's the Messiah, the Savior.

Seth: Yeah, he's all of those hopes-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... in one. [laughs]

David: Okay. Man, that... I, I literally... I, and I've studied this passage, and I, and I studied the, the Genesis genealogies quite a bit.

Seth: Yeah.

David: But I did not know there was that much going on [laughs] in this-

Seth: It's fairly thick

David: ... genealogy.

Seth: And I wanna shout out immediately and always-

David: Mm

Seth: ... Dr. Peter Leithart.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Um, we've been working through his work on the Book of Matthew, and a lot of what we're talking about here is just taken from his book.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Um, he's the inspiration for this next phase of what we're trying to do here, is, like, how did, how did Matthew read his Old Testament?

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: This is how he read his Old Testament.

David: Yeah.

Seth: It's all pointing to Jesus the Messiah, the priest-king who would come to include Gentiles and prepare a way for the shame of his mother to be reversed like it was for Tamar, and- [laughs]

David: That's incredible

Seth: ... bring jubilee for all slaves and b- bring people back to their [laughs] ancestral lands, and judge the kings of the earth who are not worthy of being included in God's family tree. [laughs]

David: Yeah.

Seth: Like...

David: Okay. A- as we land the plane here, let me ask you this question. We, we started the podcast this way, by saying, "Let's try to see what the New Testament authors, specifically Matthew, can do to teach us how to read our Old Testament." What do you think Matthew is doing here in giving us this genealogy that's not only, as we've seen, showing us who Jesus is, right?

Seth: Mm.

David: How is he teaching us to read the Old Testament, too?

Seth: Mm.

David: What tools has he put in our tool belt, and what perspective is he trying to put on our eyes that can equip us to go back into the Old Testament and read it better, I guess-

Seth: Mm

David: ... specifically when we're reading genealogies?

Seth: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, the, the most basic one is don't just gloss over them.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Like-

David: You've seen what one can do.

Seth: Yeah.

David: [laughs]

Seth: Like, they're doing heavy lifting if you would pay attention.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: So go deep-

David: Right

Seth: ... in the genealogies, and you'll find a lot of wisdom and truth and hope and, in the, Jesus' genealogy, like, prophecies about what he will do in the future, not just who he's descended from, but the hopes-

David: Right

Seth: ... that this kind of person might bring. And all that's included in the genealogies that you'll see in Genesis and-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... wherever else. So take the time to study it is the first thing he's telling us.

David: Yeah. I'm thinking, like, the other thing I'm learning here, and I think that Matthew's highlighting, is that there is this, these, so many of these connected threads through scripture that he's showing in this truncated genealogy-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... that he's saying, "Do you see how one generation talks to the next, how one epoch talks to the next-

Seth: Mm

David: ... how one book talks to the next, that they are telling this cohesive-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... story that is all r- pushing you toward-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... this place of the seventh seven, the Jesus-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... you know, that, that came to bring rest. So I'm thinking about that, too.

Seth: Yeah. I mean, yeah, think about that, is Matthew has rearranged the history of God's people-

David: Mm

Seth: ... from Abraham to Jesus in three sets of 14 generations with this kind of, like, thrumming, throbbing energy of hope.

David: Mm.

Seth: Something is coming. A king is coming, one who, uniting Jew and Gentile, fulfilling Abraham's hope, is coming, someone who's coming who will fulfill Sabbath rest. Like, he is just... There's all this redemptive historical energy in Matthew's genealogy because he saw all that redemptive hope in his Bible-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... like, in his Old Testament.

David: Right.

Seth: He was reading it knowing that this story doesn't end with the hopelessness-

David: Mm

Seth: ... of slavery. It doesn't end with the hopelessness of exile. It doesn't end when David murders Uriah and-

David: Mm

Seth: ... abuses Bathsheba. Those are not the story's ends for God's people.

David: Yeah.

Seth: God's doing something through all of Israel's history, and it's all pointing at Jesus.

David: Yeah. That's cool. Okay. We'll probably keep asking that question-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... as we try to take Matthew on as a hermeneutical teacher-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... trying to show us how to read the Bible, but I'll try to keep asking that question.

Seth: Yeah.

David: But all right.

Seth: Yeah.

David: We hope this has been helpful for you guys. This has blown my mind. Cannot wait to continue with the birth of Jesus-

Seth: Yes

David: ... next time. Yeah?

Seth: Which, uh, parallels the story of Joseph being born-

David: Okay

Seth: ... at the end of Genesis and the Exodus narratives.

David: All right. Well, that'll be fun.

Seth: Yeah.

David: So make sure you join us next week as we continue throughout the Book of Matthew. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your, your listening. And Seth, thank you for all the, the work and guiding us through all this. It's been so good.

Seth: My pleasure.

David: All right. We'll see you guys next week. [outro music]

Outro: Thank you for listening to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Spoken Gospel creates short films, devotionals, and podcasts like this one. Everything we make is free because of generous supporters like you. To see our resources, visit spokengospel.com or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Thanks for listening. See you next week. [outro music]

Related Resources

Free videos sent straight to your inbox.

Why Genealogies Are Awesome: Matthew 1 and the Art of Biblical Family Trees

Show Notes

Genealogies as High Art

The Genesis Foundation

Matthew's Artistic Choices

Women and Gentiles in the Lineage

Jesus the Priest-King

Related Resources

Introduction to Matthew

View our devotional on Matthew 1:1-17

Ready to study a different book?

Listen to the The Bible According to Matthew podcast

Listen to the Matthew 1: Why Genealogies are Awesome podcast

Listen to the Matthew 1: Why a Virgin Birth? podcast

Listen to the Matthew 2: King Joseph, and Wise Kings from the East podcast

Listen to the Matthew 2: Out of Egypt I Called Jesus podcast