Smoodock's Blog

Matthew begins his Gospel of the life and ministry of Jesus, the Messiah, by presenting the genealogy of the royal line of David: “The Book of the genealogy of Jesus, Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1), for our consideration. There are problems with the line, because it is evident that Matthew left out some folks. Nevertheless, as long as the main characters are represented, this isn’t a big problem, because something like this could be done to emphasize certain points in the genealogy, which Matthew does. He wants to divide the genealogy into three equal parts covering 14 generations each. However, according to our reckoning this, too, is a problem because the first part ends with David (14), and the second ends with Jeconiah (14), but the third, part ends with Jesus (13)! While using a specific number (14) for lists is helpful for teaching and for memorization, which the oral culture of Matthew’s day did a lot of,[1] how does it help, if the lists aren’t equal?

The purpose of Matthew’s Gospel is made clear from the very beginning. His was to be the Gospel to the Jews of his generation, and, arguably, to later generations of Jewish people. Over and over again he would point to something in Jesus’ life that would remind his reader that what occurred at this point in Jesus’ life fulfilled **x** in their history (cp. Matthew 1:22-23). Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus focuses on the ancestors and descendants of Israel’s greatest king, David, the son of Abraham. This is the genealogy to which he fixes the name, Jesus, called, the Christ or the Messiah, who was the prophesied King, who was to come (Matthew 1:1).

Thus, he doesn’t begin with Adam, as Luke’s genealogy of Jesus does. Instead, he begins with Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, and he ends the first of three lists of names with David, the King. Oddly enough, however he mentions four women in the process, which are key to understanding Matthew’s purpose in announcing the birth of Jesus at the end of all three lists of the royal genealogy (Matthew 1:18).

Matthew brings us from Abraham to Judah, who was Jacob’s choice to inherit the royal line (Genesis 49:8-12). However, he doesn’t merely mention Judah’s name and move on through the list, as he does with most other names. Instead, he pauses at that point to mention Tamar, Judah’s daughter-in-law, whom he had given to his firstborn, Er for a wife (Genesis 38:6).

Matthew’s point seems to be twofold. First, Judah was living as a Canaanite, apart from his father Jacob (cp. Genesis 38:1-3). Yet, the Lord’s eye was upon him, and this is understood in the fact that the Lord slew Judah’s first two sons, because they displeased him (Genesis 38:6-10). Secondly, Matthew’s mention of Tamar recalls Genesis 38 and highlights the ancient practice of using a levirate marriage to raise up a son for the barren line of one’s dead brother (Genesis 38:8-10; cp. Deuteronomy 25:5-10). This will become important later, after Matthew’s three lists are complete.

Judah’s royal genealogy is interesting, because it doesn’t begin legitimately. His attempts to have Tamar produce offspring to his eldest son, Er, failed, because the Lord slew Er for his wickedness. Then Judah attempted to produce offspring to his son Er by giving Tamar in a levirate marriage to his second son Onan, but this also failed and ended in Onan’s death (Genesis 38:6-10), because he refused to raise up children to his dead brother, presumably because Onan had his eye on greater inheritance rights. With two sons now dead, Judah became worried over the continuance of his line, so, although he promised to give Tamar in marriage to Shelah, his youngest and only remaining son, he withheld him after he reached the agreed age to marry (cp. Genesis 38:11).

Long-story-short, Judah’s royal genealogy came through an illicit affair with Tamar, his daughter-in-law. Judah never married her, as she is listed in 1Chronicles 2:4 as his daughter-in-law, not his wife, and her sons are his, not Er’s through a levirate marriage. The point is, Perez, Judah’s firstborn through Tamar is a mamzer (H4464; polluted), vis-à-vis a bastard, who was barred from any inheritance and couldn’t be numbered with the legitimate people in the congregation (Deuteronomy 23:2).

Judah deceived Tamar, so Tamar deceived Judah. Lies abound, in that she disguised herself as a harlot and sat near the path Judah was to take after working with his sheep, and she successfully lured him to herself in a sexual union, because he didn’t recognize her through the veil that covered her face (Genesis 38:12-19). Thus, we cannot come to David the king, without first coming through the illegitimate and cursed lineage of Judah through Tamar.[2]

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[1] “Writing was usually seen as supplementary to the oral discourse. Orators should avoid note-books that were too detailed. One is reminded of Quintillian’s criticism of Laenas’ dependence on such notes and his clear-cut advice: “For my own part, however, I think we should not write anything, which we do not intend to commit to memory…” Writing was not avoided as such, but functioned mainly as a memorandum of what the person already should remember from oral communication” [Samuel Byrskog: “Story as History” page116].

[2] The Law was not in force at this time. However, if we consider the Law, it tells us that David should never have been king, because Perez had no right to inherit. Nevertheless, David gets to be king. This becomes more important when we come to Jesus.