Smoodock's Blog

In our previous study, we concluded the first part of Matthew’s list of Jesus’ ancestry, which is composed of fourteen names from Abraham to David. The second part of the list also has fourteen names, beginning with the name, Solomon, son of David by the wife of Uriah, the Hittite (Matthew 1:6-7). So, Solomon, for all intents and purposes was half Jew and half Canaanite. In other words, just as Judah’s genealogy began through a marriage with a Canaanite, so David’s continued through a marriage with the wife of Uriah, the Hittite (a Canaanite). I believe it can be agreed that, as far as history is concerned, Israel, the nation of 12 tribes, reached its golden age under King Solomon.

Nevertheless, the nation quickly became corrupt under his reign, and, because of his later sins of idolatry, the nation became divided into two tribes, Judah and Benjamin (one) and ten tribes north of Judah (two). It was the judgment of the Lord against the sins of Solomon (1Kings 11:28-38) that divided the nation almost immediately after his son, Rahoboam, began to reign (1Kings 12:16-24).

So, Matthew continues to list another fourteen names from Solomon to Jeconiah (Matthew 1:11; cp. 1:17), but the problem is that he has left out names in the list to arrive at fourteen names. He left out three names between Joram and Ozias (Uzziah), and one whole generation of kings (three), the sons of Josiah, by saying Josiah begat Jeconiah, who was really the grandson of Josiah. Why did Matthew do this? This will be the subject of our next study, but as for now, I will acknowledge that Matthew passes over six kings in David’s genealogy, three successive generations of king between Joram and Ozias, and one generation of three kings, the sons of Josiah, in order to arrive at the figure fourteen or the value of the name, D a V i D (4 + 6 + 4 = 14).

The list ends with the exile of the Kingdom of Judah, when all the nobility and the king’s house were removed from their homeland in Judah to live in Babylon (2Kings 24:6, 8, 12-16; Jeremiah 27:20; 52:28-30). King Jeconiah (called Coniah and Jehoiachin) the son of Jehoiakim (left out of the list), the son of Josiah was exiled to Babylon where both he and his sons were made eunuchs, making them childless as far as producing an heir for the throne was concerned (2Kings 20:18). Thus, no matter how one figures the genealogy from this point onward, effectively the royal seed of David through Solomon ended with the reign of Jeconiah. He and his sons were made eunuchs in Babylon and could not have children (Jeremiah 22:28-30; 2Kings 20:18).

If this is true and logical, how is Matthew able to come to Jesus using the royal line of David? While there may not be a problem tracing David’s line to Jesus through Nathan (2Samuel 5:14; 1Chronicles 3:5; cp. Luke 3:23-31), which is how Luke gets to Jesus through Mary’s line, Nathan doesn’t represent the royal line. All Luke does is prove that Jesus is a Jew who is descended from David, the king,[1] but this doesn’t give him a right to David’s throne, just as Nathan had no right to the throne, simply because he was David’s son. David chose Solomon. If his line through Solomon ends in the time of the exile, we have a problem. How does Matthew get from the exile to Jesus, if the royal line ends with Jeconiah’s castration?

The Jews and many scholars maintain that God forgave Jeconiah, while he was in Babylon, thus making the curse (Jeremiah 22:28-30), moot. The problem is scripture never mentions that God forgave Jeconiah and reversed the curse. Nevertheless, forgiveness isn’t the problem here. Is it? Jeconiah and his sons were castrated and made eunuchs after they were exiled to Babylon (2Kings 20:18), making David’s royal line through Solomon dead. What, therefore, can be done to rectify this problem and continue the royal line to the Messiah? After all, the Lord did promise David that his house and his throne would be established forever (2Samuel 7:13, 16). Matthew presents us with a great problem, but how does he solve it, because the royal line does continue? He presents us with another 13 names, which is another problem. Why only 13 when he claims 14? Doesn’t Matthew know how to count to fourteen? This and other problems will be addressed as we continue in this study of Matthew’s Gospel.

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[1] Luke proves Jesus’ right to the title Messiah by going back to Adam, where the Lord originally promised a Savior to Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:15).