GOOD QUESTION Why Jesus' Genealogies Don't Match Up What the two genealogies of Christ, found in Matthew and Luke, are really trying to say. |
Is Jesus paternal grandfather Jacob (Matt.1:15) or Heli (Luke 3:23b)?
Interesting answers from Prof. Osborne. Grant Osborne is professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.
Matthew's list resembles those used by rulers to justify their rank and status, and by families to determine connections to a common ancestor. Matthew arranges his genealogy into three groups of 14 names each. In Jewish gematria—a kind of numerology stemming from the fact that letters of the Hebrew alphabet were also numbers—names have numerical value. The three consonants for David add up to 14. So Matthew underscores Jesus' kingly ancestry by working in groups of David, or 14.
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