Continuing from yesterday, let's talk about Matthew's account of Jesus' genealogy.
Matthew in portraying Jesus as King of the Jews, traced the line via the kings of Judah.
Note that he divides the genealogy into 3 parts of fourteen generations, and mentions this in Matt 1:17.
If we compare this to the genealogy as recorded by Ezra in 1 Chron 3, we realise that Matthew omitted 3 kings of Judah, namely Ahaziah, Joash and Amaziah that sat on the throne between Joram and Uzziah.
Scholars refer to this as an "abridged genealogy" which was an acceptable practice because heirship would still be proven and established, even when generations in between are bypassed. Furthermore, the word "son" can also mean "descendent", just like how the blind beggar referred to Jesus as "son" of David in Luke 18.
Besides omitting those names, Matthew also repeats the name of King David twice. This was probably to aid memorisation, since the names fall neatly into 3 parts of fourteen generations each.
Speaking of Joash, we read in 2 Kings 11 that he was the sole survivor of the royal line and was made king at the tender age of 7. The story as to how he was kept alive as an infant is as miraculous as the story of Moses. I will blog about that in a future post.
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