1:1-17, Cf. 1The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;
1The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;
3 And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;
4 And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;
5 And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;
6 And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;
7 And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;
David was the father of Solomon "of her that had been the wife of Urias." [6]
8 And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;
9 And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;
10 And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;
11 And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:
12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;
13 And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor;
14 And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud;
15 And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob;
16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Go ahead and marry her. The Holy Ghost got her pregnant. [16]
She will have a baby boy.
Name him Jesus [17], because he'll save his people from their sins. [18]
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
A virgin will conceive and have a son named Emanuel.
24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.:
The gospel of Matthew begins with a genealogy that claims to be Jesus's but is actually that of Mary's husband, Joseph. (See v.16) This is strange since its purpose (if it has a purpose) is to show that Jesus is a descendant of David, and therefore meets one of the qualifications of being the Messiah. (2 Sam 7:12-13) But if the Holy Ghost is the one who got Mary pregnant (v.25, Luke 1:35), Jesus isn't David's "seed" and didn't "proceed out of his bowels."
It's a boring genealogy like we are told to avoid in 1 Tim 1:4 ("Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies") and Titus 3:9 ("Avoid foolish questions and genealogies").
One of the interesting features of Matthew's gospel is the inclusion of four women in the genealogy. Women are rarely mentioned in biblical genealogies, and yet Matthew includes four -- all of which have sexual activities that would have been considered scandalous at the time. Tamar (v.3) disguised herself as a prostitute in order to have sex with her father-in-law, Judah; Rahab (v.5) was a prostitute who took in Joshua's spies; Ruth (v. 5) seduced her relative Boaz; and Bathsheba (v.6) committed adultery with David.
Judah (Judas) "went in unto" his daughter-in-law, Tamar (Thamar), who was disguised as a prostitute. She conceived and bore Pharez (Phares), an ancestor of Jesus (or actually Joseph). See Genesis 38:13-30
How many generations must a bastard wait until his offspring can enter the congregation of the Lord?
Rachab (Rahab) is probably the prostitute who was visited by the spies in Joshua (2:1-21, 6:22-25). She is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible as being the mother of Booz.
See Ruth 2-4 where she seduces Boaz (Booz).
There are 28 generations listed from David to Jesus in Matthew's genealogy, while Luke's (3:23-31) has 43. Except for David at one end and Jesus at the other, only three names in the two lists are the same.
Bathsheba (See the story about the adulterous affair between David and Bathsheba that resulted in the birth of Solomon in 2 Samuel 11.)
1 Chr 3:11-12 lists three generations between Osiah and Jotham (Joash, Amaziah, and Azariah); Matthew omits all three.
How many generations were between the Babylonian captivity and Jesus?
After listing the genealogy of Jesus, Matthew tells us that Joseph was not Jesus's father after all, which of course makes the entire genealogy meaningless. The Holy Ghost, not Joseph, was the one who impregnated Mary, contradicting many scriptures which clearly state that Joseph was the father of Jesus.
According to Luke 1:35, Mary knew before she became pregnant that the Holy Ghost would "come upon" her. If so, then she must not have told Joseph, since in this verse he is told by an angel after Mary is already pregnant.
The prophecy given in Is 7:14 referred not to a virgin but to a young woman, living at the time of the prophecy. And Jesus, of course, was called Jesus -- and is not called Emmanuel in any other verse in the New Testament.
Many Christians believe that Mary was always a virgin, but these verses imply that she and Joseph "came together" after the birth of Jesus, their "firstborn son."
I find Mary's story in this chapter to be incredibly sad.
She's espoused (an archaic word for "married") to Joseph, but before the two of them can consummate the bond, the Holy Ghost swoops in and beats him to the punch. Joseph seemingly presumes she was either raped to pregnancy or cheated on him with another man. However, being a decent man, rather than announce it publicly to shame her, he keeps what he's found out between he and Mary.
...but then he has a dream soon afterward. Therein, an angel tells him to marry his poor defiled Mary (though he was already espoused to her...) because the Holy Ghost was the one who got her pregnant. Further humiliating Joseph, the angel reveals that her child will be a boy. 'One more thing, call the kid "Jesus" because he's going to be the greatest example of sacrificial atonement for the rest of eternity.'
'Oh, and Joseph, this was the plan all along... sorry we didn't confer with you sooner, but we figured you wouldn't support the rape of your wife. Have fun raising someone else's son!'
Joseph, despite the news, marries his wife (?) when he wakes up. He avoids pregnancy sex with her, probably because that's a bit creepy. Mary says nothing during this entire situation.
A great portion of the Christian faith relies on the virgin birth of Jesus to be factually accurate. If this is so, then it's a despicable thing to hang one's religious beliefs on. The resurrection is already suspect enough, but the plight of Mary here is sickening.
(So much for the apologists' claims that the New Testament is 'better' than the Old.)