Blog #3 Chelsey Richter

The author mentions "Matthew's scheme of fourteen," a theory as to why Matthew manipulated Jesus' genealogy in order to have something of major significance occur every fourteen generations. Two possibilities are mentioned.

One hypothesis is that Matthew set up Jesus' genealogy to show the divine perfection of his descent. In ancient Israel, the number seven was a symbol of perfection or divinity. If Matthew knew this, he could have doubled the number seven to get to fourteen, thus being a doubly perfect number.

Another idea is that, Matthew emphasized the number fourteen to stress Jesus' Davidic roots as the messiah of the Jews. This second theory ties more to Matthew's portrayal of Jesus. Ancient languages used the letters of the alphabet to represent numerals. For example, in Hebrew, David's named would presented as D-V-D. In Hebrew, D is worth 4, and V is worth 6, so the value of David's name is fourteen.

However, Matthew's genealogy of Jesus is inaccurate. His genealogy suggests that the entire course of Israel's history has proceeded according to divine providence. The fourteen scheme is proven inaccurate in verse 8; Joram is said to be the father of Uzziah when in all actuality, Joram is Uzziah's great-great-grandfather. Therefore, the genealogy is not historically correct and Matthew's fourteen scheme is void.

According to the Catholic Study Bible, the text is clear, and anyone with a knowledge of the history of Israel recognizes that Matthew's genealogy has telescoped that history into an artificial construct and has left out of the list numerous kings and generations. This is for theological reasons. The genealogy is likely based upon a symbolic number that alludes to King David and reinforces Jesus' background as the Davidic Messiah.

Transcribing a story to represent divine providence of an entire nation's history is a great way to appeal to that nation as an audience and persuade them to believe in the Word.

Works Cited:


Witherup, Ronald D. . "The Challenges of Biblical Translation." In The Catholic Study Bible. Oxford Biblical Studies Online. 05-Mar-2012. <http://www.oxfordbiblicalstudies.com.ezproxy.loyno.edu/article/book/obso-9780195282801/obso-9780195282801-chapter-7>.

Ehrman, Bart D. "The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings." Fourth Ed. Oxford University, Press. 2008. Chapter 8.