And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;
The verse records that Judas fathered Phares and Zara of Thamar, Phares fathered Esrom, and Esrom fathered Aram. It stands in Matthew's tracing of Jesus' legal royal lineage through Joseph from Abraham through David and the royal house to Joseph, establishing heirship to David's throne, while Luke traces His natural blood lineage through Mary. In that line it establishes His identity as Messiah, Son of David, Son of Abraham, and King of the Jews, the promised Seed of Abraham through whom all nations would be blessed. Its naming of Thamar, whose shameful conduct is recorded in Genesis 38, with other tainted women and sinful men shows His human ancestors shared the iniquities common to humanity. By that human family He truly became part of the suffering human race in flesh and blood, yet lived a perfect sinless life, giving hope to the fallen that a holy life is possible and opening to believers by faith a joint heirship with Christ to Abraham's inheritance of the world.
Wording and Arrangement
The line records that Judas fathered Phares and Zara of Thamar, that Phares fathered Esrom, and that Esrom fathered Aram. Through Phares by Thamar and then through Esrom and Aram it places Jesus in Judah's line of descent, supporting that the Messiah descended from Judah. It records part of Jesus' family line as Judah fathering Perez and Zerah through Tamar, Perez fathering Hezron, and Hezron fathering Ram, placing Jesus within the family line of David and the history leading to His birth. The Greek word rendered begat also means to bring forth or give birth, and here it describes men begetting children.
The genealogy is arranged as fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David until the carrying away into Babylon, and fourteen from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ. Generation there marks steps in family descent such as father, son, and grandson, within the human genealogy of Christ from Abraham to the birth of Jesus. The list from Abraham to His birth omits some generations and arranges what remains in three sections of fourteen generations each.
It gives selected links rather than every generation, deliberately leaving out some generations including three familiar generations to preserve the three groups marking the patriarchal, royal, and exilic periods. A grandfather is sometimes called a father in such genealogies, and some names represent later descendants and royal inheritance rather than immediate father-to-son succession at every step. In this form it presents Jesus' kingly line and establishes Him as rightful King and Heir of Abraham, tracing the royal inheritance from David to Joseph so that Jesus, as Joseph's reputed son, was entitled to David's throne. It thus presents Jesus as the promised descendant of Abraham and David, the Branch from Jesse, whose appearance fulfills God's purposes for Israel.
Counted as forty-two generations from Abraham to Christ, the periods are not uniform, averaging about forty-five years overall, more than sixty-four years from Abraham to David, about twenty-eight years from David to the captivity, and about forty-three years from the captivity to Christ. Reckoned another way the forty-two generations give a generation as somewhere around forty years, about forty or more years, but that calculation cannot be depended upon to fix the length of a generation in chronology. No fixed length for a generation can be established from it for chronology, and the time of the last generation is not fixed. Generation also means race, people, nation, and the people living upon the earth at one time. The Bible rule for counting generations is father-to-son, as shown with this link together with Genesis 11 and Luke 3:23-38. On that reckoning six thousand years from creation do not make two hundred generations, so the thousand generations of those who love God require twenty-four thousand years yet future from 1868 and in fact continue without end, proving the ten commandments stand fast forever.
The genealogy records simple historical facts about real, literal ancestors, to be received as given rather than turned into a fanciful spiritual meaning. Israelite genealogies established a person's connection to the nation and right to the covenant blessings, so these names belong to actual history rather than fictional allegory and connect the patriarchal past with Israel's later history. Its place at the beginning of Matthew gives the Gospel an air of reality and presents Jesus as a real person who lived in history. Its lineage is traced through Genesis to the beginning and cannot be verified without Genesis. Its unharmonized independent form among Scripture's diverse materials shows its character as original source material rather than a later unified history. Julian's objection to the genealogies of Matthew and Luke shows they were known and discussed in his time.
Legal and Human Lineage
Matthew 1:3 belongs to the genealogy that traces the legal royal line of Jesus through Joseph, His legal and reputed father, from Abraham through David and Solomon and the reigning house to Joseph. Because rulership and heirship passed through the male line, this line through David, Solomon, Rehoboam and the royal family establishes Jesus as legal son of Joseph and heir to the throne of David and to the kingship of Israel, with the reckoning begun at Abraham because the promises came through Abraham. Luke's genealogy is distinct from this, giving His natural blood descent through His mother Mary from David through Nathan back to Adam, while Matthew traces back to Abraham and not to Adam.
The two accounts need not contradict, since Jewish genealogies did not name women and reckoned descent through the males because inheritance came that way. When a family line passed through a daughter, her husband could be entered as son of her father, so Heli, who was Mary's father and Joseph's father-in-law and Jesus' grandfather, is called Joseph's father because Joseph was Mary's husband. Those who held the other explanation taught that Heli may have been another name for Joseph himself, and that the longer list of names in Mary's line accounts for the difference in the numbers of generations. Under Jewish law Joseph was thus Jesus' legal father while His physical descent came through Mary, and because Mary was Joseph's wife Joseph was treated as son of her father and Jesus as Joseph's son.
This verse records Phares, Esrom, and Aram in that fleshly line from Abraham through David to Joseph, the line through David and Solomon to Joseph as Jesus' legal father. It is the line of Joseph, distinct from Luke's genealogy traced through Nathan on Mary's side, and it helps show Jesus' family relationship to Joseph and His claim to what belonged to Joseph as Abraham's lineal descendant and heir of the covenant made with Abraham and renewed to David. Mary herself was also a member of David's royal family, so besides His legal placement in Joseph's royal line Jesus had a natural connection to that line through her.
The genealogy shows that His parents were Jews and that He descended from David's family and the tribe of Judah, presenting Him as the perfect Jew. The sons born to Judah and Tamar were reckoned legitimate, and one of them, Phares, was included in the ancestry of Jesus. The genealogy of Judah was carefully preserved, and with Levi was held together until Jesus came while the other tribes were scattered and their genealogies lost, so that His lineage could be traced on both His mother's side and His father's side. That direct lineal descent from Abraham runs through Bethlehem-judah, also called Ephrath and Ephratah, and includes Ruth, who entered it by marrying a kinsman of Naomi and became mother of Obed, the grandfather of David.
Messiah and Promise Fulfilled
Matthew 1:3 stands in the record that preserves the line leading from Abraham to Joseph and on to the birth of Mary's Son, tracing human descent directly through forty-two generations according to Hebrew law. That complete genealogy presents Christ as Son of David and King of the Jews, establishing His identity as Messiah, Son of David, Son of Abraham, with family claim to the covenant made with Abraham and renewed to David. As Joseph's legal son He was legally David's Son and heir to the kingdom, the rightful King and Heir of Abraham to whom David's throne belonged. The royal line is traced from Abraham through David and Solomon to Joseph, witnessing to His human lineage and Messiahship, and its long careful record witnesses to the reliability and importance of Scripture.
The line was begun at Abraham because the promises came through Abraham, recording one link in the reigning house from Abraham through David to Joseph in the royal male line. It identifies Him as the promised Seed of Abraham through whom all nations would be blessed, for Israel was set apart as Abraham's seed so that this promised line could be identified. Selected links rather than every generation are given, arranged in three groups of fourteen to mark the patriarchal, royal, and exilic periods, with three familiar generations deliberately left out to preserve the structure. That royal ancestry presents Him as the promised descendant of Abraham and David, the Branch from Jesse whose appearance fulfills God's purposes for Israel.
The preserved genealogy of Judah shows descent from Judah and inheritance of the rulership promised to Judah and his posterity. While the other tribes were scattered and their genealogies lost, Judah with Levi was held together and preserved so lineage could be traced on both mother's side and father's side. This proves He is Shiloh of the tribe of Judah to whom the gathering of the people belongs, and from His coming He became the center of the gathering of God's people. Phares stands in that line of Judah toward Jesus, showing that despite efforts to destroy the family through which the Deliverer would come the line of promise was preserved and could be traced through earthly ancestry. The genealogy thus records the pedigree needed to show the divine Seed came through the promised line, which God preserved despite Satan's efforts to destroy it.
God preserved this genealogy to assure the world that promises and prophecies were fulfilled in Messiah, and Jesus' birth in Matthew 1 stands as a landmark in fulfillment of the Old Testament gospel promises. When all nations had become corrupt He chose one family, planted them as a separate people, removed idolatry from their land and acquainted them with truth while keeping their lineage. The overthrow of the Egyptians in mercy to His people and the extermination of the idolatrous nations of Canaan, sunken in idolatry and sensuality, in mercy to the race cleared the way for that line and unfolded the doctrines and facts of Messiah's future kingdom. The Levitical law given to that people shows wisdom in gradually developing the great plan of salvation to make it plain to human reason and impress it deeply on the heart, and shows the divine Ruler's perfect right to choose His own instruments, flood, fire, tornado, earthquake, or other nations, to inflict just punishment and overthrow nations when they become grossly immoral. That earthly lineage through David and the kings is connected on the maternal side to the priestly line, presenting Him as the one in whom the earthly priesthood merges into heavenly service.
Sinful Ancestry and Humanity
Matthew 1:3 belongs to a genealogy that exceptionally names women, and among them are women with tainted reputations, including Thamar whose shameful conduct with her father-in-law is recorded in Genesis 38. Phares is identified as born to Tamar, who is described as a harlot, so that Christ's human ancestry is marked by human weakness and sinful history. That ancestry includes bad men and women, some of another race than the Jews, and traces a line containing both the wicked and the righteous. Ruth, the Moabite ancestress in the line leading to David and Christ, points to brotherhood with aliens and Gentiles.
The naming of such ancestors shows that the record preserves actual histories including sins rather than selecting only exemplary people. According to the flesh Christ was born in David's line, whose human ancestors were subject to the iniquities common to humanity. The history of those earthly ancestors shows the effects of humanity's long inheritance of sin.
By placement in that human family Jesus truly became part of the same suffering human race as the people He came to save. As a descendant of the same first parents He is brother to humanity, sharing the same flesh and blood of the children of men. Matthew 1:3 is part of the distinct tracing of His ancestry showing that He had a pedigree, entered this world by birth into the human family as an infant, had a beginning of days, and died. His human descent means He shared human sorrows and temptations and weakness, though not sin, so that He can sympathize with human weakness and knows human needs, His experience makes troubles easier to bear, and His share in flesh and blood means He could die.
This stands in contrast to Melchizedek, who has no pedigree, no beginning of days and no end of life. The contrast proves that the Melchizedek of Genesis was not Christ but a distinct individual, and that Christ was another priest after the same order of Melchizedek.
Jesus did not refuse to be born of sinners but came to save sinners, accepting that human heredity with its sorrows and temptations and taking upon Himself the nature of man. He was tempted in all points as human beings are, yet lived a perfect sinless life. This presents hope to the fallen even to those who have inherited strong sinful tendencies, and shows that it is possible for human beings to live a holy life here in the world.
Inheritance and Encouragement
The record preserves the line leading to Jesus and connects God's promises to Abraham with the birth of Mary's Son, showing the legitimacy of His succession and His claim as Abraham's lineal descendant and heir of the covenant. On the fleshly side it traces His ancestry from Abraham through David to Joseph, establishing His identity as Messiah and His family relationship to Joseph. This verse records Phares, Esrom, and Aram in that line, helping show His claim to what belonged to Joseph as Abraham's lineal descendant and heir of the covenant made with Abraham and renewed to David. His claim is to Abraham's material promise, which includes the whole world.
The chapter serves as proof that through faith in Christ believers have a right to the promised blessing of Abraham. God's promises to Abraham belong to His spiritual descendants through faith in Christ, not automatically to those descended from him by birth. Natural descent was a valuable privilege and opportunity, but it did not itself guarantee inheritance, while those who received that privilege could share in the promises through faith. Believers in Christ therefore share Abraham's inheritance of the world and are joint heirs with Christ to David's throne.
The verse records that Judas fathered Phares and Zara of Thamar, Phares fathered Esrom, and Esrom fathered Aram. It stands in Matthew's tracing of Jesus' legal royal lineage through Joseph from Abraham through David and the royal house to Joseph, establishing heirship to David's throne, while Luke traces His natural blood lineage through Mary. In that line it establishes His identity as Messiah, Son of David, Son of Abraham, and King of the Jews, the promised Seed of Abraham through whom all nations would be blessed. Its naming of Thamar, whose shameful conduct is recorded in Genesis 38, with other tainted women and sinful men shows His human ancestors shared the iniquities common to humanity. By that human family He truly became part of the suffering human race in flesh and blood, yet lived a perfect sinless life, giving hope to the fallen that a holy life is possible and opening to believers by faith a joint heirship with Christ to Abraham's inheritance of the world.
Wording and Arrangement
The line records that Judas fathered Phares and Zara of Thamar, that Phares fathered Esrom, and that Esrom fathered Aram. Through Phares by Thamar and then through Esrom and Aram it places Jesus in Judah's line of descent, supporting that the Messiah descended from Judah. It records part of Jesus' family line as Judah fathering Perez and Zerah through Tamar, Perez fathering Hezron, and Hezron fathering Ram, placing Jesus within the family line of David and the history leading to His birth. The Greek word rendered begat also means to bring forth or give birth, and here it describes men begetting children.
The genealogy is arranged as fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David until the carrying away into Babylon, and fourteen from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ. Generation there marks steps in family descent such as father, son, and grandson, within the human genealogy of Christ from Abraham to the birth of Jesus. The list from Abraham to His birth omits some generations and arranges what remains in three sections of fourteen generations each.
It gives selected links rather than every generation, deliberately leaving out some generations including three familiar generations to preserve the three groups marking the patriarchal, royal, and exilic periods. A grandfather is sometimes called a father in such genealogies, and some names represent later descendants and royal inheritance rather than immediate father-to-son succession at every step. In this form it presents Jesus' kingly line and establishes Him as rightful King and Heir of Abraham, tracing the royal inheritance from David to Joseph so that Jesus, as Joseph's reputed son, was entitled to David's throne. It thus presents Jesus as the promised descendant of Abraham and David, the Branch from Jesse, whose appearance fulfills God's purposes for Israel.
Counted as forty-two generations from Abraham to Christ, the periods are not uniform, averaging about forty-five years overall, more than sixty-four years from Abraham to David, about twenty-eight years from David to the captivity, and about forty-three years from the captivity to Christ. Reckoned another way the forty-two generations give a generation as somewhere around forty years, about forty or more years, but that calculation cannot be depended upon to fix the length of a generation in chronology. No fixed length for a generation can be established from it for chronology, and the time of the last generation is not fixed. Generation also means race, people, nation, and the people living upon the earth at one time. The Bible rule for counting generations is father-to-son, as shown with this link together with Genesis 11 and Luke 3:23-38. On that reckoning six thousand years from creation do not make two hundred generations, so the thousand generations of those who love God require twenty-four thousand years yet future from 1868 and in fact continue without end, proving the ten commandments stand fast forever.
The genealogy records simple historical facts about real, literal ancestors, to be received as given rather than turned into a fanciful spiritual meaning. Israelite genealogies established a person's connection to the nation and right to the covenant blessings, so these names belong to actual history rather than fictional allegory and connect the patriarchal past with Israel's later history. Its place at the beginning of Matthew gives the Gospel an air of reality and presents Jesus as a real person who lived in history. Its lineage is traced through Genesis to the beginning and cannot be verified without Genesis. Its unharmonized independent form among Scripture's diverse materials shows its character as original source material rather than a later unified history. Julian's objection to the genealogies of Matthew and Luke shows they were known and discussed in his time.
Legal and Human Lineage
Matthew 1:3 belongs to the genealogy that traces the legal royal line of Jesus through Joseph, His legal and reputed father, from Abraham through David and Solomon and the reigning house to Joseph. Because rulership and heirship passed through the male line, this line through David, Solomon, Rehoboam and the royal family establishes Jesus as legal son of Joseph and heir to the throne of David and to the kingship of Israel, with the reckoning begun at Abraham because the promises came through Abraham. Luke's genealogy is distinct from this, giving His natural blood descent through His mother Mary from David through Nathan back to Adam, while Matthew traces back to Abraham and not to Adam.
The two accounts need not contradict, since Jewish genealogies did not name women and reckoned descent through the males because inheritance came that way. When a family line passed through a daughter, her husband could be entered as son of her father, so Heli, who was Mary's father and Joseph's father-in-law and Jesus' grandfather, is called Joseph's father because Joseph was Mary's husband. Those who held the other explanation taught that Heli may have been another name for Joseph himself, and that the longer list of names in Mary's line accounts for the difference in the numbers of generations. Under Jewish law Joseph was thus Jesus' legal father while His physical descent came through Mary, and because Mary was Joseph's wife Joseph was treated as son of her father and Jesus as Joseph's son.
This verse records Phares, Esrom, and Aram in that fleshly line from Abraham through David to Joseph, the line through David and Solomon to Joseph as Jesus' legal father. It is the line of Joseph, distinct from Luke's genealogy traced through Nathan on Mary's side, and it helps show Jesus' family relationship to Joseph and His claim to what belonged to Joseph as Abraham's lineal descendant and heir of the covenant made with Abraham and renewed to David. Mary herself was also a member of David's royal family, so besides His legal placement in Joseph's royal line Jesus had a natural connection to that line through her.
The genealogy shows that His parents were Jews and that He descended from David's family and the tribe of Judah, presenting Him as the perfect Jew. The sons born to Judah and Tamar were reckoned legitimate, and one of them, Phares, was included in the ancestry of Jesus. The genealogy of Judah was carefully preserved, and with Levi was held together until Jesus came while the other tribes were scattered and their genealogies lost, so that His lineage could be traced on both His mother's side and His father's side. That direct lineal descent from Abraham runs through Bethlehem-judah, also called Ephrath and Ephratah, and includes Ruth, who entered it by marrying a kinsman of Naomi and became mother of Obed, the grandfather of David.
Messiah and Promise Fulfilled
Matthew 1:3 stands in the record that preserves the line leading from Abraham to Joseph and on to the birth of Mary's Son, tracing human descent directly through forty-two generations according to Hebrew law. That complete genealogy presents Christ as Son of David and King of the Jews, establishing His identity as Messiah, Son of David, Son of Abraham, with family claim to the covenant made with Abraham and renewed to David. As Joseph's legal son He was legally David's Son and heir to the kingdom, the rightful King and Heir of Abraham to whom David's throne belonged. The royal line is traced from Abraham through David and Solomon to Joseph, witnessing to His human lineage and Messiahship, and its long careful record witnesses to the reliability and importance of Scripture.
The line was begun at Abraham because the promises came through Abraham, recording one link in the reigning house from Abraham through David to Joseph in the royal male line. It identifies Him as the promised Seed of Abraham through whom all nations would be blessed, for Israel was set apart as Abraham's seed so that this promised line could be identified. Selected links rather than every generation are given, arranged in three groups of fourteen to mark the patriarchal, royal, and exilic periods, with three familiar generations deliberately left out to preserve the structure. That royal ancestry presents Him as the promised descendant of Abraham and David, the Branch from Jesse whose appearance fulfills God's purposes for Israel.
The preserved genealogy of Judah shows descent from Judah and inheritance of the rulership promised to Judah and his posterity. While the other tribes were scattered and their genealogies lost, Judah with Levi was held together and preserved so lineage could be traced on both mother's side and father's side. This proves He is Shiloh of the tribe of Judah to whom the gathering of the people belongs, and from His coming He became the center of the gathering of God's people. Phares stands in that line of Judah toward Jesus, showing that despite efforts to destroy the family through which the Deliverer would come the line of promise was preserved and could be traced through earthly ancestry. The genealogy thus records the pedigree needed to show the divine Seed came through the promised line, which God preserved despite Satan's efforts to destroy it.
God preserved this genealogy to assure the world that promises and prophecies were fulfilled in Messiah, and Jesus' birth in Matthew 1 stands as a landmark in fulfillment of the Old Testament gospel promises. When all nations had become corrupt He chose one family, planted them as a separate people, removed idolatry from their land and acquainted them with truth while keeping their lineage. The overthrow of the Egyptians in mercy to His people and the extermination of the idolatrous nations of Canaan, sunken in idolatry and sensuality, in mercy to the race cleared the way for that line and unfolded the doctrines and facts of Messiah's future kingdom. The Levitical law given to that people shows wisdom in gradually developing the great plan of salvation to make it plain to human reason and impress it deeply on the heart, and shows the divine Ruler's perfect right to choose His own instruments, flood, fire, tornado, earthquake, or other nations, to inflict just punishment and overthrow nations when they become grossly immoral. That earthly lineage through David and the kings is connected on the maternal side to the priestly line, presenting Him as the one in whom the earthly priesthood merges into heavenly service.
Sinful Ancestry and Humanity
Matthew 1:3 belongs to a genealogy that exceptionally names women, and among them are women with tainted reputations, including Thamar whose shameful conduct with her father-in-law is recorded in Genesis 38. Phares is identified as born to Tamar, who is described as a harlot, so that Christ's human ancestry is marked by human weakness and sinful history. That ancestry includes bad men and women, some of another race than the Jews, and traces a line containing both the wicked and the righteous. Ruth, the Moabite ancestress in the line leading to David and Christ, points to brotherhood with aliens and Gentiles.
The naming of such ancestors shows that the record preserves actual histories including sins rather than selecting only exemplary people. According to the flesh Christ was born in David's line, whose human ancestors were subject to the iniquities common to humanity. The history of those earthly ancestors shows the effects of humanity's long inheritance of sin.
By placement in that human family Jesus truly became part of the same suffering human race as the people He came to save. As a descendant of the same first parents He is brother to humanity, sharing the same flesh and blood of the children of men. Matthew 1:3 is part of the distinct tracing of His ancestry showing that He had a pedigree, entered this world by birth into the human family as an infant, had a beginning of days, and died. His human descent means He shared human sorrows and temptations and weakness, though not sin, so that He can sympathize with human weakness and knows human needs, His experience makes troubles easier to bear, and His share in flesh and blood means He could die.
This stands in contrast to Melchizedek, who has no pedigree, no beginning of days and no end of life. The contrast proves that the Melchizedek of Genesis was not Christ but a distinct individual, and that Christ was another priest after the same order of Melchizedek.
Jesus did not refuse to be born of sinners but came to save sinners, accepting that human heredity with its sorrows and temptations and taking upon Himself the nature of man. He was tempted in all points as human beings are, yet lived a perfect sinless life. This presents hope to the fallen even to those who have inherited strong sinful tendencies, and shows that it is possible for human beings to live a holy life here in the world.
Inheritance and Encouragement
The record preserves the line leading to Jesus and connects God's promises to Abraham with the birth of Mary's Son, showing the legitimacy of His succession and His claim as Abraham's lineal descendant and heir of the covenant. On the fleshly side it traces His ancestry from Abraham through David to Joseph, establishing His identity as Messiah and His family relationship to Joseph. This verse records Phares, Esrom, and Aram in that line, helping show His claim to what belonged to Joseph as Abraham's lineal descendant and heir of the covenant made with Abraham and renewed to David. His claim is to Abraham's material promise, which includes the whole world.
The chapter serves as proof that through faith in Christ believers have a right to the promised blessing of Abraham. God's promises to Abraham belong to His spiritual descendants through faith in Christ, not automatically to those descended from him by birth. Natural descent was a valuable privilege and opportunity, but it did not itself guarantee inheritance, while those who received that privilege could share in the promises through faith. Believers in Christ therefore share Abraham's inheritance of the world and are joint heirs with Christ to David's throne.