So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.
Fourteen generations. Wait, what? Fourteen? Apparently, that’s supposed to mean something. I have no idea how many times I read that and passed right over it. But once I started asking my two questions, I stopped cold. “Why did Matthew tell us this?” Clearly, the number fourteen means something to him, something he thinks will help convince his audience that Jesus truly is “the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” But what?
Matthew tells us it was 14 generations from Abraham to David 14 generations from David to the exile, and then 14 generations from the exile to Jesus. I always wondered why? In the Bible 7 is an important number. 6 has its own significance 12 and 40 also have importance. But 14? Why 14? Yes, it’s 2 x 7, but in what other way would that number be important?
It was only when I studied 1st century Judaism carefully that I realized why the number 14 mattered
In our culture, we are familiar with Roman numerals. In that system, “I” stands for one, “V” stands for five, “X” stands for 10 and so on. The Romans were not the only people who had a numbering system based on their alphabet. In fact, so did the Jews. And it was especially popular at the time Matthew wrote his gospel. What does this have to do with “fourteen?”
To understand that, let’s go back to how Matthew started his gospel.
The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Matthew assigns three specific things to Jesus. 1) He is the Messiah, 2) He is the son of David, and 3) He is the descendant of Abraham. So far, the genealogy has firmly established 2 and 3, his descent from David and Abraham. But, the skeptical reader might ask, why is Jesus, why is this particular descendant of Abraham and David the Messiah?
Biblical Hebrew only has consonants. What linguists call “vowel pointings” were added to the ancient texts by Jewish scholars beginning nearly 600 years after Christ. So the name “David” in Hebrew contained three consonants which we transliterate as “DVD.” And here’s where Jewish numerology comes in. Daleth=D, is the fourth letter in the Hebrew alphabet. “Vav” = V, is the sixth letter. So “David” = 4+6+4. Fourteen.
So Matthew wants his readers to see it is DVD generations from Abraham to DVD, DVD generations from DVD to the exile, and DVD generations from the exile to Jesus. Look what happens when you see “DVD” as “David.”
David generations from Abraham to David, David generations from David to the exile, and David generations from the exile to Jesus.
Read that way, the genealogy fairly shouts that Jesus is the new David!
I didn’t see it, because I read it with 21st century American eyes. But to anyone reading it with 1st century Jewish eyes, especially one inquiring into Jesus’ Messiahship—precisely Matthew’s target audience—it is virtually unmistakable.
Genealogies in the Bible may seem boring and uneventful. Some even argue about their accuracy. That’s because we aren’t attuned to how they tell stories.
Scripture features about 25 genealogies, most of which we read as dry lists of obscure, often almost unpronounceable names. Now we know that each one tells a story that the biblical author wants us to know. I’ll never see them the same way again. What about you?
