Much of this is indebted to the ICC commentary by WD Davies and Dale Allison.

INTRODUCTION
For us, lists are boring. But ancient people loved lists, and biblical writers pack lists not only with facts but with theology. Matthew’s list of Jesus’ ancestors contains a summary of redemptive history, a preview of Gentile inclusion, and a foreshadowing of the coming of the kingdom.

THE TEXT
“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers . . . .” (Matthew 1:1-17).

3 X 14
Matthew organizes the genealogy numerically, in three groups of 14 generations. Because of this, there are gaps in the genealogy. Why does Matthew do this? One possibility: 3 x 14 is 42, and this is equivalent to 6 x 7. Jesus is the first name in the seventh seven, the beginning of a new week. Yet, Matthew doesn’t use the number 7, but the number 14. A more likely possibility is that he has organized the genealogy around the name “David.” In Hebrew, David’s name has three consonants, the numerical value of “David” is 14, and David’s name is the fourteenth in Matthew’s list. Some Old Testament genealogies are organized numerologically. (Genesis 46 is organized around the number 7, the numerical value of the name “Gad,” whose name is seventh on the list and who has seven sons).

Plus, David’s name is repeated three times outside the genealogy proper (vv. 1, 17). David is the high point of the whole genealogy: From Abraham to David, Israel waxes to its height; from David to the deportation, the Davidic kingdom wanes; but after another 14 generations appears a second David, Jesus, who restores the kingdom of David.

WOMEN
Four women are mentioned in the genealogy: Tamar (v. 3; Genesis 38), Rahab (v. 5; Joshua 2), Ruth (v. 5), and “the wife of Uriah,” Bathsheba (v. 6; 2 Samuel 11-12). All but Ruth are connected with some scandal, and it’s often suggested that Matthew includes these women to show that God’s purposes triumph over human sin. That point, however, is made clearly enough by including Manasseh in the genealogy (v. 10; 2 Kings 21), and besides most of these women are commended for their righteousness (Genesis 38:26; James 2:25).

More likely, Matthew includes these women because all are Gentiles or (in Bathsheba’s case) members of a Gentile household. From the moment Jesus appears, he incorporates Gentile flesh and blood – four of them, from the four corners of the earth – into His body, His physical body. Further, these women anticipate the fifth woman on the list, Mary, whose pregnancy, like that of the other women, was scandalous. These women are a mark of the strange ways of God’s kingdom.

BROTHERS
Twice Matthew refers to the “brothers” of one of the figures in the genealogy (v. 2, 11). This shows that Matthew’s genealogy is not just a list of ancestors, but a story of a people. And the brotherhood of Israel, the twelve tribes, foreshadows the new brotherhood that Jesus will form from His disciples.