See xxii. 42, 43, and ix. 28. In the first instance our Lord's descent from David was rather a ground of faith, afterwards it became rather an obstacle to faith. No difficulty can now be a hinderance to them that believe. — See 2 Cor. v. 16. Jesus is the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.1
XIV. Matthew and Luke combine ulterior objects and advan tages with the genealogy.
If the Evangelists had merely wished to show that Mary and also Joseph were descended from David, it would have been sufficient for their purpose, had they, taking the genealogies as they exist in the Old Testament for granted, commenced at the point where these conclude, namely, with Zorobabel, or at any rate with David himself, and traced the line through Nathan or Solomon down to Jesus Christ. St Matthew, however, begins further off, viz. with Abraham, and descends through David and Solomon. St Luke, on the other hand, ascends to Nathan and David, and thence beyond Abraham to the first origin of the human race. Each of them, therefore, must have had at the same time a further object in view.
St Luke, as is evident at first sight, makes a full recapitulation2 and summary of the lineage of the whole human race, and ex hibits with that lineage the Saviour's consanguinity to all Gen tiles, as well as Jews : St Matthew, writing to the Hebrews, begins with Abraham, thus reminding them of the promise which had been made to that Patriarch. Again, St Luke simply enumerates the whole series, through more than seventy steps, without addition or comment: whereas St Matthew, besides several remarkable observations which he introduces in particu lar cases concerning the wives and brothers of those whom he mentions, and the Babylonian Captivity, divides the whole series into three periods ; and, as we shall presently consider, enume rates in each of these periods fourteen generations. And hence, also, we perceive the convenience of the descent in Matthew, and the ascent in Luke : for in this manner the former was en abled more conveniently to introduce those observations and divisions; the latter, to avoid the stricter word ey'wrtte, begat, and
1 Rev. xxii. 16.— (I. B.)
2 See explanation of technical terms in voc. ANAKEPHALAEOSIS. The word is used by Quintilian — (I. B.)