95
5. Pharez.
Asa.
Eliakim.
6. Hezrom. 7. Aram.
Jeliosliaphat. Jehoram.
Azor.
Sadoc.
8. Aminaclab.
Ahaziah.
Achin.
9. Naasson.
Jotham.
Eliud.
10. Salmon.
Aliaz.
Eleazar.
11. Boaz.
Hezekiah.
Matthan.
12. Obed.
Maiiasseh.
Jacob.
13. Jesse. 14. David.
Amon. Josiah.
Joseph. JESUS, who is called CHRIST.
III. St Mattheiv, therefore, lays down three periods.
St Luke enumerates every step, ascending even to GOD. Yet, so far from counting the steps in each period, he does not divide his genealogy into periods at all : St Matthew, however, dis tinguishes three periods, — the first from Abraham to David, the second from David to the captivity, the third from the captivity to Christ ; and in each of these periods, as we shall presently see, he mentions fourteen steps.
IV. St Matthew reduces each period to fourteen generations. Matthew does not mention all the ancestors of Joseph who
occur in the direct line, and yet he reduces those whom he does mention to a set number. Some seek here a division into sevens ; the Evangelist, however, does not mention, sevens, but fourteens. Again, he does not bring these fourteens together into a sum total, for he does not say, that they amount in all to 40, 41, or 42 : nor is it our business to do so. As in the reigns of the kings of Israel, the last year of the preceding is frequently reckoned as the first of the succeeding sovereign, so must we admit that St Matthew has acted on the same principle, since the fact itself leaves no doubt of the case. Thus David un doubtedly is both the last of the first fourteen, and the first of the second fourteen. He is reckoned in the first ; for it would otherwise comprise only thirteen generations. He is reckoned in the second, because as the first begins inclusively from Abra ham, and the third inclusively from Jechoniah, so must the second begin inclusively from David. Jechoniah, however, is not reckoned in the same manner as the last of the second fourteen, because the fourteen generations, which commence with David,