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happydolphin on 29 July 2013
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DaRev said:

Matthew 1:17 counts David in two generations. This is because Matthew 1 not only lists the geneology of Jesus but also list HISTORICAL periods in the jewish ancestry. As I said before, the book of Matthew was written for Jeewish sensibilities, so while the geneology of Jesus is important, it is also more imporrtant for JEWS to undertsand the geneology's historical context. You don't just read the words on the page of the Bible, you also need to understand their significance, i.e. the geneology of Jesus might also be a historical account of fact when Israel was taking into captivity. Plus I'm surre there is some prophesy being fullflied in there if you can take the time to study WHEN they went into captivity.

Anyways, here is how the geneology goes.

  1. The history of Israel from Abraham to David: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah and brothers, Perez (and Zerah), Hezron, Ram, Amminadob, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, and David. That’s 14 generations from Abraham to David. We don’t count Zerah as he is the same generation as Perez.
  2. From David to deportation to Babylon: David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah. That’s 14 generations. Notice that the passage says: “from David to the deportation.” Therefore, David is considered the first generation in the deportation.
  3. From Babylon to the time of Jesus: Jeconiah, Shealtial, Zerubbabel, Abiud, Elikim, Azor, Zadok, Achim, Eljud, Eleazar, Matthan, Jacob, Joseph, Jesus. 14 generations.

They all have an answer when you take the time to look at them. It's just that most hearts are rebellious so the first reaction is to say "It's FALSE!". Hopefully if there is a sensible ear and we put in the hard work, all this stuff can be cleared up. I'm pretty sure a response page with simple and outlined responses to these contradictions exists somewhere.