Follow us as we explore the archeological evidence for the 14 generations “error” in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus.
“So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.” – Matthew 1:17
A difficulty arises when trying to divide the people listed in the passage into three distinct divisions of 14 people each. If you count the number people from Abraham to David in the first division, there is no problem:
First division of 14 generations:
(1) Abraham, (2) Isaac, (3) Jacob, (4) Judah, (5) Perez, (6) Hezron, (7) Ram, (8) Aminadab, (9) Nahshon, (10) Salmon, (11) Boaz, (12) Obed, (13) Jesse, and (14) David.
Since David is counted in the first division, it would not make sense to double count him into the second division as one individual cannot be seen as 2 separate generations.. Hence, there is also no problem counting the second division.
Second division of 14 generations:
(1) Solomon, (2) Rehoboam, (3) Abijah, (4) Asa, (5) Jehosophat, (6) Joram, (7) Uzziah, (8) Jotham, (9) Ahaz, (10) Hezekiah, (11) Manasseh, (12) Amon, (13) Josiah, and (14) Jeconiah; the time of the deportation to Babylon.
A problem only arises when counting the number of people from the time of the deportation to Babylon to Jesus Christ. The list comes up short:
Third division, there are only 13 generations!:
(1) Shealtiel, (2) Zerubbabel, (3) Abiud, (4) Eliakim, (5) Azor, (6) Zadok, (7) Achim, (8) Eliud, (9) Eleazar, (10) Matthan, (11) Jacob, (12) Joseph, and (13) Jesus Christ.
How then can we explain the discrepancy in the genealogies of Jesus?
The solution can simply be discovered if someone goes through the trouble of doing some research study, go pass all readily available translations and takes a look at a few of the original texts of the Gospels with the intent of discovering the solution. When the archeological evidence for the 14 generations “error” in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus is discovered, whatever falls in place and makes great sense, like it should, as the Word of God is perfect.
After discovering that some Hebrew manuscripts of the Gospel of Matthew, or including parts of it, had actually been preserved over the centuries, we embarked on our research study and discovered 2 extremely fascinating ones containing the complete genealogy of Jesus.
In a previous archeological dig, we discovered one single page of the Gospel of Matthew – Chapter 1 in Hebrew from a manuscript going back to 1576-1600 AD, whose place of origin is Italy, and which is now readily available to see online at the click of a button inside the virtual library of Bodleian Library, which is the primary research study library of the University of Oxford and among the earliest libraries in Europe.
In the Hebrew text of Matthew 1:16 we discover that the Joseph stated there is NOT the husband of Mary.
As you can see in the picture shown below, the Hebrew text reads:
Yoseph abi Miryam = Joseph father of Mary
We likewise discovered a 2nd witness of the Gospel of Matthew – Chapter 1 in Hebrew, from a Hebrew manuscript going back to 15th-16th century AD, whose place of origin is likewise Italy.
As you can see in the picture shown below, the Hebrew text, much like the previous one, reads:
Yoseph abi Miryam = Joseph father of Mary
Mary undoubtedly married a man named Joseph, who was the adoptive father of Jesus, but ALSO had a father whose name was Joseph, which was a pretty common name in Israel.
The confusion in understanding Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew is due to some conservative Christian Bible scholars, who find it inconceivable that the bloodline of a man would be traced through his mother’s side in a patriarchal society, and when it was, the husband would be named instead of her, and she would remain invisible. Unfortunately, this explanation is also totally made-up! The Word of God had already plainly stated that the Messiah was going to come from a woman.
Now that we have learned the archeological evidence for the 14 generations “error” in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus that Joseph in Matthew 1:16 was the father of Mary and NOT her husband, we have 14 generations(including Mary), instead of 13, from the captivity in Babylon until Christ, as we should according to Matthew 1:17!!