Re-counting Matthew 1:6-11

by Damien F. Mackey The standard king lists contain duplicates, I believe. But so, I think, does Matthew’s Genealogy in its present form. There are also some seeming omissions in Matthew’s list (viz., Ahaziah; Joash; Amaziah; Jehoahaz; Jehoiakim). Measuring Matthew’s Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah against the standard Judaean king lists, I find a discrepancy of almost half a dozen names of the kings from David to the Babylonian Exile (Matthew 1:6-11) – Matthew’s fourteen (David not inclusive) or fifteen (David included) compared to the standard listing of nineteen kings, or twenty (if David be included). I have not counted the usurper, Queen Athaliah, nor king Zedekiah, who follows Jehoiachin, because Matthew is apparently counting only to the beginning of the Exile. Matthew’s names are given here in bold print: DAVID SOLOMON REHOBOAM ABIJAH ASA JEHOSHAPHAT JEHORAM AHAZIAH (QUEEN ATHALIAH) JOASH AMAZIAH UZZIAH JOTHAM AHAZ HEZEKIAH MANASSEH AMON JOSIAH JEHOAHAZ JEHOIAKIM JEHOIACHIN (ZEDEKIAH) Was Matthew the Evangelist cheating in order to arrive at an apparently requisite fourteen generations? I say here ‘apparently requisite’ because of this comment I posited in my recent article: Matthew’s Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah far from straightforward (4) Matthew's Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah far from straightforward | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu May I be so bold as to ask if verse 17: “Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah”, which occurs only once, may be a neat mathematical gloss that was not actually part of the original text? An artificial construct, perhaps? After all, what vital significance did the number “fourteen” have in the Bible, anyway? Matthew 1:6-11: David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, 7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. The standard king lists contain duplicates, I believe. But so, I think, does Matthew’s Genealogy in its present form. There are also some seeming omissions in Matthew’s list (viz., Ahaziah; Joash; Amaziah; Jehoahaz; Jehoiakim). Three of these five can be accounted for using alter egos (see list below). That, though, does not explain the omission of (the admittedly insignificant) kings, Ahaziah and Jehoahaz. I intend to give these latter two further consideration in follow-up articles. Tentatively, my revised list would be as follows: DAVID SOLOMON REHOBOAM ABIJAH = ASA JEHOSHAPHAT JEHORAM = AHAZIAH (yet to be discussed) JOASH = UZZIAH AMAZIAH = JOTHAM AHAZ HEZEKIAH = JOSIAH MANASSEH = JEHOIAKIM AMON = [JEHOAHAZ – yet to be discussed] JEHOIACHIN Twelve kings. That, at least, is a big improvement on the standard nineteen, and it comes very close to the presumably requisite fourteen. Explaining those alter egos I am referring at this stage to these: ABIJAH = ASA … JOASH = UZZIAH AMAZIAH = JOTHAM … HEZEKIAH = JOSIAH … MANASSEH = JEHOIAKIM AMON = JEHOIACHIN Since I have already written multiple articles on all of these identifications, I shall keep this explanation very brief. ABIJAH = ASA Among various points in favour of this (as explained in recent articles) are: - Same mother’s name, Maacah, for Abijah, Asa; - Abijah addressing Israel in the hill country of Ephraim, which region was not however captured by Judah until Asa’s time; - Achievements, progeny, and wickedness, of Abijah, far too great to have been all accumulable in a mere 3 years of reign. This last comment is applicable also to the very short-reigning (two years, Jerusalem) King Amon, whose legendary wickedness thus needs further explanation – namely, as Jehoiachin (also the evil Haman of the Book of Esther), accumulating decades of wickedness while in Exile in Babylon and, then, Susa. JOASH = UZZIAH AMAZIAH = JOTHAM Matthew can happily exclude the highly significant Joash and Amaziah from his Genealogy because these find their alter egos in, respectively, Uzziah and Jotham, who are included in Matthew’s list. Two common factors with Joash-Uzziah are (i) a good-king-gone-bad, and (ii) the witness of the prophet Zechariah, so beneficial to Uzziah, but who, as King Joash (or Uzziah-turned-bad), will ultimately murder that holy man. HEZEKIAH = JOSIAH … MANASSEH = JEHOIAKIM AMON = JEHOIACHIN Once again, Matthew can happily exclude the highly significant Jehoiakim, because he finds his alter ego in the long-reigning Manasseh. Hezekiah is none other than the pious and reforming Josiah, whose officials almost perfectly mirror those of Hezekiah. While the Book of Sirach does appear to present Hezekiah, Josiah, as two separate kings, my explanation for this would be: either an editor following the standard king lists, or something akin to a waw consecutive (by the author who was a Jew). The prophet Jeremiah’s surprising attribution of the Babylonian Exile to the sins of Manasseh (Jeremiah 15:4), instead of to Jeremiah’s known contemporary, Jehoiakim, is nicely explained by my alter ego arrangement: Manasseh = Jehoiakim. Amon (via Jehoiachin) is a perfect candidate for Aman (Haman) of the Book of Esther. Amon (Aman) is an Egyptian name, presumably given to him by his father, Jehoiakim, when the latter was under the control of Egypt’s pharaoh Necho. The argument that Matthew had omitted King Ahaziah (i) because he was such an unworthy king falls flat in light of the Evangelist’s inclusions of, say, Ahaz and Amon, or that Ahaziah was (ii) such a short-reigning king (one year) – for Amon reigned only two years in Jerusalem.