Matthew Genealogy And Basic Math

Matthew Genealogy And Basic Math 

Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus said there was three groups of 14 from Abraham to Christ, but when you add them up, there is only  41 people, not 42—how do you explain that? 

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, June 25, 2025 (Donate) 

When we turn to Matthew 1, we read: 

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) 

Image relief from Babylon—likely seen by some of the Israelites while in the Babylonian captivity; Currently in the British Museum; Photo by Bodie Hodge

Just prior to this, we read genealogical data that is tallied up in the following chart: 

Verse	Father	Son	Number
Abraham
2	Abraham	Isaac	1
2	Isaac	Jacob (Israel)	2
2	Jacob (Israel)	Judah	3
3	Judah	Perez	4
3	Perez	Hezron	5
3	Hezron	Ram	6
4	Ram	Amminadab	7
4	Amminadab	Nahshon	8
4	Nahshon	Salmon	9
5	Salmon	Boaz	10
5	Boaz	Obed	11
5	Obed	Jesse	12
David
6	David	Solomon	1
7	Solomon	Rehoboam	2
7	Rehoboam	Abijah	3
7	Abijah	Asa	4
8	Asa	Jehoshaphat	5
8	Jehoshaphat	Joram	6
8	Joram	Uzziah	7
9	Uzziah	Jotham	8
9	Jotham	Ahaz	9
9	Ahaz	Hezekiah	10
10	Hezekiah	Manasseh	11
10	Manasseh	Amon	12
10	Amon	Josiah	13
Jeconiah (Jehoiachin)
12	Jeconiah	Shealtiel	1
12	Shealtiel	Zerubbabel	2
13	Zerubbabel	Abihud	3
13	Abihud	Eliakim	4
13	Eliakim	Azor	5
14	Azor	Zadok	6
14	Zadok	Achim	7
14	Achim	Eliud	8
15	Eliud	Eleazar	9
15	Eleazar	Matthan	10
15	Matthan	Jacob	11
16	Jacob	Joseph	12
16	Joseph	Whose wife, Mary, bore Jesus	13

In Matthew 1:17, we find this was specifically broken down into three major divisions: 

1. Abraham to David
2. From David to the captivity
3. From the captivity to the Messiah 

It also reveals that the divisions will be groups of fourteen, not complete genealogies like Luke 3. So, it is intentionally gapped, unlike proper genealogies listed elsewhere.   

But what about the fourteen generations here—isn’t there a contradiction since some don’t reveal exactly 14 generations each? Take care in noticing how these names and divisions are given, and the answer presents itself. 

The first division is “from Abraham to David”, so this would include both David and Abraham and the twelve generations between them to make 14.  

The second division is “from David to the deportation”, so this includes David again in this count but not necessarily Jeconiah, otherwise, it would have made sense to use his name. The Jewish community would have been very familiar with Jeconiah and would have related it the deportation rather easily. 

But Jeconiah is not listed here by name, and rather the deportation is named. This is a significant point. Jeconiah was only king for a short time, while doing evil and was young among his generations being only 18 when he took the crown (2 Chronicles 36:9). So there is no reason to assume Matthew was including Jeconiah as a full generation (which is the context of what Matthew is writing about). So including David, to the deportation without Jeconiah, there are 14 generations.    

The final division is “from the deportation to the messiah”. Since Jeconiah was not listed with the previous division at the deportation, he will no doubt be included here since the time of his generation was more complete after the deportation. Therefore, Jeconiah is included here.  When adding the generations, including Jeconiah, to Christ, there are 14 generations.  

So Matthew was very careful how he wrote this and was entirely accurate with his wording of each of the 14 generations. Using Matthew’s breakdown, David was listed twice, hence no contradiction but careful wording on Matthew’s part.     

Originally here: https://answersingenesis.org/bible-timeline/genealogy/problems-with-basic-math/; Republished by permission.