The Begats

The Passage

Matthew 1:1-17 KJV

1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; 3 And Judas begat [Perez] and Zara of [Tamar]; and [Perez]begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; 4 And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; 5 And Salmon begat [Boaz] of [Rahab]; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; 6a And Jesse begat David the king;

6b and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of [Uriah]; 7 And Solomon begat [Rehoboam]; and [Rehoboam] begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa; 8 And Asa begat [Jehoshaphat]; and [Jehoshaphat] begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; 9 And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat [Hezekiah]; 10 And [Hezekiah] begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat [And Josiah]; 11 [And Josiah] begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:

12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat [Zerubbabel]; 13 And [Zerubbabel] begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor; 14 And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud; 15 And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob; 16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations. (KJV)

Some Explanation

In the old King James Bible this passage is commonly called “The Begats”.  The word begat here simply means “fathered”.  Typically when we come to a passage like this in Scripture we are tempted to pass it over as just a bunch of names.  There doesn’t seem to be any doctrine explained, or a character or moral teaching, or a sin or correction to apply.  On the surface it seems it’s just a good passage for Bible scholars to understand genealogical facts. 

Observations and Insights

One thing that I have learned over the years is that every word of God is pure (Proverbs 30:5), There is always something that I can “hide in my heart”.  We should always seek an application of God’s word to our lives, but often when I read, a clear application doesn’t always seem apparent.  That is when I can know that, as a believer, having the Holy Spirit dwelling in me, I can trust that according to His timing He will bring a passage to light just when I need it most.

As I read “The Begats”, several things come to my attention.  First of all, I notice that this list describes Jesus’ lineage from Joseph, His earthly father who raised Him, the husband of Mary.  It’s broken into three sections of 14 generations each.  The second set shows Jesus’ kingly heritage.  We can go back to the Old testaments books of Samuel, the Kings and the Chronicles to read who these kings were and which ones followed the Lord.  Many Biblical scholars claim that this is one passage that shows that the book of Matthew presents Jesus as King.

Secondly, I remember what the angel Gabriel told Zacharias about John as he quoted a prophecy from Malachi 4:6   “He [John] will also go before Him [Jesus] in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children...’”   In our day, we often rue the rebellion of the youth.  We realize that our culture so easily charms our children away from following the Lord, and that they need to turn back to the Lord.  But I notice that this passage emphasizes the hearts of the fathers turning to the children.  This passage encourages me to think generationally.  I cannot deny my tendency to make choices based on my own fleshly desires.  But I know that in my parenting, there were times that I specifically looked at certain choices and realized what those choices would mean to my children and subsequently the effect it would have on my future generations thus choosing against my own selfish desires.   God values generations.  So often in the Old Testament, He instructed the Israelites to consider their children’s children.  So my second “take away” from The Begats is to consider how our everyday choices will affect the generations that follow us.  This is not just for parents or grandparents.  We all have little eyes that watch us including nieces, nephews and neighbors.  We also have co-workers, with children, who look to our example.  Let us all be generational in our choices. 

To be sure, I did fail to make the right generational choice at times.  And that brings me to my third observation from the Begats.  God is always able to bring about the worst of circumstances to the good for His glory (Romans 8:28).  Of course that doesn’t mean that we should do as we please—God will fix it in the end.  God forbid!  But it does mean that all of us are vulnerable to failure.  I see in this list various people who made horrendous choices.  Tamar seduced her father-in-law, Judah to have sex with her from whom Perez was born.  Rahab had been a harlot.  And Matthew doesn’t even mention Bathsheba by name, but refers to her as the one who had been Uriah’s wife!  This brings to mind David’s adultery and murder of Uriah.  The baby from that union died, but God still reminds us of this event.  Of the kings listed, only five were good kings.  The others “did evil in the sight of the Lord.”  God can and does bring good from horrible circumstances.  As long as we live in these fleshly bodies, we will make fleshly choices.  But we can also know that as we trust in Jesus’ death on behalf of our sins, we can also trust in His righteousness.  And we can know that through Him we have the power over sin.

Finally, this list records the women who were part of Jesus’ genealogy—Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary.  As mentioned in the last post, God is not against women; He includes them in this genealogy.
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