OUR FATHER WHO GAVE US HIS ONLY SON AS A REDEEMER AND FULFILLED HIS PROMISE TO ABRAHAM AND TO DAVID Part 3

Proceeding to Mathew chapter 1 verses 12 - 17, we see the last 14 generations from the Babylonian exile up to the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ during the Roman occupation of the land of Israel;

12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor,

14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Elihud,

15 Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob,

16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband (father?) of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

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.

Seeing that Jeconiah is included in the previous segment, we count starting from Shealtiel and we end up with 13 generations.

Mathew, however, in verse 17, says that there are 14 generations between the exile and the arrival of Jesus the Messiah.

This question has perplexed scholars but I believe that the miscount is caused by a mis-translation of verse 16 that changed "Joseph, the father of Mary" to "Joseph, the husband of Mary".

It is very commonly known that Joseph was Mary's husband and it is likely that a scribe believed he was correcting an error in the geneological text by changing Joseph's relation to Mary from 'father' to 'husband'.

These are the reasons I believe this;

• Mathew, within the very text he was referencing, is not likely to have miscounted the generations from the exile to the Messiah. His list would have contained 14 generations and an external event would have altered it to 13.
• There are some Aramaic texts that list Joseph as Mary's father rather than her husband.
• Joseph, a common name, is one that could easily be had by both a woman's father and her husband.

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