Matthew 1:1-17
The Genealogy of Jesus
1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
4 Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David.
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.
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 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.
When we look at today, and believe it is important and more important than the past, we forget about the importance of history...History is important...And our past is therefore important...Our own history builds on past history...Our current being and our currently being here and where we are and what we doing is based on our parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and our other ancestor’s past...Our personal history then has its importance for our current being...Without anyone of our ancestors, we would not be here, as we are...So it is important, from time to time, to look at the past to see how we got here and how we are and who we are...
Looking at our personal history shows us that the subject of history is more than a list of dates, and a timeline when things happened...History and the past is what has gotten all of us here...
One can look at the ancestry of Jesus and the history of His family and see His Personal History as hallowed ground...When see history from the three Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -we see a large part of the Book of Genesis, and their stories…For the follower of Jesus they believe that His Past is part of the subjects and background of the Bible...Because Jesus is the Bible...From Obed to Jesse, to King David we see a sacred and a holy history taking place...
Jesus, as well as ourselves, have had history and past events that have affected our very lives...Our very existence depends on this particular family tree...