Does Matthew’s first set of fourteen generations, from Abraham to David, really hold fourteen?

Hard question · Genealogies · raised by 2 of the lists sceptics circulate

Different ways of counting

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The passages

Matthew 1:2–6

From Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through Judah, Boaz, Obed and Jesse to David the king.

Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;

Matthew 1:17

Matthew counts fourteen generations from Abraham to David.

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.

The objection

Matthew says there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David. But between Abraham and David his list records only thirteen begettings, so critics say his first set has thirteen generations, not fourteen.

The answer

Matthew counts people, not the steps between them. His first set names fourteen men: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judas, Phares, Esrom, Aram, Aminadab, Naasson, Salmon, Booz, Obed, Jesse and David. Thirteen acts of begetting join fourteen generations, just as thirteen gaps lie between fourteen posts in a fence. Matthew’s phrase “from Abraham to David” includes both ends, and each generation is a person in the line; John Gill counted the set in just this way, ‘both being included’. The same way of counting explains Matthew’s other two sets, with David closing the first set and opening the second (see ‘Why does Matthew’s last set of fourteen generations, from the exile to Christ, seem to name only thirteen?’).

Still open

A separate question, which Christian scholars also discuss, is whether the line from Judah’s son Pharez to David is itself shortened, since Ruth 4:18–22 covers several centuries with the same ten names.

From the classic commentators

‘so all the generations’, that is, the degrees of generation, or the persons generated from Abraham to David, both being included, ‘are fourteen generations’; as there were, and no moreJohn Gill, Exposition on Matthew 1:17 (1746–1763)