THREAD: Biblical genealogies are not simply lists of people. They are statements about people’s origins--deliberately patterned and organised. Here I consider one primarily ‘horizontal’ genealogy (Jacob’s) and one ‘vertical’ one (Jesus’s), and draw parallels between them.
Gen. 46 lists the members of Jacob’s immediate kinsfolk. It’s designed to yield a total of 70 people. As best as I can tell, the 70 people in question consist of:
a] Jacob’s 54 grandsons; b] Jacob’s 12 sons; and c] Jacob’s daughter (Dinah), two handmaids (Bilhah and Zilpah), and wife (Leah).
Greek translations of the OT refer to a total of 75 people, which is quoted by Stephen in Acts 7. The difference of 5 is apparently caused by the exclusion of Jacob’s two handmaids (Bilhah and Zilpah) and the inclusion of Joseph’s 7 unnamed sons (‘LXX’ Gen. 46.27).
Gen. 46’s genealogy emphasises the number 7. It include a total of 70 people (7 x 10). It totals up the sons and grandsons of Rachel to arrive at a subtotal of 14 (2 x 7). And it totals up the sons and grandsons of Bilhah to arrive at a subtotal of 7.
It could also have totalled up the sons and grandsons of Zilpah to arrive at a subtotal of 14 (2 x 7). The Bible doesn’t do all the work for us.
Gad marks the mid-point of Gen. 46’s genealogy--a fact noted in Davies’ comm. iirc. The kinsmen of Jacob listed prior to the mention of Gad are said to amount to 33 people, and those listed after him (inclusive of him) are said to bring the total to 66.
Gad can also be taken to mark the end-point of the first third of Gen. 46’s genealogy. Prior to him, 25 grandsons are listed, who constitute a third of the total number of kinsmen stated in Greek translations of the OT, namely 75.
In and of himself, Gad is associated with the number 7. He is the 7th son listed; he has 7 sons; and his name (גד) has a gematrial value of 7.
Note: Gen. 46 does not list Jacob’s sons in their order of birth. It lists them in order to bring out certain numerical and divinely intended patterns. When Matthew arranges and counts generations in a particular way, his method therefore has Scriptural precedent.
Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus resonates with Gen. 46’s genealogy in a number of important ways, though it is built around *David* rather than Gad.
David is the 14th son mentioned. His name (דוד) has a gematrial value of 14. From him there descends a line of 28 (14 x 2) descendants, which culminates in ‘a greater than David’ (Jesus).
Like Gad, David marks the half-way point of Matt. 1’s genealogy. The 14 people before him describe an exile to and return from the most powerful kingdom of the day (Egypt’s), and the people after him do likewise (to Babylon instead of Egypt).
In another sense (and also like Gad), David marks the end of the first third of Matt. 1’s genealogy since he constitutes the 14th of a line of 42 generations.
The number 42 is important for other reasons. It is equal to 6 x 7 generations, i.e., 6 weeks’ worth of generations. As such, it looks forward to a 7th week, which gives it a Jubilee-esque feel.
Daniel’s prophecy lays out a timetable of 70 weeks of years, i.e., 10 Jubilees’ worth of years. As Matthew recognises, the work of the Messiah comes to its climax in the very last of these weeks.
The gematrial value of Jubilee (יבל) is 42. Elsewhere in Scripture, the number 42 is associated with the reclamation of Israel’s land.
Israel is exiled because of her failure to observe Sabbatical and hence Jubilee years. Cyrus enforces a Jubilee when he sends the Israelites back to their land. In all, 42,000 people return.
When the 7th trumpet sounds in the book of Revelation, the imminent reclamation of the whole earth is announced and initiates a 42 month countdown.
(The Jubilee was also announced by a trumpet blast, while the entire Jubilee cycle began after the fall of Jericho, which coincided with a 7th trumpet blast.)
Other Gospel writers also work Jubilee allusions into their Gospels. In Luke, Jesus emerges in the 84th year of Anna’s life, i.e., after 42 x 2 years.
Jesus then arises in the 15th year of Tiberius. These two year counts add up to a 99th year, which signals a double Jubilee. Like Cyrus, Tiberius then enforces a Jubilee by means of his census, which requires every Israelite to return to his hometown.
Later in Luke, Jesus announces a Jubilee (the year of the YHWH’s favour) in his second hometown (πατρίς), Nazareth.
John has a different approach. He associates the outset of Jesus’ ministry with 46 years’ worth of work on the Temple, which makes Jesus’ three year ministry climax in a 49th year, i.e., a Jubilee.
(Attention is frequently drawn to the Temple in Jubilee years, on which see later.)
The point is emphasised when the Jews tell Jesus he is “not yet 50 years old”. His ministry climaxes in a Jubilee.
If Jesus’ ministry does indeed climax in a Jubilee year, one would expect its climax to be associated with an act of atonement since the Jubilee year begins on Yom Kippur (Lev. 25.9-10).
For John, Jesus’ ministry does not only climax with a Jubilee-esque event; it begins with one. If Jesus’ arrival in Nazareth (in Luke) was a return to his earthly father’s home, then Jesus’ arrival in the Temple in John is a return to his heavenly father’s home.
If the intersection of people who’ve read this and people who want to read more about Jubilees doesn’t happen to be the empty set, then its members may wish to look here: academia.edu/33664758/Towar….
A chart is included which shows the correlation between the rhythm of the Jubilee and work on the Temple on p. 57.
