Jesus' genealogy

Matthew begins,

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1)

This is reminiscent of Genesis which states,

This is the book of the generations of Adam. (Genesis 5:1)

Comparing Matthew to the Septuagint

• Βίβλος γενέσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ (Matthew 1:1)
• αὕτη ἡ βίβλος γενέσεως ἀνθρώπων (Genesis 5:1)

These phrases in Genesis likely represent toledoth though this is the only occurrence where the word "book" is added. In the same way that Genesis 5 introduces tho story of man (or Adam), Matthew introduces the story of Jesus. It also means ancestry which Matthew subsequently gives, much as Genesis 5 gives the descendants of Adam. Prior to giving the ancestry of Jesus Matthew tells us that Jesus is the Christ, or Messiah, that is the anointed one that the Jews were anticipating. He is also saying that the Messiah was both a son of David and a son of Abraham. The first indicating confirming that the Messiah would indeed come from David's seed, and related to that his authority as a king; the second indicating he was of the promised line of Abraham, the progenitor of Israel and the father of faith. In Matthew's first sentence there is great depth of meaning for those steeped in the Jewish Scriptures.

Matthew then outlines an abbreviated and stylised genealogy of Jesus starting from Abraham. There are 3 sections of 14 names. Matthew possibly uses groups of 14 as the Hebrew gematria of David is 14.

Latin	Hebrew	Value
D	ד	4
V	ו	6
D	ד	4

The genealogy, while accurate in the names it contains, excludes several generations to keep 14 names in each list. The 3 groups are Abraham to David, David to the Babylonian Exile, and the Exile to Jesus.

#	Father	Son	#	Father	Son	#	Father	Son
				David	Solomon		Jechoniah	Shealtiel
1	Abraham	Isaac	1	Solomon	Rehoboam	1	Shealtiel	Zerubbabel
2	Isaac	Jacob	2	Rehoboam	Abijah	2	Zerubbabel	Abiud
3	Jacob	Judah	3	Abijah	Asa	3	Abiud	Eliakim
4	Judah	Perez	4	Asa	Jehoshaphat	4	Eliakim	Azor
5	Perez	Hezron	5	Jehoshaphat	Joram	5	Azor	Zadok
6	Hezron	Ram	6	Joram	Uzziah	6	Zadok	Achim
7	Ram	Amminadab	7	Uzziah	Jotham	7	Achim	Eliud
8	Amminadab	Nahshon	8	Jotham	Ahaz	8	Eliud	Eleazar
9	Nahshon	Salmon	9	Ahaz	Hezekiah	9	Eleazar	Matthan
10	Salmon	Boaz	10	Hezekiah	Manasseh	10	Matthan	Jacob
11	Boaz	Obed	11	Manasseh	Amon	11	Jacob	Joseph
12	Obed	Jesse	12	Amon	Josiah	12	Joseph
13	Jesse	David	13	Josiah	Jechoniah	13	Jesus
14	David		14	Jechoniah		14

It is uncertain whether the last list ends at 13 persons or whether Mary should be considered number 13 with Jesus number 14.

Matthew also includes 5 women ancestors. Mary Jesus' mother as mentioned. Also Tamar the mother of Perez by Judah; Rahab the wife of Salmon; Ruth the wife of Boaz; and the wife of Uriah (Bathsheba) who became the wife of David.

This is the ancestry of Joseph the husband of Mary the mother of Jesus. Compare Luke's list which is the ancestry through Mary. Luke starts his list thus,

Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,... (Luke 3:23 ESV)

This may possibly be better translated,

Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son, as it was supposed, of Joseph, but was actually the son of Heli,...

This seems to me to be a better option than the claim that Heli was the adoptive father of Joseph.

Thus this genealogy is that of Jesus via Mary which Luke traces back to Adam the son of God.