{The Book} (iblos).  There is no article in the Greek, but
the following genitives make it definite. It is our word Bible
that is here used, _the_ Book as Sir Walter Scott called it as he
lay dying. The usual word for book is a diminutive form
(iblion), a little book or roll such as we have in  Lu 4:17 ,
"The roll of the prophet Isaiah." The pieces of papyrus
(papuros), our paper, were pasted together to make a roll of
varying lengths according to one's needs. Matthew, of course, is
not applying the word book to the Old Testament, probably not to
his own book, but to "the genealogical table of Jesus Christ"
(iblos genese(9373) I(8873)ou Christou), "the birth roll of Jesus
Christ" Moffatt translates it. We have no means of knowing where
the writer obtained the data for this genealogy. It differs
radically from that in  Lu 3:23-38 . One can only give his own
theory of the difference. Apparently in Matthew we have the
actual genealogy of Joseph which would be the legal pedigree of
Jesus according to Jewish custom. In Luke we apparently have the
actual genealogy of Mary which would be the real line of Jesus
which Luke naturally gives as he is writing for the Gentiles.

{Jesus Christ}. Both words are used. The first is the name
(I(8873)ous) given by the angel to Mary ( Mt 1:21 ) which describes
the mission of the child. The second was originally a verbal
adjective (christos) meaning anointed from the verb to anoint
(chri(935c)). It was used often in the Septuagint as an adjective
like "the anointed priest" ( 1Ki 2:10 ) and then as a substantive
to translate the Hebrew word "Messiah" (Messias). So Andrew
said to Simon: "We have found the Messiah, which is, being
interpreted, Christ" ( Joh 1:41 ). In the Gospels it is sometimes
"the Anointed One," "the Messiah," but finally just a proper name
as here, Jesus Christ. Paul in his later Epistles usually has it
"Christ Jesus."

{The Son of David, the son of Abraham} (huiou Daueid huiou
Abraam). Matthew proposes to show that Jesus Christ is on the
human side the son of David, as the Messiah was to be, and the
son of Abraham, not merely a real Jew and the heir of the
promises, but the promise made to Abraham. So Matthew begins his
line with Abraham while Luke traces his line back to Adam. The
Hebrew and Aramaic often used the word son ((886e)) for the
quality or character, but here the idea is descent. Christians
are called sons of God because Christ has bestowed this dignity
upon us ( Ro 8:14  9:26  Ga 3:26  4:5-7 ). Verse 1 is the
description of the list in verses  2-17 . The names are given in
three groups, Abraham to David ( 2-6 ), David to Babylon Removal
( 6-11 ), Jechoniah to Jesus ( 12-16 ). The removal to Babylon
(metoikesias Babul(936e)os) occurs at the end of verse  11 , the
beginning of verse  12 , and twice in the resume in verse  17 .
This great event is used to mark off the two last divisions from
each other. It is a good illustration of the genitive as the case
of genus or kind. The Babylon removal could mean either to
Babylon or from Babylon or, indeed, the removal of Babylon. But
the readers would know the facts from the Old Testament, the
removal of the Jews to Babylon. Then verse  17  makes a summary
of the three lists, fourteen in each by counting David twice and
omitting several, a sort of mnemonic device that is common
enough. Matthew does not mean to say that there were only
fourteen in actual genealogy. The names of the women (Thamar,
Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba the wife of Uriah) are likewise not
counted. But it is a most interesting list.