>I posted it originally, and took it from another list which a friend of
>mine compiled (I got it from Darrel, I think, and I altered slightly). I
>may have made a typo- it should have been 42. But that was based on the
>erroneous NT text! Matthew 1:17 reads "Thus there were fourteen generations
>in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile in Babylon,
>and fourteen from the exile to Christ." Actually, I seem to be counting 41
>generations: 14 from Abraham to David, 14 from David to Babylon, and 13
>from Babylon to JC, whixh would give 41, not 42 generations. So Matthew
>1:17 is also a contradiction, since it claims 14 generations from the exile
>to JC when in fact, only thirteen are listed.
>
>I just noticed this- but am I wrong? Check it out! It seems to be another
error.
There is more. If you compare Matthew with the Old Testament, you will see
that he skips generations. For example, in 1:8 Matthew says that Joram was
the father of Uzziah. In fact, he was his great-grandfather, as a comparison
with the OT will show. This means that there are *more* than fourteen
generations from David to the captivity, no matter how you slice it. When I
pointed this out to my brother (a Baptist minister), he argued that whatever
the actual number is, it must include fourteen. Thus, he says, Matthew was
technically correct. Go figure.
(I have some more information on this problem at
http://www.primenet.com/~heuvelc/bible/ntprob.htm)
-Curt