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MATTHEW 1:16 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Matt 1:15Matt 1:17
“And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.”
And Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. The genealogy's syntax changes at the last entry: every previous generation was described as father of, but Joseph is described as the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born. The passive of whom makes Mary the grammatical antecedent — Jesus was born of Mary, not of Joseph. The genealogy has been building to this moment: the legal lineage through Joseph establishes Jesus' right to the Davidic throne, but the actual birth is through Mary alone, clearing the curse on Jechoniah while maintaining the royal claim. Christ — the Greek translation of Messiah, the Anointed One — is applied here for the first time in the gospel.

Church Fathers on Matthew 1:16

In the last place, after all the patriarchs, he sets down Joseph the husband of Mary, for whose sake all the rest are introduced, saying, 'But Jacob begot Joseph.'

Gloss (Glossa Ordinaria) · medieval compilation

This passage is objected to us by the Emperor Julian in his Discrepancy of the Evangelists. Matthew calls Joseph the son of Jacob, Luke makes him the son of Heli. He did not know the Scripture manner, one was his father by nature, the other by law. For we know that God commanded by Moses, that if a brother or near kinsman died without children, another should take his wife, to raise up seed to his brother or kinsman. [Deut 25]

Jerome · 4th century

For Matthan and Melchi at different periods had each a son by one and the same wife Jesca. Matthan, who traced through Solomon, first had her, and died leaving one son, Jacob by name. As the Law forbade not a widow, either dismissed from her husband, or after the death of her husband, to be married to another, so Melchi, who traced through Matthan, being of the same tribe but of another race, took this widow to his wife, and begat Heli his son.

Euseb · · Hist. Eccles. i, 7
Read all 18 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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