The Genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:1–17; Luke 3:23–38)

The texts below are quoted verbatim from public-domain English translations; nothing is paraphrased.

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St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, Homilies 2 and 3 (on Matthew 1:1) Source: trans. in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 10. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf110.iii.v.html

On why the Only-begotten suffered Himself to be traced through a human pedigree:

He suffered Himself to be called also Son of David, that He might make thee Son of God. He suffered a slave to be father to Him, that He might make the Lord Father to thee a slave.

On why Matthew names David before Abraham, and so descends where Luke ascends:

It is not, as some suppose, that he means to proceed upward from the lower point, since then he would have done the same as Luke, but now he doth the contrary.

On beginning from David, the more known, and running up toward Abraham:

On account of this he makes the beginning at once from him who was more known, and then runs up to his father; accounting it superfluous, as far as regards the Jews, to carry the genealogy higher up.

On why the four women are woven into the line — Thamar, Rahab, Ruth, and the wife of Urias:

For this end he hath mentioned Ruth also and Rahab, the one an alien, the other an harlot, that thou mayest learn that He came to do away with all our ills. For He hath come as a Physician, not as a Judge.

On why Joseph, who had no part in the birth, is nonetheless given the genealogy:

It is then for this reason that both Joseph has his genealogy traced, and the Virgin betrothed to him.

St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444)

Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon 1 (on Luke 2:1–7) Source: trans. R. Payne Smith, Library of Fathers, 1859. Public domain. Full text: https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cyril_on_luke_01_sermons_01_11.htm

On how tracing the line through Joseph proves the Virgin herself to be of David's house:

The book of the sacred Gospels referring the genealogy to Joseph, who was descended from David's house, has proved through him that the Virgin also was of the same tribe as David, inasmuch as the Divine law commanded that marriages should be confined to those of the same tribe: and the interpreter of the heavenly doctrines, the great apostle Paul, clearly declares the truth, bearing witness that the Lord arose out of Juda.

St. Jerome (c. 347–420)

Commentary on Matthew (on Matthew 1:1) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.i.html

On Isaiah's "Who shall declare His generation?" — that the Prophet speaks of the divine generation, the Evangelist of the human:

We read in Isaiah, "Who shall declare His generation?" But it does not follow that the Evangelist contradicts the Prophet, or undertakes what he declares impossible; for Isaiah is speaking of the generation of the Divine nature; St. Matthew of the incarnation of the human.

On why the order of the two names is inverted:

The order of the names is inverted, but of necessity; for had he written Abraham first, and David afterwards, he would have to repeat Abraham again to preserve the series of the genealogy.

St. Ambrose of Milan (c. 339–397)

Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, Book 3 (on Matthew 1:1) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.i.html

On the two to whom the promise was made — Abraham and David — named as the authors of His birth:

He therefore names specially two authors of His birth - one who received the promise concerning the kindreds of the people, the other who obtained the oracle concerning the generation of Christ; and though he is later in order of succession is yet first named, inasmuch as it is greater to have received the promise concerning Christ than concerning the Church, which is through Christ; for greater is He who saves than that which is saved.

On the seventeen kings between David and Jeconiah reckoned as fourteen:

Let us not think this is to be overlooked, that though there were seventeen Kings of Judaea between David and Jeconiah, Matthew only recounts fourteen.

Blessed Augustine of Hippo (354–430)

The Harmony of the Gospels, Book 2 (on Matthew 1:1–17) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.i.html

On how Matthew's descending line and Luke's ascending line answer to one another:

Since in Matthew's genealogy is shewed forth the taking on Him by Christ of our sins, therefore he descends from David to Solomon, in whose mother David had sinned. Luke ascends to David through Nathan, for through Nathan the prophet of God punished David's sin; because Luke's genealogy is to shew the putting away of our sins.

On why Luke sets the ancestry at the Baptism and carries it up by adoption to Adam and to God:

And suitably does Luke, who relates Christ's ancestry not in the opening of his Gospel, but at his baptism, follow the line of adoption, as thus more clearly pointing Him out as the Priest that should make atonement for sin. For by adoption we are made the sons of God, by believing in the Son of God. But by the descent according to the flesh which Matthew follows, we rather see that the Son of God was for us made man. Luke sufficiently shews that he called Joseph the son of Heli, because he was adopted by Heli, by his calling Adam the son of God, which he was by grace, as he was set in Paradise, though he lost it afterwards by sinning.

Remigius of Auxerre (c. 841–908)

Commentary on Matthew (on Matthew 1:1–17) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain. (Remigius is a later Western compiler, included here for the reckoning of the fourteens.) Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.i.html

On the mystical sense of the three sets of fourteen:

He made fourteen generations, because the ten denotes the Decalogue, and the four the four books of the Gospel; whence this shews the agreement of the Law and the Gospel. And he put the fourteen three times over, that he might shew that the perfection of law, prophecy, and grace, consists in the faith of the Holy Trinity.

On why Bathsheba alone among the women is left unnamed, called only the wife of Urias:

Let us enquire why Matthew does not mention Bathsheba by name as he does the other women. Because the others, though deserving of much blame, were yet commendable for many virtues. But Bathsheba was not only consenting in the adultery, but in the murder of her husband, hence her name is not introduced in the Lord's genealogy.