Matthew's Continuity Anonymous

The Book of Matthew, the first of the Gospels in the New Testament, appears to be directed towards the Hebrews to compel them to accept Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. As a result, the Book of Matthew is in many ways seemingly continuous of the Hebrew Scriptures.

When reading the Book of Matthew, one immediately notices the lengthy recount of genealogy of "Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham." (Matthew 1:1) starting from Abraham: "Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob..." (Matthew 1:2) and ending with Jesus Christ: "...and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah" (Matthew 1:16) It is quite interesting how the Gospel according to Matthew approaches the issue of Christ with the retracing of birth and paternity of forty-two generations: "So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations" (Matthew 1:17). Jesus Christ is not related by blood to Joseph, and hence is not related by blood to David or Abraham. However, he is...