When is the last time you counted a jar of pennies? It’s 2025 and it would be interesting to know who still has a jar of pennies. If you’ve ever saved pennies you’ve likely had moments where you’ve forgotten the location of this collection of 97.5 per cent zinc and 2.5 per cent copper. Matthew’s genealogy has as much appeal to most of us as a closet shelved jar of pennies.

Matthew, the former tax collector, knows how to count money, yet his genealogy doesn’t seem to add up, and for a discerning eye this miscalculation makes it look more like a treasure chest than a mason jar full of well traveled pennies. The masterful design of the genealogy and the peculiar entries are intended to instantly create intrigue and suspense. Yet, for what exactly? Is this simply literary machismo or is it actually valuable. Matthew intentionally subtracts. He’s aware that there are more than 42 generations from Abraham to Jesus (1 Chronicles 3:10-15 adds 17 more?). So, is there a good reason why Matthew begins his Gospel shortchanged?

Commentators seeking to support Matthew’s lack of generations have noted the genealogy as a literary device similar to a leaning capital N. From Abraham to David, God’s desire to create a nation to bless all of humanity begins like a small seed and then grows upward throughout its generations. Think of a line / going up from Abraham to David with David at the top. This means that we should read the first set of generations in the genealogy as the ascension of Israel and fulfillment of Deuteronomy 28:1b “…the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.” Would an ancient reader notice this feature? Perhaps, ancient readers noticed more than we imagine.

Abraham is the beginning of God’s creation of Israel. On the landscape of human history would anyone have been able to recognize the potential of Abraham’s tiny family compared to existing clans in Canaan, nomadic tribes, or nearby city-states? It seems the strength of the Egyptian Empire would have cast a long shadow over Canaanite people groups. So, Abraham’s history is of supreme importance when understanding God’s plan to redeem humanity. Abraham, fragile and frightened, eventually becomes an exalted and powerful nation under David.

Matthew is believed to use Hebrew gematria. Gematria is when alphabets double as number systems. For example, ABC is the equivalent of 123. Therefore, the word cab has a numerical value of 6 because C=3, B=2, and A=1 (3+2+1=6). Matthew inserts two 7s (7 x 2 =14 generations) from Abraham to David in order for David to be highlighted. David’s name is 14 in Hebrew gematria (DWD: 4+6+4=14).

David is installed as God’s king over Israel, and viewing Jesus as God’s king is one of Matthew’s goals for his Gospel. David is a hero. David’s slaying of Goliath is as anthemic as “And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air…Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O, say does that star spangled banner yet wave, O’er the land of the free…and the home of the brave.” David symbolizes Israel’s glory days. Herod symbolizes all that could go wrong with someone claiming to be king of the Jews. Jesus fulfills everything about God’s promises to David (cf. Psalm 89).

Commentators also recognize national decline from Solomon to Israel’s exile. A line \ descending can be drawn from David downward. This completes two of the three lines in the leaning N and serves as 28 of 42 generations. Because exile represents death or separation from God’s presence then the only expectation is life and resurrection. Therefore, Matthew is viewed as intentionally creating two more sevens of generations, compelling readers to anticipate a finale, a seventh generation in Jesus, the church. From exile to Jesus we now see that six sevens have passed, and the incline / forms the last line of the leaning N. This is the rise from exile to the Messiah (Matthew 1:17). Ezekiel 37 with the valley of bones is the image being provoked. So, Matthew is signaling the apex of Israelite history and also the history of the world. The seventh seven is finally arriving and Goliath will be slain again with the coming of the Messiah.

This genealogical penny counting is just one aspect of the structure of the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel. There are other pennies worth looking at. 2) The inclusion of Judah’s brothers and Jechoniah’s brothers. What are we supposed to make of them? Are we being prepared to listen for Jesus’s definition of brothers? 3) Why are these women (Rahab, the wife of Uriah, and Mary) included? What are their stories and are they supposed to direct our reading also? 4) The beginning sentence of Matthew’s Gospel is “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ” (in Matthew 1:1a), literally BOOK BEGINNING. Matthew uses the Greek words Biblos genesis [βίβλος γενέσεως] which many English translations translate as “the book of the genealogy…” Matthew is structuring his Gospel as Genesis through Deuteronomy where everyone would recall God’s longing for Israel to have a faithful and obedient heart.

Matthew seems to begin his Gospel, not with an archive once buried, but with a resurrected history, one that is illuminated in and brought to life in Jesus Christ. Jesus brings the kingdom of God, a new era in human history, and a new generation of people who form a new genealogy.