<p>1:17&nbsp;<em>So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations and from David to the captivity in Babylon fourteen generations and from the captivity in Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations- </em>This must have some connection with the 42 stopping places before Israel reached Canaan, as described in Num.33:2. Thus the birth of Christ would be like God's people entering the promised land of the Kingdom in some way. It could be argued from this (and other evidence) that it was God&rsquo;s intention for the Kingdom to be entered by Israel at the time of Jesus- it was after all, His intention that Israel accepted their Messiah. But they crucified Him, and therefore the potential didn&rsquo;t come true. This open ended nature of God&rsquo;s prophetic program means that it&rsquo;s impossible to fit together all latter day prophecies into some chronological framework.</p>
<p>The genealogy presented by Matthew doesn&rsquo;t include every generation, there are some gaps (see on 1:8; and Zorababel was Salathiel&rsquo;s grandson, 1 Chron. 3:19, yet 1:12 says be &ldquo;begat&rdquo; him). Thus some &ldquo;begat&rdquo; their grandson or great grandson. Clearly Matthew had a purpose in presenting the material like this- but expositors have failed to come up with anything convincing. It could simply be that the Gospels were designed to be memorized, as most Christians were illiterate; and the 3 x 14 structure was to aid memorization. One interesting observation is that the last 14 generations from the captivity to the time of Christ amount to the 490 years prophesied for this same period by Dan. 9:25- if we take a generation to be 35 years, which it is in Job 42:16. The numerical value of the Hebrew word &ldquo;David&rdquo; is 14, so it could also be that Matthew is eloquently demonstrating that Jesus was indeed the promised seed of David. If indeed six is the number of man and seven represents perfection, then 6 x 7 = 42- the generations culminated in the perfect man, Jesus.</p>