Historyczna prawda genealogii Jezusa Chrystusa według św. Mateusza

Abstract

In Matthew’s Gospel genealogy is an introduction to Jesus’ history, therefore the title itself „book of beginnings” must be also treated as an introduction to the whole book. The genealogy given by St. Matthew presents a very interesting theological reflection on the descent of Jesus Christ. Jesus is a child of the whole human race — people who are good and evil. The source of Matthew’s genealogy is concrete historical data. However following the tendencies of his epoch Matthew made choices. He shows only those generations that he thought worth mentioning. Biblical genealogies constitute rather a literary genre than a historical or archival document although one must not exclude these values a priori. It should be firstly remembered that the authors and editors of biblical genealogies wanted to expose their theological sense more than their conformity to history, i. e. the presentation of actual continuity of generations. This applies to the two genealogies of Jesus Christ given in Matt 1:1—17 (in descending order) and in Luke 3:23b—38 (in ascending order). Matthew selected three times 14 generations from Abraham through David and the Babylonian deportation to Christ. It is a classical genealogy in form and in contents — biographical with some ethnic elements. The list of names at the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel testifies that Christ is the last link in the long chain of history of salvation. His time is the summit of messianic promises given to the nation of Israel in Abraham and David. By including two Gentile women, Rahab and Ruth, in Christ’s genealogy Matthew says that this is the history of all mankind (messianic universality) whose sin Jesus took on himself. This interpretation is also stressed by listing those fallen into disgrace as Tamar, Bathsheba, Manasseh and Amon (in Matthew’s Gospel — Amos).