Where there exactly 14 generations between each of these three events?
It would seem that there were 14 generations, just as the Bible says. One possible exception would allow for a 15th generation to be included in one set…but here’s the thing: no one really knows why it makes any difference anyway. The best explanation I have heard is that it was a memory aid…remember these folks memorized much of the Old Testament, and that practice may have carried over to the New Testament for some.
The number 14, or the total of 42 can’t be linked substantially to any other passage or event in the Bible. I have another theory: Matthew noted that there were 14 generations between Abraham and David, so then he counted out 14 or so more and noted that the exile was close (70 year period could be in several generations). It was just one of those things that happen…who knows, maybe God has some purpose, but if He does it’s been lost to us. You can make the numbers mean almost anything, for instance: if each generation is 50 years, and there were 42 generations, then multiply 50 years by 42 generations since Christ returned to heaven in 33 AD, and boom: the year 2067. In 2067 it will be the same number of years from Abraham to Christ as from Christ to _____________ (second coming?). That’s how crazy this can get. But it is kind of interesting, right?
Matthew is a Gospel written with the Jewish believer in mind. Luke was a Gentile, and wrote to a different audience. Where Luke covers some prophetic details and includes more of what the women said, Matthew calls upon the genealogy and what Joseph was saying and doing. Luke barely mentions Joseph! I wonder if that might be because Matthew wrote before him, or he knew what Matthew was writing….and so he didn’t feel the need to repeat it. By the way, Matthew and John were disciples, and then Apostles. Mark and Luke, the other two Gospel writers, were not. They were companions of Paul and “second generation” disciples. Both of them were certainly acquainted with the Apostles…Luke spent a fair amount of time talking with Mary as well.
We have the details about the birth of Christ because those are the only details necessary to prove the point the author is trying to make. Being in Bethlehem is mentioned because the Messiah is prophesied to come from Bethlehem. Wrapped in cloth and lying in a manger is mentioned because the Angels mentioned those details as important to identifying the child. Noting that Mary was a virgin was also a topic of prophecy, so Luke takes care to mention that Joseph never had sexual relations with Mary until after Jesus was born. Must have been a fairly boring honeymoon.
When Luke records that Mary and Joseph offered 2 turtledoves or 2 pigeons he was saying that they were poor. In Leviticus 12 the offering is supposed to be a lamb and one pigeon or turtledove, but those who can’t afford it could substitute a second turtledove or pigeon for the lamb. I don’t know that it means anything in particular, except that Jesus wasn’t born into “wealth”. And it makes the gifts of the wise men soooo much more important from a practical point of view. In fact, by the time Joseph and Mary are in Jerusalem dedicating Jesus, the wise men may have already begun packing for their trip.
Luke mentions both Simeon and Anna, two elderly prophets who walked closely with God and “happened” to be in the temple when Jesus was carried in. Simeon’s prophecy is quoted, so it must have been remembered clearly by someone Luke spoke with. Maybe Mary. But we don’t know exactly what Anna said. That seems odd. Simeon’s prophecy talks about Jesus being “the light that reveals God” which is exactly what John says when he talks about Jesus in Chapter 1 of his Gospel.
If you add up all the events of the first 8 days of Jesus’ life, it seems like it would be hard to miss. But Herod didn’t know anything about it for almost two years. He must not have had any real insight into what was going on each day in the temple. Surely if one of his “spies” had heard what the prophet Anna said, they would have done some questioning and then reported back. Somehow God made sure that the people who needed the message of hope received it, but the rulers who wanted to crush Jesus didn’t hear a peep.
Faithfully,
PR