Matthew 1a: HG Bishop Youssef
20:04-33:40
Genealogy of Christ
- Why three sets of 14?
- In Scripture in general, numbers usually have more significance than just a quantity (e.g. 7 is a symbol of perfection)
- Gematria
- Each letter has a corresponding number
- So a name or a word has a number
- D = 4
V = 6
DVD = 14 (in Hebrew, there aren't any vowels so the name David is DVD)
- 14 = King David's Number
- St Matthew wants to establish the link between Christ and King David
- Three sets of 14 in the Genealogy in Ch 1
- Total 42
- 42 is 6x7
- 6 is the number of man (since man was made on the 6th day)
- 7 is the number of God (perfect number)
- So 42 is the conflict between man and God
- Man rebelled against God
- But God sent His Son to reconcile man with God