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NASB | Matthew 1:17 ¶ So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 1:17 ¶ So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen; from David to the Babylonian deportation (exile), fourteen generations; and from the Babylonian deportation to the Messiah, fourteen generations. |
Bible Question: 1 Kings 6:1 records that King David's son Solomon built the temple 480 years after Israel came up out of Egypt. I need to reconcile this with Matthew 1, which lists only five generations from Salmon (who married Rahab of Jericho right after the Exodus) to King David: Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David? 480 years seems too long for five generations, so I suspect I am missing a clarification elsewhere in scripture. |
Bible Answer: Hi Zor, Your question is one of doing the math. We start out with 480 years. Solomon began to build the temple in the 4th year of his reign. That takes us down to 476 years. His father David was 30 years old when he became King and his reign was 40 years. This takes us down to 406 years. Salmon was born during the 40 years in the wilderness. At the time of the battle of Jericho he could be any age up to 39. Let’s say that both Salmon and Rehab were both 20 years old (it is likely that Rehab was older). Deducting 20 years from the 40 years in the wilderness takes us down to 386 years. In other words, from the birth of Salmon to the birth of David is 386 years. Therefore, how old, on average, were Salmon, Boaz, Obed and Jesse when their sons were born? 386 years divided by 4 gives us an average age of 96.5 years. This is certainly possible. The timeline would be close to this: Exodus to birth of Salmon: 20 years, Battle of Jericho: 40 years, birth of Boaz: 116.5 years, birth of Obed: 213 years, birth of Jesse: 309.5 years, birth of David: 406 years, David becomes King: 436 years, Solomon becomes King: 476 years, and begins to build the Temple: 480 years. What is not possible is that Rehab, the Harlot, is the same Rehab of Matthew 1 (Matthew does not identify his Rahab as either the harlot or a Canaanite). Rahab, the Harlot, is not the ancestor of Jesus Christ. Not only would it contradict many other scriptures, but it would be a physical impossibility as Rahab, the Harlot, would have been well past the age of bearing children. Jim |