Son of David

The Evangelist added the word "Son of David" to the word "Jesus" so that you would not think that he was talking about another Jesus. For there was another famous Jesus, the leader of Israel after Moses, but this one was called the son of Nun, and not the son of David, lived many centuries before David, and did not come from the tribe of Judah, from which David came, but from another.

Son of Abraham

Why did the Evangelist put David before Abraham? Because David was especially famous among the Jews, and he lived later than Abraham, and was a king. For of the kings he was the first to please God, and the first of them to receive the promise that Christ would arise from his seed, wherefore all called Christ the Son of David. David also bore within himself the image of Christ, for just as this one reigned in the place of Saul, who was rejected and hated by God, so Christ came from the Father in the flesh and reigned over us, when Adam lost the kingdom and the power given to him over all living things and over the demons.

Abraham begat Isaac.

The genealogy begins with Abraham, since he was the father of the Jews and was the first to receive the promise that "in his seed all tongues shall be blessed." Thus, from him begins the genealogy of Christ. Christ is the seed of Abraham, in whom all of us, who were formerly Gentiles, received a blessing and under an oath. Abraham means the father of tongues, and Isaac means joy, laughter. The Evangelist does not mention the pre-born children of Abraham, that is, Ishmael and others, because the Jews did not descend from them, but from Isaac.

Isaac begat Jacob; And Jacob begat Judah and his brethren.

That is why he mentioned Judah and his brethren, that from them came the twelve tribes.

And Judah begat Perez and Zarah by Tamar.

Judah gave Tamar in marriage to Er, one of his sons. But since this man died childless, he gave her in marriage to his son Aunan. When this one also lost his life for his shame, Judas no longer gave her for his third son. But she, desiring very much to have children by the seed of Abraham, laid off the garment of widowhood, pretended to be a harlot, mingled with her father-in-law, and conceived two twin children. During childbirth, the first of them showed his hand from the womb, as if he would be born first. The midwife, seeing that two would be born, immediately, in order to distinguish the firstborn, tied the baby's hand with a red thread. But the child again hid his hand in the womb, and first another child was born, and then the one who had previously shown his hand. Wherefore he who was born before is called Pharez, which means interruption, because he broke the order of nature, and he who hid his hand is called Zaroja. This story contains a certain mystery. As Zara first showed his hand, and then hid it, so the life in Christ was manifested in the saints who lived before the law and circumcision, for all of them were justified not by keeping the law and commandments, but by living according to the Gospel. Such is Abraham, who for God's sake left his father and home and renounced his nature. Such are Job, Melchizedek. But when the law came, this life was hidden. However, just as there after the birth of Perez and Zarah came out of the womb, so after the giving of the law, the life of the Gospel shone forth again, marked by the red thread, that is, the blood of Christ. And so, for this reason the Evangelist mentioned these two infants, because their birth signified something mysterious. And also of Tamar, although she is not commendable for having mingled with her father-in-law, he mentioned in order to show that Christ, Who took all things for our sake, also received evil ancestors, in order to sanctify them by His very birth from them, for He did not come "to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

And Perez begat Hezron; And Hezrom begat Aram; Aram begat Aminadab; Aminadab begat Nahshon; Nahshon begat Salmon; Salmon begat Boaz by Rahab.

Some think that Rahab is that Rahab the harlot who, having received the spies of Joshua and saved them, was saved herself. The Evangelist mentioned her in order to show that as she was a harlot, so were all the pagans, for they committed fornication by their deeds. However, all the pagans who received the ambassadors of Jesus, that is, the apostles, and believed in their words, were saved.

Boaz begat Obed by Ruth.

This Ruth was a foreigner, yet she was married to Boaz. In the same way, the church of the Gentiles, although it was a foreigner and outside the covenants, forgot its people, and the worship of idols, and its father the devil, and became betrothed to the Only-begotten Son of God.