Obed begat Jesse; Jesse begat David the king; David the king begat Solomon by Uriah.

And the Evangelist mentions the wife of Uriah in order to show that one should not be ashamed of one's ancestors, but rather try to glorify them with one's virtue, and that all are pleasing to God, even if they are descended from a harlot, if only they are virtuous.

Solomon begat Rehoboam; Rehoboam begat Abijah; Abijah begat Asa; Asa begat Jehoshaphat; Jehoshaphat begat Jehoram; And Joram begat Uzziah; Uzziah begat Jetham; Jotham begat Ahaz; Ahaz begat Hezekiah; Hezekiah begat Manasseh; Manasseh begat Amun; Amon begat Josiah; Josiah begat Jehoiakim; And Jehoiakim begat Jehoiachin and his brethren, before he migrated to Babylon.

The Babylonian exile is the captivity into which all the Jews were finally taken to Babylon and wept on the rivers of Babylon. The Babylonians also made conquests from them at other times, but embittered them more moderately, and then finally removed them from their homeland.

And when Jeconiah had migrated to Babylon, he begat Shealtiel; And Shealtiel begat Zerubbabel; Zerubbabel begat Abihu; Abihu begat Eliakim; Eliakim begat Azor; Azor begat Zadok; Zadok begat Achim; Achim begat Eliud; Eliud begat Eleazar; Eleazar begat Matthan; Matthan begat Jacob; Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

Why does the Evangelist present the genealogy of Joseph, and not of the Mother of God? What part did Joseph have in the seedless birth? Joseph was not the true father of Christ to trace the genealogy of Christ from Joseph. Listen! It is true that Joseph had no part in the birth of Christ, and therefore it would have been necessary to present the genealogy of the Mother of God, but since the law forbade genealogy in the female line, the Evangelist did not present the genealogy of the Virgin. In addition, having shown the genealogy of Joseph, he at the same time showed her genealogy, for it was a law not to take wives either from another tribe or from another clan, but from the same tribe and clan (Num. 36:6). And since there was such a law, it is evident that in the genealogy of Joseph the genealogy of the Mother of God is also presented, for the Mother of God was of the same tribe and family as him, otherwise how could she have been betrothed to him? In this way the Evangelist observed the law forbidding genealogy in the female line, but having shown the genealogy of Joseph, he also showed the genealogy of the Mother of God. And he called him Mary's husband according to the general custom, for it is our custom to call the betrothed the husband of the betrothed, although the marriage has not yet been consummated.

Therefore all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the exile to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the exile to Babylon to Christ fourteen generations.

The Evangelist divided the generations into three parts, in order to show the Jews that they, under the rule of the judges before David, and under the rule of the kings before the migration, and under the rule of the chief priests before Christ, equally did not succeed in virtue, and therefore had need of a true Judge, King and High Priest, who is Christ, for Christ, according to the prophecy of Jacob, came after the cessation of kings. But how are there fourteen generations from the migration of Babylon to Christ, when there are only thirteen persons? If it were possible to include women in the genealogy, then we could include the Mother of God Mary and thus complete the number. But a woman is not included in the genealogy. How can this be resolved? Some say that the evangelist counted the persons for the emigration.

Our Holy Father John,

Archbishop of Constantinople,

Chrysostom

Discourse on the Holy Gospel of Matthew