Matthew 1:1-17

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

Matthew 1:1-17

Matthew is relatively long when it comes to the gospels.  I say that because I'm more familiar with Mark and Mark is short.  So, to me, all of the gospels except for Mark seem long.  In any case, what differentiates Matthew?  I've always thought that Matthew was the book that was directed towards the Jews.  It references the Old Testament quite a bit, showing how Jesus is the fulfillment of these prophecies.  The Jews were waiting for the messiah and Jesus is that messiah they were waiting for.

To start the book, Matthew begins with a genealogy.  Starting with Abraham, it traces the line all the way to Jesus.  What's interesting is how it highlights Abraham, David and Jesus.  Jesus is a descendant of Abraham and he's a descendant of David, both of which are very important.  By Abraham came the promise from God.  With regards to David, many of the prophecies tell of the seed of David as the one to expect.  Though many of us may look at a genealogy as boring, it is actually very important.

There's some other interesting things about this genealogy.  One thing is the number of people in this genealogy who are not the firstborn.  Being the firstborn was very important, but oddly enough, there are many in this list who are not the firstborn.  Just at a initial glance, we can see that the first few: Isaac, Jacob, and Judah.  Actually, maybe a better question would be to find how many are the firstborn.  I think Obed was the firstborn of Boaz and Ruth.  In any case, for some reason, God has chosen to utilize a line of people who are not what one would suspect.  People would suspect the firstborn to be the one to carry on the line to Jesus, but that is simply not always the case.

Another interesting thing about this genealogy is the presence of women.  Not many genealogies (I don't think) would mention or highlight the women, but this one does in many cases.  The women in this list (that I can see at least) are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, the wife of Uriah, and Mary.  It was definitely a male dominated society back then, but surprisingly, there are some women who still are mentioned in this genealogy.  This is yet another weird thing that we find, seeing how God would highlight the role of certain women in the line leading to Jesus.  Yes, obviously women are needed since you can't have babies without a woman.  However, their mention is still something to take note of.