This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar). Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Ram. Ram was the father of Amminadab. Amminadab was the father of Nahshon. Nahshon was the father of Salmon. Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab). Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth). Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon (whose mother was Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah). Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam was the father of Abijah. Abijah was the father of Asa. Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was the father of Jehoram. Jehoram was the father of Uzziah. Uzziah was the father of Jotham. Jotham was the father of Ahaz. Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh. Manasseh was the father of Amon. Amon was the father of Josiah. Josiah was the father of Jehoiachin and his brothers (born at the time of the exile to Babylon). After the Babylonian exile: Jehoiachin was the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud. Abiud was the father of Eliakim. Eliakim was the father of Azor. Azor was the father of Zadok. Zadok was the father of Akim. Akim was the father of Eliud. Eliud was the father of Eleazar. Eleazar was the father of Matthan. Matthan was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah. All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.
Matthew 1:1-17

Dear God, I wonder if Joseph grew up knowing that he was a descendant of King David. I’m sure he did. I’m sure that it was always passed down from generation to generation, and the exact order was laid out. I don’t know if Joseph was the oldest of his siblings or not, but I’m sure there was a part of the boy Joseph that walked around feeling at least a little cool that he was a direct descendant of David. It probably meant less and less and he grew and the reality hit him that his lineage wasn’t worth much more than a schoolyard brag–at least that’s what he thought.

He had no idea how his life would turn out. But the thing that fascinates me about Joseph is what a good man he was. We’ll get into that in future passages, but there is something unbelievably noble about him. More noble even that what I know of any of his forefathers between him and David. But I’m sure David would have been proud that his great, great, great,…grandson turned out to be exactly the man you needed to raise Jesus. I don’t know what caused him to be that way. Perhaps it was his upbringing. Maybe his mother and father were just great at teaching him. Maybe it was just something about him that was humble that you identified. Maybe you prepared him specially for the life you had for him. Anyway, you already know this, but I just thing the world of him.

Father, I pray that you will help me to live into the life that you have for me. I’ve made so many mistakes at this point and missed so many opportunities, but there isn’t much I can do about those now other than make amends to people I’ve hurt. What I can do is try to love on you and love on others around me as much as possible and then trust in you that you will do with me what you need to do. Whatever that is, Father, lead me straight into it as much as possible.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen