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But if anyone should say that these things were spoken concerning the succession from him, it should not be ignored that the succession of the kingdom from David and Solomon lasted until Jechonias and the captivity in Babylon, with no one after Jechonias being established upon the throne of the kingdom of David. How could you apply to the lover of women, and the one whose heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, the words of the oath, and this: "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son"? But indeed these things are clearly foreign to Solomon; but they would be referred to Christ, who, having arisen from the seed of David, established a house for God not of lifeless stones, nor in a corner and a part of the earth, but throughout the whole world and in all the nations, he established his God-befitting Church from living and spiritual stones; to whom alone the proclaimed, "He shall be to me a son" will be fitting; since also in other Scriptures he is proclaimed Son of God; in that which says, "From the womb before the morning star I have begotten thee;" and in that which says, "The Lord said to me, Thou art my Son;" again in which it has been said, "The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways for his works, and before all the hills he begets me." With these, then, agrees also the voice brought down from heaven upon him, saying, "Thou art my beloved Son;" and the things contained in the seventy-first psalm, the "He shall continue with the sun," and the, "All the nations shall call him blessed," would clearly concur with the things spoken of our Savior. That these things are so, the confirmation from Isaiah is indisputable, who after the death of Solomon and after many other successions of the family, prophesies that one will come forth from the root of Jesse and David, and that this one will be the Savior of nations, stating it plainly thus: "And there shall be the root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to rule over the nations; in him shall the nations hope."

11. But since so many oracles were given to David alone and with the confirmation of an oath concerning 22.972 the birth of the one prophesied from his seed, and since all Israel, as was likely, because of so many prophecies, was daily expecting the Savior and Redeemer of all men who would be born from David, Matthew, reasonably evangelizing the arrival of the one who was expected, has made the beginning of his account from that very hoped-for expectation, saying that the one who appeared was the son of David; and after David he runs back to Abraham, since again to Abraham first various oracles had been given concerning the calling of the nations. For before the legislation of Moses, and before the nation of the Jews, and indeed even before circumcision, Abraham, being of another nation and originating from the land of the Chaldeans, leaves his father's house, but having known the God who is over all, it is testified that he believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness; and he was shown to be righteous and beloved of God, not through circumcision of the body, nor through the observance of the Sabbath day, of feasts or new moons, nor indeed through any other will-worship found in Moses, but through another appearance of God and of the Lord who appeared to him—and this was the Savior—and through a reverent and virtuous life. To him, then, who was succeeding in this manner of piety, the promise concerning the nations was given, that they too would someday worship God according to the zeal of Abraham, and would be deemed worthy of an equal blessing with the beloved of God. For it was said to him, "And in thee shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed;" and again: "And the Lord said, I will not hide from Abraham my servant what I do; but Abraham becoming shall be a great and numerous nation, and in him all the nations of the earth shall be blessed." Since these things are so, it was fitting for Abraham, being the forefather of the calling of the nations, to be included second by the evangelist after David. For it was necessary that the one who had received the promises concerning the birth of the Savior should be preferred in order to the one who received the promises concerning the nations; and that the founder of the nations should be included second in the genealogy.

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Ἀλλ' εἰ λέγοι τις περὶ τῆς ἐξ αὐτοῦ διαδοχῆς εἰρῆσθαι αὐτὰ, οὐκ ἀγνοητέον ὅτι μέχρις Ἰεχονίου καὶ τῆς εἰς Βαβυλῶνα αἰχμαλωσίας ἡ ἀπὸ ∆αβὶδ καὶ Σολομῶνος διαδοχὴ τῆς βασιλείας διήρκεσε, μηδενὸς μετὰ τὸν Ἰεχονίαν ἐπὶ τὸν θρόνον τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ ∆αβὶδ καταστάντος. Πῶς δ' ἂν τῷ φιλογυναίῳ, καὶ οὗ οὐκ ἦν ἡ καρδία τελεία μετὰ Κυρίου Θεοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἐφαρμόσῃς τὰ τοῦ ὅρκου, καὶ τό· «Ἐγὼ ἔσομαι αὐτῷ εἰς πατέρα, καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσται μοι εἰς υἱόν;» Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἄντικρυς Σολομῶνος μὲν ἀλλότρια ταῦτα· ἀνάγοιντο δ' ἂν ἐπὶ Χριστὸν, ὃς ἐκ σπέρματος ∆αβὶδ ἀναστὰς, οἶκον τῷ Θεῷ οὐκ ἐξ ἀψύχων λίθων, οὐδ' ἐν γωνίᾳ καὶ μέρει γῆς, ἀλλὰ καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης καὶ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἐκ ζώντων καὶ νοερῶν λίθων συνεστήσατο τὴν θεοπρεπῆ αὐτοῦ Ἐκκλησίαν· ᾧ καὶ μόνῳ τὸ, «Αὐτὸς ἔσται μοι εἰς υἱὸν» ἀναφωνούμενον ἁρμόσει· ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐν ἑτέραις Γραφαῖς Υἱὸς ἀναγορεύεται τοῦ Θεοῦ· ἐν τῇ φασκούσῃ, «Ἐκ γαστρὸς πρὸ ἑωσφόρου ἐγέννησά σε·» καὶ ἐν τῇ λεγούσῃ, «Κύριος εἶπε πρός με, Υἱός μου εἶ σύ·» πάλιν ἐν ᾗ λέλεκται, «Κύριος ἔκτισέ με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ, πρὸ δὲ πάντων βουνῶν γεννᾷ με.» Τούτοις γοῦν συνᾴδει καὶ ἡ ἐξ οὐρανῶν ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἐνεχθεῖσα φωνὴ, «Σὺ εἶ ὁ Υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητὸς,» φήσασα· καὶ τὰ ἐν ἑβδομηκοστῷ δὲ πρώτῳ ψαλμῷ περιεχόμενα, τὸ «Συμπαραμενεῖ τῷ ἡλίῳ,» καὶ τὸ, «Πάντα τὰ ἔθνη μακαριοῦσιν αὐτὸν,» ἄντικρυς τοῖς περὶ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν θεολογουμένοις συντρέχοι ἄν. Ὅτι δὲ ταῦθ' οὕτως ἔχει, ἀναμφίλεκτος ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου σύστασις, ὃς μετὰ τὸν Σολομῶνος θάνατον καὶ μετὰ πλείστας ἄλλας τοῦ γένους διαδοχὰς, ἐκ ῥίζης Ἰεσσαὶ καὶ ∆αβὶδ ἐξελεύσεσθαί τινα προφητεύει, καὶ τοῦτον ἔσεσθαι Σωτῆρα ἐθνῶν, γυμνῶς οὕτω φάσκων· «Καὶ ἔσται ἡ ῥίζα τοῦ Ἰεσσαὶ, καὶ ὁ ἀνιστάμενος ἄρχειν ἐθνῶν· ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἔθνη ἐλπιοῦσιν.»

ιαʹ. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ τοσούτων ἐκδεδομένων χρησμῶν μόνῳ τῷ ∆αβὶδ καὶ μεθ' ὅρκου διαβεβαιώσεως περὶ 22.972 τῆς ἐκ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ γενέσεως τοῦ προφητευομένου, παντός τε ὡς εἰκὸς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ διὰ τὰς τοσαύτας προῤῥήσεις ὁσημέραι προσδοκῶντος τὸν ἐκ ∆αβὶδ γεννηθησόμενον Σωτῆρα καὶ Λυτρωτὴν πάντων ἀνθρώπων, εἰκότως τῶν προσδοκωμένων τὴν ἄφιξιν εὐαγγελιζόμενος ὁ Ματθαῖος, ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς ἐλπιζομένης προσδοκίας τὴν καταρχὴν τοῦ λόγου πεποίηται, υἱὸν ∆αβὶδ φήσας τὸν ἐπιλάμψαντα· μετὰ δὲ τὸν ∆αβὶδ ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ἀνατρέχει, ἐπειδὴ πρώτῳ πάλιν τῷ Ἀβραὰμ περὶ τῆς κλήσεως τῶν ἐθνῶν διάφοροι ἐδέδοντο χρησμοί. Πρὸ γὰρ τῆς Μωϋσέως νομοθεσίας, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸ τῆς περιτομῆς, ἀλλοεθνὴς ὢν ὁ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τῆς Χαλδαίων γῆς ὁρμώμενος, ἀπολείπει μὲν τὰ πάτρια, Θεὸν δὲ γνοὺς τὸν ἐπὶ πάντα, μεμαρτύρηται ὡς ἄρα ἐπίστευσε τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην· δίκαιός τε καὶ θεοφιλὴς ἀποπέφανται, οὐ διὰ περιτομῆς σώματος, οὐδὲ διὰ φυλακῆς ἡμέρας Σαββάτου, ἑορτῶν ἢ νουμηνιῶν, οὐδέ γε δι' ἄλλης τινὸς παρὰ Μωϋσεῖ φερομένης ἐθελοθρησκίας, ἀλλὰ δι' ἄλλης Θεοῦ φανείας τε τοῦ ὀφθέντος αὐτῷ Κυρίου οὗτος δ' ἦν ὁ Σωτὴρ, διά τε σεμνοῦ καὶ ἐναρέτου βίου. Τοῦτον δ' οὖν αὐτῷ κατορθοῦντι τῆς θεοσεβείας τὸν τρόπον ἡ περὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν δέδοτο ἐπαγγελία, ὡς καὶ αὐτῶν ποτε κατὰ τὸν τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ζῆλον θεοσεβησόντων, καὶ ἴσης τῷ θεοφιλεῖ καταξιωθησομένων εὐλογίας. Λέλεκται γοῦν πρὸς αὐτὸν, «Καὶ εὐλογηθήσονται ἐν σοὶ πᾶσαι αἱ φυλαὶ τῆς γῆς·» καὶ πάλιν· «Ὁδὲ Κύριος εἶπεν, Οὐ μὴ κρύψω ἀπὸ Ἀβραὰμ τοῦ παιδός μου ἃ ἐγὼ ποιῶ· Ἀβραὰμ δὲ γενόμενος ἔσται εἰς ἔθνος μέγα καὶ πολὺ, καὶ εὐλογηθήσεται ἐν αὐτῷ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τῆς γῆς.» Ὧν οὕτως ἐχόντων, ἀκόλουθον ἦν τῆς τῶν ἐθνῶν κλήσεως προπάτορα ὄντα τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ὑπὸ τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ δεύτερον παραληφθῆναι μετὰ τὸν ∆αβίδ. Ἐχρῆν γὰρ τὸν περὶ τῆς γενέσεως τοῦ Σωτῆρος τὰς ὑποσχέσεις εἰληφότα, προτιμηθῆναι τῇ τάξει τοῦ τὰς περὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐπαγγελίας δεξαμένου· δεύτερον δὲ ἐν τῇ γενεαλογίᾳ παραληφθῆναι τὸν τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀρχηγόν.