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having become the ordering of all things; and yet they should not have been ignorant that each of the enumerated lines is the family of David, the royal tribe of Judah; for if Nathan is a prophet, yet so also is Solomon and the father of each of them; and prophets came from many tribes, but priests not from just any of the twelve tribes, but only Levites; therefore the fabrication has been invented in vain; let not such an argument prevail in the Church of Christ and God of the fathers of precise truth, that a falsehood is composed for the praise and glorification of Christ. 2. Therefore, in order that we may refute the ignorance of the one who said this, and stop anyone from being scandalized by ignorance, I will set forth the true history of what happened. For the names of the families in Israel were numbered either by nature or by law; by nature, through the succession of legitimate seed; by law, when another begot a child in the name of a brother who had died childless. For since the hope of a clear resurrection had not yet been given to them, they imitated the future promise with a mortal raising up, so that the name of the deceased might remain unfailing. Since, therefore, of those who are included in this genealogy, some succeeded their father as a son legitimately, while others were born to one man but were added to another by name, the memory of both has been recorded, both of those who begot and of those who were considered to have begotten. Thus neither of the Gospels is false, numbering both by nature and by law. For the families, both from Solomon and from Na 22.901 than, were interwoven with each other, by the raising up of children for the childless and second marriages and the raising up of seed; so that the same men were justly considered at different times to belong to different fathers; some being fathers by appearance, and others being so in reality. And both narratives, being properly true, came down to Joseph in a complex but accurate way. And so that what is being said may be clear, I will relate the interchange of the families. The generation according to nature is that of Matthew; the raising up of a family according to law is that of Luke. Matthan, who was from Solomon, begot Jacob. When Matthan died, Melchi, who was from Nathan, begot Heli by the same woman. Therefore, Heli and Jacob were brothers by the same mother. When Heli died childless, Jacob raised up seed for him, begetting Joseph, according to nature for himself, but according to law for Heli; thus Joseph was the son of both.

5. Why does Matthew place David before Abraham in the

genealogy of Christ, saying: The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

1. Because to David first and alone, with the assurance of an oath, it was prophesied that Christ would be born from him according to the flesh;

for it is written: “Of the fruit of your womb I will set upon your throne.” And again: “I have made a covenant with my chosen ones; I have sworn to David my servant: ‘Forever I will prepare your seed, and I will build your throne to generation and generation.’” And such were the things of the promise of the one being prophesied; but the time of Solomon’s reign is not unknown; for it is said that he reigned over Israel for only forty years; how then could it be true, referring to him: “I will establish his throne forever?” But if one should say that these things were said about the succession from him, it should not be ignored that the succession of the kingdom from David and Solomon lasted only until Jechoniah and the Babylonian captivity, with no one being established on the throne of David after Jechoniah. But see how the prophecy also added this about the one being prophesied, saying: “I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me.” And in another place again: “He will call upon me, ‘You are my Father’; and I will make him my firstborn,” which would be unfitting for Solomon.

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διακόσμησιν τῶν ὅλων γενόμενος· καίτοι ἀγνοεῖν αὐτοὺς οὐκ ἐχρῆν ὡς ἑκατέρα τῶν κατηριθμημένων τάξις τὸ τοῦ ∆αβίδ ἐστι γένος ἡ τοῦ Ἰούδα φυλὴ βασιλική· εἰ γὰρ προφήτης ὁ Νάθαν, ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ Σολομῶν ὅ τε τούτων πατὴρ ἑκατέρου· ἐκ πολλῶν δὲ φυλῶν ἐγένοντο προφῆται, ἱερεῖς δὲ οὐ δεῖνες τῶν δώδεκα φυλῶν, μόνοι δὲ Λευῗται· μάτην ἄρα πέπλασται τὸ ἐψευσμένον· μὴ δὴ κρατοίη τοιοῦτος λόγος ἐν Ἐκκλησίᾳ Χριστοῦ καὶ Θεοῦ πατέρων ἀκριβοῦς ἀληθείας, ὅτι ψεῦδος σύγκειται εἰς αἶνον καὶ δοξολογίαν Χριστοῦ. βʹ. Ἵνα οὖν καὶ τοῦτο μὲν τοῦ εἰρηκότος ἐλέγξωμεν τὴν ἀμαθίαν, παύσωμεν δὲ τοῦ μηδένα ὑπ' ἀγνοίας σκανδαλισθῆναι, τὴν ἀληθῆ τῶν γεγονότων ἱστορίαν ἐκθήσομαι. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν γενῶν ἐν Ἰσραὴλ ἠριθμεῖτο ἢ φύσει ἢ νόμῳ· φύσει μὲν, γνησίου σπέρματος διαδοχῇ· νόμῳ δὲ, ἑτέρου παιδοποιουμένου εἰς ὄνομα τελευτήσαντος ἀδελφοῦ ἀτέκνου· ὅτι γὰρ οὐδέπω αὐτοῖς δέδοτο ἐλπὶς ἀναστάσεως σαφὴς, τὴν μέλλουσαν ἐπαγγελίαν ἀναστάσει ἐμιμοῦντο θνητῇ, ἵνα ἀνέκλειπτον τὸ ὄνομα μείνῃ τοῦ μετηλλαχότος· ἐπεὶ οὖν οἱ τῇ γενεαλογίᾳ ταύτῃ ἐμφερόμενοι, οἱ μὲν διεδέξαντο παῖς πατέρα γνησίως, οἱ δὲ ἑτέροις μὲν ἐγεννήθησαν, ἑτέροις δὲ προσετέθησαν κλήσει, ἀμφοτέρων γέγονεν ἡ μνήμη καὶ τῶν γεγεννηκότων καὶ τῶν ὡς γεγεννηκότων· οὕτως οὐδέτερον τῶν Εὐαγγελίων ψεύδεται καὶ φύσιν ἀριθμοῦν καὶ νόμον· ἐπεπλάκη γὰρ ἀλλήλοις τὰ γένη τά τε ἀπὸ Σολομῶνος καὶ τοῦ Νά 22.901 θαν, ἀναστάσεσιν ἀτέκνων καὶ δευτερογαμίαις καὶ ἀναστάσει σπερμάτων· ὡς δικαίως τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἄλλοτε ἄλλων νομίζεσθαι· τῶν μὲν δοκούντων πατέρων, τῶν δὲ ὑπαρχόντων· καὶ ἀμφοτέρας τὰς διηγήσεις κυρίως ἀληθεῖς οὔσας ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰωσὴφ πολυπλόκως μὲν, ἀλλ' ἀκριβῶς κατελθεῖν. Ἵνα δὲ σαφὲς ᾖ τὸ λεγόμενον, τὴν ἐπαλλαγὴν τῶν γενῶν διηγήσομαι. Ἡ κατὰ φύσιν γένεσις ἔστι Ματθαίου· ἡ κατὰ νόμον ἀνάστασις γένους, ἔστιν ἡ τοῦ Λουκᾶ· Ματθὰν ὁ ἀπὸ Σολομῶνος, ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἰακώβ· Ματθὰν ἀποθανόντος, Μελχὶ ὁ ἀπὸ Νάθαν ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς γυναικὸς ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἡλί· ὁμομήτριοι ἄρα ἀδελφοὶ, Ἡλὶ καὶ Ἰακώβ·Ἡλὶ ἀτέκνου ἀποθανόντος, ὁ Ἰακὼβ ἀνέστησεν αὐτῷ σπέρμα, γεννήσας τὸν Ἰωσὴφ, κατὰ φύσιν μὲν ἑαυτῷ, κατὰ νόμον δὲ τῷ Ἡλί· οὕτως ἀμφοτέρων υἱὸς Ἰωσήφ.

Εʹ. ∆ιὰ τί ὁ Ματθαῖος τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ προτάττει τὸν ∆αβὶδ ἐν τῇ τοῦ

Χριστοῦ γενεαλογίᾳ φήσας· Βίβλος γενέσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, υἱοῦ ∆αβὶδ, υἱοῦ Ἀβραάμ.

αʹ. Ἐπειδὴ πρώτῳ καὶ μόνῳ τῷ ∆αβὶδ μεθ' ὅρκου διαβεβαιώσεως, ἐξ αὐτοῦ

κατὰ σάρκα φῦναι ὁ Χριστὸς ἐθεσπίζετο· γέγραπται οὖν· «Ἐκ καρποῦ τῆς κοιλίας σου θήσομαι ἐπὶ τὸν θρόνον σου.» Καὶ πάλιν· «∆ιεθέμην διαθήκην τοῖς ἐκλεκτοῖς μου· ὤμοσα ∆αβὶδ τῷ δούλῳ μου· ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνες ἑτοιμάσω τὸ σπέρμα σου, καὶ οἰκοδομήσω εἰς γενεὰν καὶ γενεὰν τὸν θρόνον σου.» Καὶ τὰ μὲν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τοῦ προφητευομένου, τοιαῦτα ἦν· τοῦ δὲ Σολομῶνος τῆς βασιλείας οὐκ ἄδηλος ὁ χρόνος· λέγεται δὲ οὖν ἐπὶ μόνοις ἔτεσι τεσσαράκοντα βασιλεῦσαι ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραήλ· πῶς οὖν γένοιτ' ἂν ἀληθὲς εἰς αὐτὸν ἀναφερόμενον· «Ἀνορθώσω τὸν θρόνον αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα;» Ἀλλ' εἰ λέγοι τις περὶ τῆς ἐξ αὐτοῦ διαδοχῆς εἰρῆσθαι ταῦτα, οὐκ ἀγνοητέον ὅτι μέχρις Ἰεχονίου καὶ τῆς εἰς Βαβυλῶνα αἰχμαλωσίας, καὶ ἡ ἀπὸ ∆αβὶδ καὶ Σολομῶνος διαδοχὴ τῆς βασιλείας διήρκησε, μηδενὸς μετὰ τὸν Ἰεχονίαν ἐπὶ τὸν θρόνον τοῦ ∆αβὶδ καταστάντος. Θέα δὲ ὡς καὶ τοῦτο προσέθηκεν ἡ προφητεία περὶ τοῦ θεσπιζομένου φήσασα· «Ἐγὼ ἔσομαι αὐτῷ εἰς πατέρα· καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσται μοι εἰς υἱόν.» Καὶ ἐν ἑτέρῳ πάλιν· «Αὐτὸς ἐπικαλέσεταί με· Πατήρ μου εἶ σύ· κἀγὼ πρωτότοκον θήσομαι αὐτόν·» ὅπερ ἀνοίκειον γένοιτ' ἂν Σολομῶνι.