Several features of the genealogy of Jesus as recorded by St. Matthew stand out. First, the list is not reluctant to point out the less than stellar ancestors of Jesus. Matthew deliberately mentions some women in the list, including a woman who seduced her father-in-law, a prostitute, a pagan, an adulterer. The evangelist doesn’t need to mention the men on the list who are cads as well. Second, the last part of the list (after the exile) consists of names that there is no other record of anywhere. Jesus’ ancestry, therefore, was populated with a bunch of nobodys (from a worldly perspective.) Third, the genealogy is for Joseph, not Mary. Hence, Jesus got his lineage by adoption, not by sharing in the gene pool.
