Matthew 1:4 - Exposition

And Naasson ( Nahshon , Revised Version) begat Salmon . This line of descent, from Nahshon to David, is also given by St. Luke ( Luke 3:31 , Luke 3:32 ), and is derived from Ruth 4:18-22 . But it has occasioned some difficulty, because it makes but five steps from Nahshon, who ( Numbers 1:7 ) was one of the heads of fathers' houses at the time of the Exodus, to the days of David. According to the chronology added in the margin of the Authorized Version, this period extended from b.c. 1490 to b.c. 1056, i.e. more than four hundred and thirty years, thus making a generation to consist in each case of more than eighty years. And even according to the more accurate computation of the date of the Exodus the period would be two hundred and forty-eight years, thus making each generation nearly fifty years. Even this seems very long, especially in the East; so that it is probable that the genealogy in Ruth, merely adopted by the evangelists, recorded only the more important names.