Experiencing a Biblical Self-Consuming Artifact: Jesus’ Genealogy (Matt 1:2-17)

Abstract

Abstract Matt 1:17 indicates that Jesus’ genealogy is formed by three series of fourteen generations; however, this total number of generations does not match the preceding list in Matt 1:2-16. Interpreters have proposed multiple ways to understand this inconsistency which have yet to be collected and evaluated. A double literature review displays the limitations of this seemingly insoluble biblical conundrum. This article presents the tension between verse 17 and verses 2-17 of Matthew’s gospel as a puzzling reading experience that can best be described, in line with Stanley Fish, as a self-consuming artifact: an experience of incongruity in which the text and the reader are transformed through a process of negation. This approach also highlights other potential reversals in Matthew 1, such as Davidic traditions, that can yield a renewed outlook on this gospel.