volume 10, issue 2, 2018, pages 142-151

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsEEJP8711
Published online: 2018-12-01
Published in print: 2018-12-30

Abstract: The forty-two generations of the genealogy of Jesus in Matt 1:1-17, use the number fortytwo as the ANE symbol of curse with a possibility of blessing, also attested in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible particularly in relation to the story of the succession of the kings in the Books of Kings/Chronicles (the 42 years “curse”, of Ahaziah in 2 Chr 22:2), the Psalter (42 psalms of the Elohistic psalter, Pss 42–83: What will happen?) and the story of Balaam in the Book of Numbers (42 sacrifices to curse, and finally to bless). We note some parallels in the Ancient Near East, particularly in Egypt, in the Book of the Dead and the organization of Egypt in 42 nomes.