7 - Why this enigma managed to guard its secrets for so long

In order to understand how the enigma in the Gospel of Saint Matthew managed to keep its secrets for such a long time, we must consider both the characteristics of the person who created it and those of the people who have read or studied the Holy Scriptures. Some of the various reasons listed below have to do with the person who created the enigma, while others relate to those who where later confronted by it.

-The person who created the enigma was enlightened.

-The enigma was protected by people from within the Church.

-The enigma was also protected by others from outside the Church.

-The enigma was designed to reveal its secrets only at a certain time.

-A lack of humility makes it difficult to evaluate the Holy Scriptures correctly.

-A feeling of inferiority or superiority influences our interpretation of the Bible.

-Not asking ourselves what the author seeks to convey.

-Not reflecting sufficiently upon the purpose of the Bible.

-Letting ourselves be guided by what the Bible supposedly says.

-Not processing all the information in an optimal way.

-Letting ourselves be influenced by the prejudices regarding this book.

-Our moral judgments influence our interpretation of the Bible.

-Not reflecting upon the nature of things.

-Attaching more importance to the end result than to the process.

-Accepting incoherent systems too readily.

-The Bible creates false expectations.

-Having a linear view of history.

-Assuming that the Bible tells the truth.

-Making poor use of textual criticism.

-Ignoring what we do not understand.

-Knowing too much.

The main reason why the enigma in the Gospel of Saint Matthew has kept its secrets for so long is that the person who created it was an enlightened individual and, as such, knew that everyone else evaluates information in a defective way. Jesus realized that we do not process all information in an optimal way and was aware of the many factors that influence our intereptation of the Holy Scriptures. By taking our shortcomings into consideration, it was not that difficult for him to create an enigma that initially made the authorities reach the conclusion that he was born of a virgin, only to reveal many centuries later that he was born from an extramarital affair between Mary and her father-in-law.

The more we study this enigma and how it has managed to keep its secrets for so many centuries, the more clearly we realize that Jesus was enlightened and that we are not as rational as we tend to think.

There are few options for counting the 14 generations

When, at the end of his genealogy for Jesus, Saint Matthew tells us there are 14 generations between Abraham and David, between David and the deportation to Babylon, and between the deportation to Babylon and Jesus, he invites us to count these generations. Mathematically speaking, there are not many options for dividing these names into groups of 14. As the only alternatives are to include or exclude in each new column the last generation of the previous column, i.e. Abraham/David, David/Josiah and Josiah/Joseph and Jesus, or Abraham/David, Solomon/Jechoniah and Shealtiel/son of Jesus, it is amazing that so many scholars have accepted a division that does not follow the of either alternative, i.e. Abraham/David, David/Josiah and Jechoniah/Jesus.

The main reason why we so readily accept incoherent systems is because nobody else has realized that Saint Matthew indicates that Jesus was born out of a relationship between Mary and her father-in-law. Our familiarity with incoherent systems also means that, for instance, most people simply ignore the fact that cars drive on the right and trains on the left, that some books have the title on the spine running from top to bottom and others from bottom to top, and that in most languages there are many exceptions to the general rules of grammar.

Another reason for accepting the traditional yet incoherent division is that we tend to attach more importance to the end result than to the process. We know that by counting all these generations we somehow have to make it to Jesus and it doesn’t matter too much how we do so. Therefore, we do not realize that by encouraging us to count those generations, Saint Matthew wants us to reflect upon the best way of doing so.

Diferent factors that influence our interpretation

A major reason why those who study the Bible have not realized what the enigma in the Gospel of Saint Matthew tries to convey is that, in general, they have not reflected sufficiently on the nature of sexual relationships and are therefore unaware that extramarital affairs mean that some lineages are real while others are supposed. Consequently, they did not discover the secrets in Genesis and, subsequently, they also failed to realize that the genealogies for Jesus in the gospels of Saint Matthew and Saint Luke are similar to those of Seth and Cain.

Another reason is that those who did realize what extramarital relationships mean had so many prejudices about the Bible and what it supposedly conveys –that Jesus was born of a virgin, for instance– that they did not realize that this book makes a distinction between real and supposed lineages.

Yet another reason is that they did not reflect sufficiently on the purpose of this work. The Jews expected the Messiah to be a descendant of David. If Saint Matthew traces Jesus’ genealogy back to David, and even to Abraham, it is to demonstrate that Jesus was the Messiah. Therefore, it should be obvious that according to Saint Matthew Jesus should be somehow a descendant of David.

The assumption that Saint Matthew refers to Jesus’ virgin birth –by referring to the prophecy in Isaiah and by translating ‘young woman’ for ‘virgin’ this evangelist creates a false expectation– made that many people did not investigate how Jesus could be a descendant of David without necessarily being the son of Joseph, the husband of Mary.

Many scholars have also allowed themselves to be deceived by assuming that this genealogy initially said that Joseph begot Jesus but was later changed when Christianity adopted the dogma of Jesus’ virgin birth. Assuming that Saint Matthew refers to Jesus’ virginal conception makes it very difficult to see that this evangelist actually indicates that Jesus was born from an extramarital affair beween Mary and her father-in-law. This assumption even causes us to completely ignore that fact that the four women in this genealogy of Jesus all had extramarital affairs.

Knowing too much, not processing all information correctly, and textual criticism

Yet another reason why we have ignored for so long what the enigma in the Gospel of Saint Matthew tells us is that those who studied the Bible had a lot of information at their disposal but did not process it correctly, thus creating only more confusion.

Instead of firstly making a list with those names in order to find out what Saint Matthew tries to tell us, they immediately investigated the origin of those names and who was king when the deportation to Babylon occurred. Apparently, the deportation took place during the reign of Jechoniah, but Saint Matthew says: “Josiah begat Jechoniah and his brothers when the deportation to Babylon occurred.”

These scholars find it difficult to trust Saint Matthew not only because he associates Josiah with the deportation to Babylon, but also because these names seem to have been chosen randomly. From David onwards all of them are kings of Judah, but some names are missing. For instance, this is the case of three consecutive kings. Although there is a reason for omitting these kings (they all disobeyed Jahweh), it is difficult to assume that the king before them may have been the father of the one that follows them.

This information about the kings of Judah and about which king ruled during the deportation to Babylon may make us doubt whether Jesus was indeed a descendant of Abraham and David, but it does nothing to alter the fact that Saint Matthew tells us that Jesus was born from an extramarital relationship.

Our feelings influence our interpretation of the Bible

It should also be pointed out that our feelings influence our interepretation of the Bible. It is not advisable to read the Holy Scriptures with a feeling of inferiority, because then we tend to accept ideas without questioning them. But neither should we read them with a feeling of superiority, because then we tend to reject ideas when we think that they contradict science. The best way to approach the Bible is with a feeling of humility; by assuming that these books were written by enlightened individuals who understood ideas that their contemporaries were unable to comprehend.

Textual criticism and the confusion created by contradictions

Those who have studied the Bible have also made an erroneous use of textual criticism. It is true that we do not have the original texts and, therefore, cannot be sure what the Gospel of Saint Matthew originally said. But that does nothing to alter the fact that today it tells us that Jesus was born from an extramarital relationship and that this should not surprise us bearing in mind what we have discovered in Genesis.

Furthermore, the supposed contradictions in the genealogies that we find in the Bible meant that many scholars did not take them seriously. By not processing that information correctly, they did not realize that Saint Matthew and Saint Luke do not contradict each other, and by assuming that the genealogies do not make sense, they preferred to assume that they were not important.

Jesus and his work

All those contradictions in the New Testament were created by Jesus. They not only helped him to create his enigma and then protect it, but also encouraged us to reflect upon certain matters. For example, in order to understand how his disciples created a new religion –bearing in mind that Jesus said, on two separate occasions, that he had not come to change the law and that his disciples should not to go to the Gentiles–, we first have to reflect upon the task of a Messiah. It is also only then that we realize that Christianity was created as a Trojan horse.