(1:1–17) The first seventeen verses of Matthew’s Gospel list the generations of over two thousand years from Abraham to Christ. It may be impressive that sufficient records were on hand to make this possible, but, as the opening statement of the book, it looks extremely dull! The temptation to the contemporary reader is to skip the section and begin at verse 18, ‘This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about …’ which appears much more interesting! But that would