Scholars disagree as to why Matthew structures the genealogy this way. Some say the number fourteen is a literary device called a gemetria. In Hebrew each letter has numerical value. Aleph, the first letter, is worth one; dalet, the fourth letter, is worth four; vav, the sixth letter, is worth six, etc. The word “David” in Hebrew is comprised of three letters (dalet/vav/dalet—four/six/four) which equal fourteen. So perhaps Matthew is telling us prosaically as well as poetically, “Jesus is the son