Matthew 1:17

This division into three sets, each containing fourteen steps of descent, is an instance of a practice familiar to readers of Jewish antiquities. Lightfoot says, ‘They do so very much delight in such kind of concents, that they oftentimes screw up the strings beyond the due measure and stretch them till they crack.’ Such a system necessitates the omission of steps in the descent: see notes Matthew 1:8; Matthew 1:13.