Eleazar (Jesus's ancestor)
Link in Jesus's genealogy
Eleazar was the son of Eliezer and the father of Matthan in Matthew's genealogy, one of the links in Jesus's lineage between the testaments.
Familj
Nyckelhändelser
Mentioned in Jesus's genealogy
Eleazar is listed in Matthew's genealogy between Eliezer and Matthan.
*
The Greek repeats the verb ἐγέννησεν ("begot, fathered") for every link in the chain: "Eliud begot Eleazar, and Eleazar begot Matthan..." For oral reading, the verb is left implied after the opening pattern established earlier in the genealogy, giving "Eliud the father of Eleazar." This keeps the list light on the tongue and lets the names themselves carry the rhythm, while preserving the exact sequence and direction of descent. The connective δέ is likewise not rendered as "and" at each step, since in a list of this kind it functions simply as a link rather than as added information. Spelling of the names follows the traditional English forms familiar from the Old Testament (Eleazar, Matthan, Jacob) rather than a strict transliteration of the Greek (Eleazar, Matthan, Iakob).
ἐγέννησεν is the aorist of γεννάω, used of the father's role in generation; the passive of the same verb appears in verse 16 ("was born"), a deliberate shift that breaks the chain of male begetting at Joseph. The names in this verse are Hebrew in origin: Eleazar means "God has helped," Matthan is related to a root meaning "gift," and Jacob (Ya'aqov) echoes the patriarch, so that Joseph son of Jacob in this genealogy quietly recalls Joseph son of Jacob in Genesis.
These names belong to the third section of the genealogy, covering the obscure centuries after the return from exile. They are not found in the Old Testament records and are otherwise unknown; Matthew presumably drew on family or archival tradition. The list differs almost entirely from the corresponding names in the other Gospel genealogy, which has been explained by different lines of descent (legal versus biological), by levirate marriage, or by different purposes in the two accounts.
The unremarkable, unrecorded generations of this verse serve the evangelist's point: God's promise moves forward through ordinary and forgotten people as surely as through kings. The careful counting of generations frames the Messiah's coming as the fulfillment of a long, patient history rather than a sudden intrusion.
Some witnesses spell the names variously (for example Ματθάν / Μαθθάν, Ἐλεάζαρ / Ἐλιάζαρ), reflecting scribal habits with unfamiliar Semitic names rather than any difference in the persons named. The substance of the verse is not in doubt.