Matthew 1: The answer to the question is 42 not 41!

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1. When reading from the Institute for Scripture Research’s [ISR] “The Scriptures” translation of the Bible, I found they listed the missing name from the genealogies in Matthew/Mattityahu 1. The missing name is in verse 13 and is Abner or Avner. They said they found it in the Hebrew scroll of Matthew/Mattityahu called the du Tillet. In Matthew/Mattityahu chapter 1 there are supposed to be listed 42 names grouped in 3 sets of 14 generations each. There are actually only 41 names in most translations. I believe many do not realize this name is missing in most Bibles including the King James.

The missing name is also commented on in the studies below. [The link directly below no longer works but the information below it was from it.]

http://www.yashanet.com/Studies/matstudy/mat5a.htm

“4. The last segment of “14 generations” only having 13 generations listed.

Regarding #4, this is an error in transcribing (more evidence of someone translating the book from an original Hebrew into the Greek). There is a version of Matthew that does not include this error and shows the (missing) 14th generation. The “duTillet” Hebrew Matthew corrects “Abiud begat Eliakim,” showing that Abiud actually begat Av’ner (Abner), who in turn begat Eliakim. The mention of 42 generations (3 x 14) is also of interest, as 14 is the numerical value of “David,” and 42 is the numerical value of God (Eloah) in the Hebrew.”

http://textus-receptus.com/wiki/Aramaic_primacy

Another proposed example involves the genealogy in Matthew. Schonfield (1927) argues that the text of Matthew indicates three genealogical groups of 14 each. However, the Greek texts of Matthew have two groups of 14 and a final group of 13. The Syriac Curetonian and Syriac Sinaitic add the following to Matthew 1:13, “Abiud begat Abiur, Abiur begat Eliakim. Dutillet’s Hebrew version of Matthew adds Abihud begat Abner; Abner begat Eliakim.[] In both Syriac and Hebrew the spellings between Abiud and Abiur are so close that during translation into Greek the second name could have been dropped mistakenly. In any case, all Greek texts contain only 13 names while possibly indicating 14 should be in the final portion of the list. The two Syriac texts and one Hebrew text have 14 names and indicate 14 should be in the final portion of the list. Since the list is a Jewish Genealogy it is highly unlikely that a Jewish genealogical record would have been originally composed in Greek.

2. Another interesting point. When mentioning this to a friend, she wondered what the name meant so I looked it up. It means “father of light”. I wondered what it might mean for the “father of light” to be missing from most Bibles’ Book of Matthew. I say this because I saw an historical documentary a while back that said scribes would make false scrolls on purpose and there would be a key/clue that Believers looked for to determine if a scroll was false or not. Wouldn’t it be stunning if the Book of Matthew in most of our Bibles was from a false scroll! I did a comparison of the Hebrew du Tillet and the KJV Matthew and there were some interesting differences. Those will be included in another study.

3. Please see below for the verse from the ISR Matthew 1:13 and the name and root meaning of Abner. Reminder: the missing name is in the 2009 edition of The Scriptures and not in earlier ones.

http://www.isr-messianic.org/downloads/ts_example_2009.pdf

[from page 18/30] “13 And Zerubbabel brought forth Abihud, and Abihud brought forth [Abner and Abner brought forth]b Elyaqim, and Elyaqim brought forth Azor.
Footnote 1b [Abner and Abner brought forth] appears in the du Tillet Hebrew text.”

Below is what Strong’s has as the meaning and roots of the name:

Abner is Strong’s H74:

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H74&t=KJV

  1. Abner = “my father is a lamp”

Abnêr, ab-nare’; or (fully) אֲבִינֵר ʼĂbîynêr ; from H1 and H5216; father of light (i.e. enlightening); Abner, an Israelite:—Abner.

From root Strong’s H1 Ab:

  1. father of an individual

  2. of God as father of his people

  3. head or founder of a household, group, family, or clan

  4. ancestor

    1. grandfather, forefathers — of person

    2. of people

  5. originator or patron of a class, profession, or art

  6. of producer, generator (fig.)

  7. of benevolence and protection (fig.)

  8. term of respect and honour

  9. ruler or chief (spec.)

And from root Strong’s H5216 niyr:

nîyr, neer; or נִר nir; also נֵיר nêyr; or נֵר nêr; or (feminine) נֵרָה nêrâh; from a primitive root (see H5214; H5135) properly, meaning to glisten; a lamp (i.e. the burner) or light (literally or figuratively):—candle, lamp, light.

May our Well Beloved FATHER IN HEAVEN reveal if the du Tillet scroll of Matthew is the correct one or not and if it is, may what is not correct in Scripture be corrected through the Well Beloved SPIRIT OF TRUTH who is the HOLY SPIRIT and through Well Beloved JESUS/YESHUA’YAH who is the TRUTH and the WORD OF GOD/ELOHIM, AMEN!