Topic: The Virgin Birth --- The Word "Begat"

The first and most obvious remark to be made upon this question is, granting--what is extremely uncertain--that this reading is original, it does not prove nor begin to prove the point alleged. This is now widely conceded. For one thing, the word "begat" is used elsewhere for legal or putative fatherhood (compare Mt 1:12 ). Allen's statement of the case indicates clearly enough that the radical use of this variation has broken down (see ICC ; "Matthew," 8). This writer holds that the reading of Sam 1 ("Jacob begat Joseph. Joseph, to whom was betrothed Mary the Virgin, begat Jesus, called the Messiah," Mt 1:16) is nearest the original form. By four steps, which he enumerates in order, he conceives that the original text, which was intended to convey the idea of a legal fatherhood on the part of Joseph, was modified so as to guard the statement from misinterpretation. This hypothesis is ingenious if somewhat complicated. The weak spot in the whole case (for the variation) lies in the fact that all manuscripts concur in the name of Mary and the term "virgin." It is evident, in any view of the relative standing of the various readings, (1) that the genealogy as deposited in public or private record would read: "Jacob begat Joseph, Joseph begat Jesus," (2) that the person who used the genealogy in the Gospel and placed it in connection with Mt 1:18-25 (a) had Mary particularly in mind and inserted the names of women to prepare the way for the mention of Mary, all of which was a departure from usual and orderly procedure; (b) that he used the word "begat" in the legal sense throughout (1:8,12; compare 1 Ch 3:11,12,19); (c) that he believed in the virgin-birth as evinced by the connection and the use of names of women including Mary's. There is therefore no basis for the idea that the genealogy, even without the strongly attested relative clause of Mt 1:16, ever meant anything but an attestation of the virgin-birth.

Source: Erdman's Bible Encyclopedia, 1939, Erdman Publishing
Contributor: Louis Matthews Sweet

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