The Skeptics Annotated Bible (728 page)

For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
—
Matthew 10.35-36

The New Testament gets off to a slow start with the gospel of Matthew, whose first words are: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ.” It then lists 39 straight begats, such as “And Naasson begat Salmon; And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab.” Believers must be bored silly by chapter one, but skeptics shouldn't be, because the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 directly and completely contradicts the one given in Luke 3. The two don't agree on anything, not even the name of Joseph's father.

But then Matthew is a very contentious book. If you have an opinion about anything, Mathew is likely to disagree with you. The SAB lists 136 contradictions in Matthew, more than any other book of the Bible.

There's more than just contradictions in Matthew, though. In it you'll also find that:

• Jesus strongly approved of the law and the prophets. He had no objection to the cruelties of the Old Testament and said that its laws will be binding forever. 5.17
  
• To avoid sin, Jesus told his followers to cut off their hands and pluck out their eyes. This advice was given immediately after he said that anyone who looks with lust at a women commits adultery.
  5.29
  ,
  18.8
  
• Jesus told his disciples not to pray in public.
  6.5-6
  
• He said that most people are going to hell.
  7.13-14
  
• He sent devils into a herd of pigs, causing them to run off a cliff and drown.
  8.32
  
• Families will be torn apart because of Jesus.
  10.21
  
• Jesus came to destroy families by making family members hate each other. He came “not to send peace, but a sword.”
  10.34-37
  
• He condemned entire cities to dreadful deaths and to the eternal torment of hell because they didn't care for his preaching.
  11.20-24
  
• He spoke in parables so that no one would understand him, “lest … they … should understand … and should be converted, and I should heal them.”
  13.10-15
  
• “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.”
  13.12
  ,
  25.29
  
• Jesus was rejected by those who knew him best—the people of his home town of Nazareth.
  13.55-57
  
• Jesus told his followers that he will return and establish his kingdom within their lifetime.
  16.28
  ,
  23.36
  ,
  24.34
  
• Abandon your wife and children for Jesus and he'll give your a big reward.
  19.29
  
• Matthew’s Jesus rode into Jerusalem sitting on both an ass and a colt (must have taken some practice!).
  21.2-7
  
• “His blood be on us, and on our children.”
  27.25
  

1
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

(1.1)
“The book of the generation of Jesus Christ”
The gospel of Matthew begins with a boring genealogy like that we are told to avoid in 1 Tim 1.4 (“Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies”) and Titus 3.9 (“Avoid foolish questions and genealogies”).

2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;

3 And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;

(1.3)
“Judas begat Phares … of Thamar.”
Judah “went in unto” his daughter-in-law, Tamar, who was disguised as a prostitute. She conceived and bore Pharez, an ancestor of Jesus. (Gen 38.2-29) It's a good thing it was more than ten generations ago. Otherwise Jesus could not “enter into the congregation of the Lord.” (Dt 23.2)

4 And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;

5 And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;

6 And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;

(1.6)
“David the king begat Solomon.”
There are 28 generations listed from David to Jesus in Matthew's genealogy, while Luke's (3.23-31) has 43. Except for David at one end and Jesus at the other, only three names in the two lists are the same.
326 The genealogy of Jesus, Matthew vs Luke?
327 From which of David's sons was Jesus descended?

7 And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;

8 And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;

9 And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;

(1.9)
“Ozias begat Joatham.”
1 Chr 3.11-12 lists three generations between Osiah and Jotham (Joash, Amaziah, and Azariah), but Matthew omits all three.
261 Generations from David to the Babylonian Captivity

10 And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;

11 And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:

(1.11)
“Josias begat Jechonias.”
262 Was Jeconiah the son or the grandson of Josiah?

12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;

(1.12)
“Jechonias begat Salathiel and Salathiel begat Zorobabel.”
263 Did Jeconiah have any children?
264 Who was Zerubbabel's father?