It takes the moon 28 days to orbit the earth. In that time, it moves through various phases of light.
Jews pay close attention to the moon because the Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycles. At the beginning of the moon’s cycle, the moon appears as a thin crescent. Its first light signals a new month on the Jewish calendar. Over the course of the ensuing month, its light increases until the moon is full, then it wanes until the light cannot be seen and the month concludes. Shortly thereafter, the moon’s thin crescent reappears and, at that re-emergence of light, the cycle begins again.
Here’s what the phases of the moon look like on a Western calendar. The Western cycle isn’t tied to the moon so the moon’s evolution doesn’t determine the beginning or end of a month. Nevertheless, I want to share the image below just so we can visualize how the moon works through its phases. I have chosen a month at random.
With this in mind, let’s open the first page of the New Testament. Matthew begins his Gospel with the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Starting with Abraham, Matthew moves through the genealogy name by name until he arrives at Jesus 42 generations later. To conclude, he summarizes by saying, “So all the generations from Abraham to David were 14 generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon 14 generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ 14 generations” (Matthew 1:17).
Did you catch it?
When Matthew, a Jew, ties it all together with a repetition of 14 generations, the number 14 jumps out at him because his calendar is punctuated by 14s. He sees the moon here. Since each month on his calendar is 28 days long, each half-month comes at 14-day intervals, and each full moon lands 14 days after each no moon.
But it’s more than that. A theme in the Gospel of Matthew is that Jesus is King. Calling Jesus the son of David is not just a historical fact but also a reference to Jesus’ right to the throne. In Hebrew (an alphanumeric language), the name David equals 14.
Let’s take another look at the lunar phases, this time seeing the 14-day cycle as a progression in David (i.e., kingship).
Using January 2016 as our example, January 10 captures the first sliver of light as the moon comes into view. You might say this captures the life of Abraham, when the slightest sliver of God’s redemption story comes into view.
We jump 14 days forward to January 24, when the moon is full. This is the time of King David (14 generations after Abraham). We have reached the height of what seems to be God’s redemption story.
Advancing from the full moon, we travel half the moon’s orbit and reach no moon, something equivalent to January 9. At this time, the light is withdrawn; the moon is completely dark. This is the time of the deportation to Babylon (14 generations after David).
Another 14 days pass and again the light is full. We’re reminded of King David, except this time it’s the Son of David who has come into view. It is the time of Jesus Christ (14 generations after the deportation to Babylon).
Praying to God in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of Passover, Jesus our King is clothed in the light of the full moon. Passover always occurs during a full moon.
To recap:
14 days (or generations) later...
14 days (or generations) later...
14 days (or generations) later...
The moon is all the time rehearsing Jesus’ genealogy as it recounts the history of God’s people and the ministry of His promises.
