The genealogy that opens Matthew is arranged into groups of 14. He has actually abbreviated the list to put it in that format because not all of the people mentioned are direct father-son relationships eg. Josiah was Jechoniah's grandfather (1 chronicles 3:15-16, where Jechoniah is also known as Jehoiachin, which is a bit confusing!).
Anyway, the groups of 14 would have indicated royalty to the Jewish readers of this book and so Matthew is emphasising Jesus as King, right from the start of the book.
The women included in the list were all a bit dodgy - Tamar dressed up as a prostitute to trick her father in law into sleeping with her, Rahab was a prostitute, Bathsheba (referred to in the list as Uriah's wife) commited adultery with David and Ruth was a foreigner. So it's encouraging to see that God can use any situation, and anybody, and bring good out of it.
It's also challenging to see how Joseph reacts when an angel speaks to him in a dream. He just does what the angel says. Am I open to God speaking to me through dreams? And would I act on whatever I'd been told to do?
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