Josh 17:6

“If one examines as carefully as possible, he will find in the Scriptures that there are forty-two stages in the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt; and, further, the coming of our Lord and Savior into this world is traced through forty-two generations. This is what Matthew the Evangelist points out when he says, "from Abraham to David the king, fourteen generations. And from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations. And from the Babylonian exile to Christ, fourteen generations." Therefore, in descending to the Egypt of this world Christ passed those forty-two generations as stages; and those who ascend from Egypt pass by the same number, forty-two stages.… Therefore, the children of Israel by forty-two stages attained the beginning of taking their inheritance. And the beginning of taking their inheritance was when Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh received the land of Gilead. And so the number is fixed for Christ's descent, when he came down to us through forty-two ancestors according to the flesh as through forty-two stages. And the ascent of the children of Israel to the beginning of the promised inheritance was through the same number of stages.”