Author: Steve Amato
Keywords: bible study,Bible study guide, gospel, Jesus, genealogy

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# Jesus' Genealogy

Matthew 1 - Legal Sonship The King of Israel
| Abraham Isaac Jacob Judah Perez (of Tamar) Hezron Ram Amminadab Nahshon Salmon Boaz (of Rahab) Obed (of Ruth) Jesse King David | Solomon (of Uriah's wife) Rehoboam Abijah Asa Jehoshaphat Jehoram Uzziah, Jotham Ahaz Hezekiah Manasseh Amon Josiah Jeconiah | Shealtiel Zerubbabel Abiud Eliakim Azor Zadok Akim Eliud Eleazar Matthan Jacob Joseph, the husband of Mary Jesus, who is called Christ.
Luke 3 - Genetic Sonship The Son of Man
Adam Seth Enosh Kenan Mahalalel Jared Enoch Methuselah Lamech Noah Shem Arphaxad Cainan Shelah Eber Peleg Reu Serug Nahor Terah | Abraham Isaac Jacob Judah Perez Hezron Ram Amminadab Nahshon Salmon Boaz Obed Jesse David | Nathan Mattatha Menna Melea Eliakim Jonam Joseph Judah Simeon Levi Matthat Jorim Eliezer Joshua Er Elmadam Cosam Addi Melki Neri | Shealtiel Zerubbabel Rhesa Joanan Joda Josech Semein Mattathias Maath Naggai Esli Nahum Amos Mattathias Joseph Jannai Melki Levi Matthat Heli Joseph Jesus

# Technical Issues

See also http://lifeofchrist.com/life/genealogy/

Why two different genealogies?

Most likely Matthew gives Joseph's and Luke, Mary's geneaology. Evidences:

> a.This theory seems supported by several early Christian writers -
> Origen, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Athanasius, and Justin Martyr

> b.It is indirectly confirmed by Jewish tradition. Lightfoot cites from the Talmudic writers concerning the pains of hell, the statement that Mary the daughter of Heli was seen in the infernal regions, suffering horrid tortures. This statement illustrates, not only the bitter animosity of the Jews towards the Christian religion, but also the fact that, according to received Jewish tradition, Mary was the daughter of Heli; hence, that is her genealogy in Luke

> c.This theory shows us in what way Christ was the "Son of David." If Mary was the daughter of Heli, then Jesus was strictly a descendant of David, not only legally, through is reputed father, but actually, by direct personal descent, through his mother. Jews even today inherit their Jewishness through their mother. If your mother isn't Jewish, neither are you. So biologically, the Son of God had to be born of a Jewish woman to be considered a Jew.

> d.This theory affords a very simple explanation of the whole matter. Mary, since she had no brothers, was an heiress; therefore her husband, according to principle of Jewish law (Numbers 36), was reckoned among her father's family, as his son. So Joseph was that actual son of Jacob, and the legal son of Heli.

Who was Shealtiel's father?

If his mother had no brothers, then under the Mosaic law he could be reckoned under the mother's line. Meaning that he could be called the "descendant of" his grandfather on his mother's side.

Why the Genealogies Deviate from the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament)

The Kings
Matthew | OT
Solomon Rehoboam Abijah Asa Jehoshaphat Jehoram Uzziah Jotham Ahaz Hezekiah Manasseh Amon Josiah Jeconiah | Solomon Rehoboam Abijah Asa Jehoshaphat Jehoram * Ahaziah * Joash * Amaziah Uzziah Jotham Ahaz Hezekiah Manasseh Amon Josiah * Jehoiakim Jeconiah

* Generations skipped in Matthew's Genealogy

It was common to skip the generations in the listing of such genealogies. The phrase "son of" really means a "descendant of". We can see an extreme example of this is in the first verse of the New Testament: Matthew 1:1 "A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham"

It is also clear that Matthew skipped other generations between Zerubbabel and Joseph. For he lists only 9 generations, but Luke lists 18 in the same time period.

Luke also mentions "Cainan" who is not found in the Hebrew scriptures. But Luke was going by the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament widely used in Jesus' time. In fact most of the quotes in throughout the whole New Testament taken from the Old Testament were taken from the Septuagint.

[ON THE GENEALOGY OF JOSEPH] rak 2/85

from folia 120a-120b (in the same hand) after the superscription in the "Bryennios Codex" (H) in which the Didache is preserved (MS dated by Leontos the copyist to 1054 CE)

Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom the Christ was born, is descended from a Levitic family, as the divine evangelists indicated. But Matthew traces Joseph's descent from David through Solomon, while Luke (says) through Nathan. Solomon and Nathan were both sons of David. Now the evangelists were silent about the ancestry of the holy virginsince it was not customary for the Hebrews nor for the divine scripture to give genealogies for women and there was a law prohibiting one family from contracting marriage (with a person) from another. Insofar as Joseph was descended from a Davidic family, he contracted to marry the holy virgin who was from his own ancestry. So they were content to indicate the ancestry of Joseph. Now there was a law that when a childless husband died, his own brother was to go to impregnate the wife and raise up an offspring for the one who had died. Thus the resultant child was, on the one hand, by nature (an offspring) of the second one, who had generated it, but by law, (offspring) of the one who died. Now, from the seed of Nathan, son of David, Levi generated Melchi. But from the seed of Solomon, Matthan generated Jacob. But when Matthan died, Melchi the son of Levi, from the family of Nathan, impregnated the mother of Jacob and generated from her Eli. This resulted in half-brothers with a common mother, Jacob and Eli. But Jacob was from the family of Solomon, while Eli was from the family of Nathan. Then when Eli, from the family of Nathan, died childless, and Jacob his (half-)brother took his (Eli's) wife he generated Joseph and raised up an offspring for his (dead) brother. So Joseph is by nature a son of the Jacob who descended from Solomon, but by law (he is son) of Eli (who descended) from Nathan.

What about the prophecy about Jeconiah?

> Jer 22:30 This is what the LORD says: "Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah."

The last official kings of Judah were three of Josiah's sons who ruled sequentially and Jeconiah who was his grandson. Jeremiah prophecies against all of these and they were all taken away into exile. The prophecy of Jeconiah just refers to his immediate offspring. The "for" statement is referencing "in his lifetime" or "in his days". The figure of speech does not disqualify a king rise up from his line much further in the future.

What about Zerubbabel's Genealogy in 1Chronicles 3:17-24?

The New Testament indicates that Joseph descended from Zerubbabel through his son Abiud, and Mary through another of Zerubbabel's sons, Rhesa, but neither of these sons were mentioned as Zerubbabel's descendants in 1Chronicles. What's up with that?

There are sources that indicate that Zerubbabel had some foreign wives through whom Joseph and Mary derive their geneaologies. This was not unprecedented in the line of David as David's own grandmother, Ruth, was a foreigner herself. However after the return from captivity of which Zerubbabel was the first, Nehemiah and Ezra took a strong stand against Jews being married to foreigners, as you can read in the books of Nehemiah and Ezra, and as such the record of Zerubbabel's descendants in Chronicles represents only that of his genetically Jewish wife and not of his foreign wives, as they just left them out because of their prejudice. This is yet another example of being despise and rejected by his own.

However it is apparent that while the geneaologies of these other wives are not in the Old Testament they were were recorded extra-Biblically, just as for example Jesus himself was recorded extra-Biblically in the census taken by Augustus mention in Luke chapter 2 and which one of the early church fathers, Justin Martyr, writing in the middle of the second century, says that you could look up the registers of the census Luke mentions in his own day, though that census has not survived till today.

# Observations

Matthew vs Luke

Matthew is a more Jewish perspective on the life of Jesus and his gospel focusses on Jesus as King of Israel. His genealogy, being Joseph's, is along the line of the Kings of Israel.

Luke is a Gentile writing to a Gentile (Theophilus) and he also traveled with Paul in his ministry to the Gentiles, even to the end of his recorded ministry. He focusses on Jesus as the Son of Man. And thus his genealogy, being Mary's, goes back to Adam. Furthermore we notice that Luke's nativity is more or less taken from Mary's perspective, while Matthew's more or less from Joseph's. Which is again consistent with their corresponding genealogies.

What did the women mention in Matthew's genealogy have in common?

They all experienced humiliation.

- Tamar - accused of harlotry
- Rahab - a former harlot
- Ruth - a Moabite
- Bethseba - an adulteress
- Mary - suspected adultress

It is interesting that Matthew also brings in these women. For two of them - Rahab and Ruth had been Gentiles. And also in Matthew's nativity he brings in the wise men of the East (Probably Babylonian) - also Gentiles. So although his focus is on the Jews, yet he gives glimpses into the wider scope of God's plan.

The Berean Christian Bible Study Resources