BIBLE
DIGEST - Number 84 June
1998
THE
TWO GENEALOGIES OF JESUS
By Allon Maxwell
|
Matthew and
Luke both record a genealogy for Jesus. However, whilst they do include a
number of names in common, there are also significant differences. It is
clear that they describe two different lineages. Inevitably, any
attempt to resolve this apparent difficulty, must contain some degree of
speculation. The Bible simply does not spell out the answers as clearly as we
would like. Consequently, the solution offered here, does not claim
"infallibility". All it does, is present a view which attempts to
maintain consistency with other Biblical facts. For me personally, it is the
most logical of several alternatives which have been proposed by students of
the Bible. If any of you do have an alternative view, please note that I do
not feel obliged to promote, defend, or discuss the view presented here, to
establish its “supremacy” over others. Receive it
if you will! TWO GENEALOGIES
FOR ONE MAN? Actually, there
is nothing remarkable about that! All of us have two lines of descent, one
through our father and one through our mother. As we shall see, this is the
most likely explanation for the differences between the two genealogies in
Matthew and Luke. These two
genealogies of Jesus establish that Jesus, His mother Mary, and His adoptive
father Joseph, are all descended in the lineage of Adam, Abraham, Judah, and
David. The importance
of that lies in the Gospel claims that Jesus is the fulfilment of promises
made by God: *
To Eve,
in the Garden of Eden, that through one of her descendants, the penalty and
other consequences of her sin and Adam's, would be undone. *
To Abraham,
that through one of his descendants, unprecedented blessing would come upon
all families of the earth. *
To David,
that one of his descendants would also be called Son of God and inherit the
throne to establish the promised everlasting Kingdom. The genealogy
of Matthew is the line of royal inheritance, through David's son Solomon. It
establishes that in his time, Joseph was the rightful heir to the throne of
David. It is from Joseph that Jesus inherits that right. He is the Messiah,
the anointed one. But Matthew
also tells us that Joseph is not the natural father of Jesus - and that
raises an important question. The terms of God's promise to David require
that Jesus should be not only the legal heir, but also the natural descendant
of David. How can that
be? That is the
point of that second genealogy in Luke. Jesus has his natural descent from
David through Mary, whose lineage is traced from Nathan, another of David's
sons. MATTHEW'S
GENEALOGY Matthew's
Gospel gives the appearance of being written more for Jews. That is probably
why his genealogy traces the line of descent line back only as far as
Abraham, the father of the Jewish race. It is clearly
that of Joseph. But we have seen that Matthew also tells us that Joseph was
not the real father of Jesus. He makes the staggering claim that Jesus is the
virgin born only begotten Son of God! During the
betrothal of Joseph and Mary, she was found to be pregnant. Joseph would have
put her away, if the angel had not intervened to tell him that this was not a
case of fornication with some other man, but a miracle from God. It was truly
a virgin birth. Mary's child was the one promised, who would save His people
from their sins. (Matthew 1:21) As the then
living heir of David's throne, Joseph would have been very familiar with this
promise. It was part of his heritage. How it must have made his heart
rejoice, as he came to grips with the miracle of the virgin conception! His
betrothed had not been unfaithful to her vows! He was free to marry her. And best of all
..... he was the one chosen to foster the Son of God, and pass his legal
right to inherit the throne, on to the Messiah. JOSEPH AND
JECONIAH Although the
virgin birth made Jesus the one promised as both Son of God and Son of Man,
there is also another very important practical reason why it was necessary
that the inheritance should come to Him as an adopted son of Joseph. If He was to
prosper on the throne of David, His natural descent could not come through Solomon's
line. Centuries earlier, God had said about Jeconiah: "Write this man down as childless, a man
who shall not succeed in his days; for none of his offspring shall succeed in
sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah." (Jeremiah 22:30) Neither Joseph
himself, nor any of his other natural sons born later by Mary, could expect
to prosper on the throne of David. Only Jesus can do that, because, although
heir to Jeconiah's throne, he is not the "seed of Jeconiah" .....
He is adopted! Isn't it
remarkable how God takes care of little details like that? LUKE'S
GENEALOGY In contrast to
Matthew, Luke's Gospel appears to have been written more for Gentile readers.
That is probably why Luke's genealogy goes back much further than Matthew's.
It traces the line all the way back to Adam, and ultimately to God. The
inference is that Jesus is God's provision of a Saviour, not only for Jews,
but also for all men in all time. Luke makes the
same amazing faith stretching claim as Matthew does about the virgin birth.
Matthew tells Joseph's story. Luke however tells the same story seen through
Mary's eyes. In his
genealogy, Luke does use Joseph's name at the start, but then he points us
somewhat obliquely to Mary, by saying that Jesus was "the son
(as was supposed) of Joseph, son of Heli".
(Luke 3:23) It seems more
than likely that, to protect Mary from the gossips, the details of the story
about the miraculous conception of her son, would not have been common
knowledge. Even when he
had thought Mary guilty of fornication, Joseph was not willing to put her to
public shame. (Matthew 1:19) And although
Joseph learned the truth in a dream, few others would have been likely to
believe it! So, Mary's reputation was protected by the silence of those
closest to her, and it was simply left for people to "suppose"..... Luke uses that
word "supposed" almost as an "aside" to emphasise the
miracle believed only by those who agree with Mary, that "with God
nothing will be impossible". (Luke
1:37) Of course, it
would be possible to place other constructions on Luke's use of Joseph's
name. However, given that the virgin birth is central to both Gospels, there
is a compelling need to show that Jesus is also the Son of Man, naturally
descended from David. Luke has done that for us by recording Mary's place in
David's line. SHEALTIEL AND
ZERUBBABEL Both Matthew
and Luke mention these two names. (Matthew 1:12-13 &
Luke 3:27) Some
commentators have claimed that the blood lines of Solomon and Nathan must
have been combined somehow by marriage at this point, and that in both
Gospels, these two names refer to the same persons. However, if
this is really so, it would mean that Luke's genealogy of Mary actually
proves that Jesus was a blood descendant of Jeconiah, and therefore unable to
prosper on the throne. (Jeremiah 22:24-30) Genealogies
were important to Jews. Most could recite their genealogy from memory. It was
their "calling card". Priests especially, were required to
establish their bonafides as full blood members of
the tribe of Levi. How much more important for a King who claims to be the
Messiah, to establish his line of inheritance. Luke claims to
have researched his story carefully. (Luke 1:1-4)
It seems fairly safe to assume that he includes his genealogy for Jesus in
that claim, especially since it differs from Matthew's. That confirmation
would certainly have been possible, either from a member of the family who
could recite the names of his ancestors from memory, or from the public
records. Thus, there is
no reason to doubt that Luke has taken the necessary care to get it right,
and that there is a logical and important reason for these two completely
different genealogies, which does not in any way compromise the accuracy of
the Bible record. Although
Matthew does have several unexplained omissions of names, he does agree with
the Old Testament genealogies of the royal line through Solomon. On the other
hand, Luke has made it clear that his Shealtiel and Zerubbabel, are descended
from Nathan, not Solomon. The names of their immediate ancestors and
descendants are not found at all, in the Old Testament lists of Solomon's
descendants. It is obvious
that Matthew's Shealtiel and Zerubbabel are not the same as Luke's. Thus,
there is nothing in Luke's genealogy to link Jesus to Jeconiah. And there
is no barrier to His prosperity on the throne of David. WAS MARY FROM
JUDAH OR LEVI? If Jesus is of
the “seed of David”, He must also be from the tribe of Judah. However, there
are some sceptics who claim that Mary is from the tribe of Levi, and that
therefore, if Mary was a virgin, Jesus could not be of the tribe of Judah, or descended from David. This claim that
Mary was from the tribe of Levi, is based on a misunderstanding of Luke 1:5 and Luke 1:36, which refer to Elizabeth as “of the
daughters of Aaron” and Mary's “cousin” (KJV) or
“kinswoman” (RSV). "Kinswoman"
does not necessarily mean the closer blood relationship implied by our common
English use of the word "cousin". In the Jewish culture, it can
just as easily mean that Mary and Elizabeth were distantly related by
marriage, rather than by a close blood tie. It would certainly be possible
for them to share a common ancestor from the tribe of Judah, one of whose
daughters had married into the tribe of Levi. There is no real difficulty in
understanding how Mary and Elizabeth could be related as "kinswomen",
but from different tribes. Certainly Hebrews 7:11-14 is quite definite that Jesus is
not from Levi, but from the tribe of Judah. BORN KING OF
THE JEWS This is
Matthew's claim about Jesus! (Matthew 2:2) It is central
to the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Jesus claims to be the
heir of the throne of David, who will establish the Kingdom forever.
(Luke 1:32-33) The Gospel
stands or falls on the truth of this claim by Jesus. That is why those
genealogies are so important. They are not
simply boring lists of names with no purpose! They give us
the blood line of descent for Joseph, from whom Jesus inherited the right to
the throne. They give us the blood line of Mary, through whom Jesus is
legitimately descended from David. When they were written in the first
century, they threw down the gauntlet for Jews to examine that claim by
checking out the credentials of Jesus in the genealogies held on public
record! IS JESUS KING
OF THE JEWS? This was the
charge levelled against Him when He was questioned by Pilate (Matthew 27:11) and to which Jesus confessed. (Mark 15:2, Luke 23:3, John 18:37) It was the
charge on which Pilate sentenced Him to crucifixion. (Matthew 27:37) It was written in Hebrew, Latin
and Greek (John 19:20) the three major languages spoken
in the world of that time and placed on the cross with Him. It was the
unwitting admission of the soldiers who kneeled before Him in mock homage,
when they tortured and tormented Him just before they crucified Him. (Matthew 27:29) Most important
of all ..... this was THE TRUTH which God upheld when He
declared Jesus innocent of any sin, by raising him from the dead. (Romans 1:3-4) By
this, we may know beyond question, that God
has made Jesus both Lord and Messiah! (Acts 2:36) |