Genealogy of Christ

If you are still in, first of all, CONGRATULATIONS, and second of all, let me hear from you! What an accomplishment to have read every word of the Old Testament, some of which we had to really soldier through! Today begins our three month journey through the New Testament, kicked off with some lengthy genealogies. Few in our day place much value on tracing their lineage. Most people probably cannot name more than five generations of their ancestors. Not so with the Jews, who kept careful records of their tribal lineage as a nation, as well as personal records within each family. The genealogy of the Messaih was of supreme importance because the Jews expected their future king to be of the line of David.

Two different genealogies are given in Matthew and Luke, which at face value appears to be a discrepancy. There are several explanations offered by various scholars, however, the most plausible is that they are in fact, two different genealogies! Matthew gives the genealogy of Jesus through Joseph, who was a descendant of David through his son Solomon. As Joseph's adopted son, Jesus became Joseph's legal heir and since inheritance rights were passed down through the father, Jesus had "legal" right to claim the lineage of David . However, Matthew is careful not to say that Jesus is the blood relative of Joseph. Though his pattern is to list the "begats", in reference to Joseph he says "and Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus".

Luke records the genealogy of Mary, who was also a descendant of David through his son Nathan. Luke's genealogy begins by listing Heli as the father of Joseph, while Matthew had listed Jacob as his father. If Luke's genealogy is actually that of Mary, then Heli was Joseph's father-in-law. In a patriarchal society, it would have been standard practice to trace ancestry through one's father, which would explain why Mary's genealogy ends with Joseph instead of herself. There is also extra-biblical proof, a passage from the Jewish Talmud, that Mary had a father named Heli. What is demonstrated by this pair of genealogies is that Jesus was a legal descendant of David through Joseph and a natural descendant through Mary.

tomorrow's reading: Luke 1:39-2:40; Matthwe 1:18-25