The Genealogy of Christ
kay, here is the question again: “There are
contradictions between the genealogy of Jesus as set forth in the first chapter
of Matthew and the genealogy given in the third chapter of Luke. Both
genealogies list Jesus’ father as being Joseph, but whereas Matthew has Joseph’s
father being Jacob, Luke says that his name was Heli. Also, Matthew tells us
that there were twenty-six generations between Jesus and King David, but Luke
reports that the number of such generations was forty-one. In addition, Matthew
alleges that Jesus’ line of descent was through David’s son Solomon, but Luke
asserts that it was through David’s son Nathan.”
Well, the first thing to do is to look at the lists
themselves, so what I say here will make more sense. You will have a “visual
aid” of sorts, and because of the amount of information contained both in the
charts and their explanations, I have put it on this separate page. First,
Matthew’s list:
“So all the generations from Abraham to David are
fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are
fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are
fourteen generations.” (Matthew 1:17)
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First List
1. Abraham
2. Isaac
3. Jacob
4. Judah
5. Phares
6. Esron
7. Aram
8. Aminadab
9. Nasson
10. Salmon
11. Boaz
12. Obed
13. Jesse
14. David
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Second List
1. Solomon
2. Roboam
3. Abia
4. Asa
5. Josaphat
6. Joram
7. Ozias
8. Joatham
9. Achaz
10. Ezechias
11. Manasses
12. Amon
13. Josias
14. Jechonias
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Third List
1. Jechonias
2. Salathiel
3. Zorobabel
4. Abiud
5. Eliacim
6. Azor
7. Sadoe
8. Achim
9. Eliud
10. Eleazar
11. Mathan
12. Jacob
13. Joseph
14. Yahshua
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Total: 14 + 14 + 14 = 42
individuals
Luke’s list goes from Yahshua to Adam and then to
God, so already you can see why his list will be longer. Of course, that is not
the only reason there are more names in the third Gospel’s chart, but I will
get to that. As you may know, Matthew’s list runs downward through time
(Abraham to Christ), while Luke chose to write his flowing backwards, from
Christ back to Abraham and beyond. For ease of comparison, I will reverse his
list here:
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First List
1. IHVH
2. Adam
3. Seth
4. Enosh
5. Canaan
6. Malaleel
7. Jared
8. Enoch
9. Methuselah
10. Lamech
11. Noah
12. Shem
13. Arphaxad
14. Caanan
15. Sale
16. Heber
17. Phaleg
18. Ragau
19. Sarug
20. Nachor
21. Thare
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Second List
22. Abraham
23. Isaac
24. Jacob
25. Judah
26. Phares
27. Esron
28. Aram
29. Aminadab
30. Nasson
31. Salmon
32. Boaz
33. Obed
34. Jesse
35. David
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Third List
36. Nathan
37. Mathatha
38. Menna
39. Melea
40. Eliakim
41. Jona
42. Joseph
43. Judas
44. Simeon
45. Levi
46. Mathat
47. Jorim
48. Eliezer
49. Jesus
50. Her
51. Helmadan
52. Cosan
53. Addi
54. Melchi
55. Neri
56. Salathiel
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Fourth List
57. Zorobabel
58. Reza
59. Joanna
60. Juda
61. Joseph
62. Semei
63. Mathathias
64. Mahath
65. Nagge
66. Hesli
67. Nahum
68. Amos
69. Mathathias
70. Joseph
71. Janne
72. Melchi
73. Levi
74. Mathat
75. Heli
76. Joseph
77. Yahshua
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Aside from Matthew’s list being
shorter because he only goes back as far as Abraham, there are other reasons
why there are less names in that Chapter. For example, if you go back through
the books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, where the record is kept of the
rulers of Israel and Judah, you will find that three kings’ names appear in the
Old Testament that are missing from the New Testament list. These are: Ahaziah,
Joash and Amaziah, appearing between ML2 (Matthew’s Second List) #6 and #7. And
why was this done?
Well, Matthew’s gospel was, scholars generally
agree, written to the Jews primarily. In an effort to show that Christ was
indeed of Kingly heritage, more specifically of the line of David from which
was promised would come the Messiah, he took the route that led through the
royal line. The three kings he did not list were those spoken of in the book of
2 Kings. The line of the wicked king Ahab was to be completely cut off, for “Ahab
did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of
Israel that were before him.” (1 Kings 16:33) What a statement! It earned him
the promise from Yah, “Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away
thy posterity.” (1 Kings 21:21)
This was indeed done, for Ahab does not appear
either in Matthew’s list, and moreover Ahaziah, who “walked in the way of the
house of Ahab” and was “the son-in-law of the house of Ahab” also (2 Kings 8:25),
was removed from the list.
The second on the list of the three removed kings,
Joash, “took all the hallowed things that... his fathers, kings of Judah, had
dedicated, and his own hallowed things, and all the gold that was found in the
treasures of the house of the Lord, and in the kings’s house and sent it to
Hazael king of Syria.” (2 Kings 12:18) Because of the king’s lack of faith,
Jerusalem came under the power of Syria, and Yah’s people were forced to pay
tribute like bondsmen. For this reason, the king’s servants rose up against him
and slew him violently (2 Kings 12:20). His name also was blotted from the
ancestry of Christ.
The third king, Amaziah “brought the gods of the
children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before
them, and burned incense unto them.” (2 Chronicles 25:14) For his idolatry, and
other reasons, his servants “made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he
fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there.” (2
Kings 14:19) These three kings were killed violently, and each died having
angered Yah, mismanaged His people and committed idolatry. For these reasons
Matthew did not include them.
The list of Matthew is further shortened by the
exclusion of Jehoiakin and Jechoniah, because at the death of Josiah or Josias
(ML2 # 13) the kingdom of Israel came to an end: “And Josias begat Jechonias
and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon” (Matthew
1:11) Now Jehoiakin specifically was removed from the list because he “did that
which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God.” (2 Cr 36:5) For this and his
other “abominations which he did,” (2 Cr 36:8) his name was not mentioned.
His son, Jeconiah, has the clearest condemnation.
Not necessarily in what he did, but because his “blotting out” was recorded by
the prophet Jeremiah, who’s emphasis, it seems, was toward such things. An
excerpt from his book reads, “‘As I live,’ saith the LORD, ‘though Coniah the
son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I
pluck thee thence.’” Now remember that there is NO “J” in Hebrew, so “Ieconiah”
is pronounced similarly to just “Coniah” and is written that way by this
individual. “Thus saith the LORD, ‘Write ye this man childless, a man that
shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting
upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.’” (Jer 22:30) Just as
with his father, and several kings before him.
These are not the only exclusions from either list,
but are the main ones. Is it fair, though, to say that someone “begat” his
grandson, great grandson, or even son-in-law, as we will later see? Certainly,
for Yahsua is called “Son of David,” by many, and certainly “Son of God,” for
Luke’s genealogy traces Him back to Adam himself, and then to Yah. As one
website I was reading points out, this is a beautiful testimony to how precious
WE are. For Seth, Enosh and so on were as surely SONS of Yah through Adam as
Christ was the Son of David. And so, by just being human, we are also
considered directly to be sons of Yah! By accepting Christ in His death
and His example for our lives, we may all also claim His inheritance. This is
the Gospel itself.
Now we come to the big issue. Most of what I have
said above only applies to Matthew’s list. He alone has the list of
kings from Solomon down to Josiah. In fact, the two lists split after David,
one going through Solomon, and the other through Nathan. But how can this be?
How can it possibly be reconciled? Both begin with David, and both end with
Jacob, the father “so it was supposed” of Christ (note*).
There is a scripture that one needs to keep in mind for now. That is, “If
brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of
the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband’s brother shall
go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s
brother unto her. And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall
succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out
of Israel.” (Deuteronomy 25:5,6)
This is shown by example (Genesis 38:8-10) and by
repetition in three of the four gospels (Matthew 22:4, Mark 12:19 and Luke
20:28), making it seem a very significant point indeed! The NAME of the first
husband, as well as his inheritance, passes to the firstborn son of such a
union.
In researching this question, I had come across
several instances where it was suggested that Luke’s family line was actually
that of Mary, rather than Joseph, and the latter is only included in the third
Gospel’s list by virtue of his marriage and his legal parentage of
Christ. I resisted this at first, for in none of these was there given a good
reason why this was so. There was nothing spoken of in Scripture that would
justify such an action, until I realized that there truly was a reason, and I
had known it already for a while.
Elsewhere in these pages, in the Essays & Transcripts
section, I have an article entitled The Logo, which explains the symbolism used
on the emblem for this website. The angel within the circle is a Seraph, a
member of the Order seen by the prophets Ezekiel, Isaiah and John. The
significance of this angel is that it is always seen doing the will of the
Father, and is constantly praising His name. In this angel, the concepts of “praise”
and “worship” meet, and these abstracts find their physical representation in
the Tribes Judah and Levi respectively, named for brothers who were sons of
Israel.
Yahshua the Christ, it turns out, is also a literal
manifestation of the combination of Praise and Worship, for the New Testament
explains this in the letter to the Hebrews. Though the Levites were traditionally
the “priestly” tribe of Israel, “it is evident that our Lord sprang out of
Judah; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.” (Hebrews
7:14) Though a king by descent, He is nevertheless a priest.
Now looking at Luke’s list, we see that the name
before Joseph’s is Heli, rather than Jacob, whom Matthew asserts is his father.
There is no way this could have been an error, for this was but a few years
after the fact! Luke could have asked anyone, and they would have declared that
Joseph, who was the legal father of Christ, had a father named Jacob. Nor would
the early church (composed largely of Jews who were very much interested in
lineage) allow such an error to be published.
So why was Joseph’s predecessor named as Heli? And
why was this allowed to be recorded for posterity? Because Heli was
Joseph’s and therefore Yahshua’s predecessor, but not along the line of kings,
rather the line of priests. There were certain books written by 1st century
writers, many of which confirm the events spoken of in the Gospels, but for
reasons of misunderstanding or misinterpreting doctrine, were left out of the
Holy Canon. The books may have been flawed in their theology, but their
historical data is as factual as that found anywhere else.
The Apocryphal books, perhaps, are among these, as
is the “lost book” of Mary. In the beginning of this book, Mary’s parentage is
discussed, and of this it says, “Her father’s name was Joachim, and her mother’s
Anna. The family of her father was of Galilee and the city of Nazareth. The
family of her mother was of Bethlehem.” (Mary 1:2) Whereas I may certainly not
agree with all the spiritual points the book presents, nevertheless something
interesting appears. Once again, we need to remember that there was no “J” in
Hebrew, therefore the name given above, Joachim was really pronounced Eiachim,
or, to get the harder vowel sound, Eliachim (The same name as in ML3 #5). The
common, shortened formed of this name is Eli or... Heli.
Essentially, Mary’s father’s name was Heli, and her
mother, though not of the family of her father, was nevertheless a Jewess of
the areas occupied by the Israelite tribes. Tradition suggests that she (Anna,
Mary’s mother) was actually of the tribe of Levi, and this being the case, it
would be seen that Christ was a descendant of David through both parents, but
though of the Tribe of Judah also through these, was also a descendant of Levi
by his mother’s family.
Yahshua is called “prophet and priest and king” and
we see that this may very well be literally true by all accounts. A prophet is
called specifically, regardless of parentage or bloodline, and so was Christ
chosen specifically, conceived as He was by the Holy Spirit. A priest was, in
the Jewish system, chosen by bloodline, and as inheritance in the Hebrew
tradition is traced by the mother’s family, we see that Christ may also have
literally inherited the Levitical mantle through His mother. Moreover, a
kingdom is passed on from father to son through inheritance, and the name
of the father is carried down this way, even if a substitute father is required
(see Deuteronomy 25:5,6 quoted above), and thus, through Joseph directly and
Mary indirectly, He also inherited the “Throne of His father David.” (Luke
1:32)
Regardless of whether one accepts the Levitical
roots of Mary’s mother, the explanation of the Luke/Matthew differences should
be clear enough by this point. I wrote this, not merely to refute the belief
that the two genealogies listed in Matthew and Luke prove the Bible a flawed
work, but to show the beautiful fulfillment of prophecy concerning the Messiah.
And there can be no other after Yahshua who CAN be the Messiah, for as one
writer pointed out, when Jerusalem was destroyed, the birth records were also
lost. No one else can ever again be shown to be “of the line of David” in this
way. After the birth of Christ, the records had served their purpose, and were
allowed to drift off into the smoke of history.
From David, it was prophesied, would come a
righteous “Branch” (Jer 23:5). Not only was this true in the spiritual sense,
but also the physical, for the branching bloodlines of Solomon and Nathan,
occurring right after David, were again reconciled at the birth of the
Redeemer.
*Note: It may throw readers for a
while that both lists contain (after the split) a man named Salathiel who has a
son named Zorobabel (ML#3 2 & 3 and LL3 #56, LL4 #57). Someone looking for
a fast resolution may decided that the lists rejoin at this point, but this is
not so, for the following names do not coincide. It is merely an instance of a
father and son in each list having the same names. Consider that Joseph (the
husband of Mary) had a father whose name was Jacob, just as were the names of
those two father-and-son patriarchs. It does happen.
David.
