genealogy

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Through the Lineage – Part 3 of 3

Part 3 – The genealogy of Jesus:
First, let’s visit two critical verses in the Old Testament that require the Messiah’s genealogy to come to a close with that of a woman.

Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

When we read the genealogies in Matthew and Luke, we see four important titles ascribed to Jesus of Nazareth. Out of these four titles we get, perhaps, our best understanding of who Jesus of Nazareth truly is.

From Matthew 1:1, “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:”
– Jesus is called the Son of David
– Jesus is called the Son of Abraham

From Luke 3:38, “… the son of Adam, the son of God.”
– Jesus is the Son of Adam
– Jesus is the Son of God

Therefore, from these verses, we see the picture of Jesus as a Jewish God-Man King. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, born a Jew from the lineage of Abraham and born into the royal lineage of King David. That’s who Jesus is.

Jesus is a man and has experienced every temptation known to man (Heb. 4:15). He is God and of God (Jn. 14:8-9). He is a Jew who came to fulfill the law of Moses (Mt. 5:17). He is the King of kings (Rev. 19:16). Indeed, Jesus is worthy of all our praise.

I sincerely hope you found some value in this lengthy and rather detailed study of the lineage of Jesus. Thanks for taking the time to study this fascinating topic along with me on.

A side comments: The genealogy of Jesus follows the line from Adam to Seth, not Adam to Cain. I’ve been asked this, before. (see graph below)

From Wikipedia

The primary source, outside of the Bible, for these lessons was derived from https://jewsforjesus.org/publications/issues/issues-v05-n06/the-genealogy-of-the-messiah/

Photo by Walter Chávez on Unsplash

Through the Lineage – Part 2 of 3

Part 2 – The genealogy of Jesus, as recorded in the book of Matthew:

Matthew’s record of our Lord’s genealogy is entirely different from Luke’s. Right from the start, we notice that this genealogy does not follow the strict Jewish tradition. The Talmud states, “A mother’s family is not to be called a family.” Nevertheless, Matthew’s record does not trace back to Adam and God, it skips many people, and it includes women. These differences do not make it inferior, but show a different intent. As an example, see the following:

Matthew 1: (Young’s Literal Translation)
6 and Jesse begat David the king. And David the king begat Solomon, of her [who had been] Uriah’s,
7 and Solomon begat Rehoboam, and Rehoboam begat Abijah, and Abijah begat Asa,

It’s evident that Matthew’s account is not included in his book to establish a rigorous record of Christ’s ancestry. Instead, Matthew has included this record for a different reason. We shall see that Matthew’s account seems to exist to show, with a preponderance of the evidence, that Joseph was not the father of Jesus, and therefore, Jesus was born of a virgin, Mary. Also, notice that Matthew’s record diverges from Luke’s with the sons of King David.

Luke traces Christ’s genealogy from King David’s son, Nathan, whereas Matthew traces the genealogy from King Solomon. Right here is the split. Before the sons of King David, the two lists do not conflict. So, what is happening here?

One conventional explanation for these differences, from as early as John of Damascus, is that Nathan is the ancestor of the Virgin Mary, while Solomon is the ancestor of Mary’s husband Joseph.

Note that Tamar, Rahab, Ruth are all ancestors of King David and therefore in the lineage of Jesus. As for Bathsheba, she is the mother of Solomon and, therefore, would be in the lineage of Joseph, not Jesus.

One conventional explanation for these differences, from as early as John of Damascus, is that Nathan is the ancestor of the Virgin Mary, while Solomon is the ancestor of Mary’s husband Joseph.

God is showing us that these two genealogies are not intended to document the same person. Luke’s account, following strict Jewish guidelines, clearly showing the lineage of Jesus and Mary back to God, through Nathan, the son of King David. Matthew’s record is sparse, beginning with Abraham, skips groups of people, and includes the women Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and probably Bathsheba.

So, what is the purpose of Matthew’s record? It seems to be telling us that Joseph could not have been the father of Jesus because he is disqualified from royalty because his genealogy descends from King Solomon, and Jehoiachin is in this lineage.

Jehoiachin is the problem.  In Jeremiah 22: 24,30, God says:
24 As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “even if you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off

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 any more in Judah.”

The three-parts of Jehoiachin’s curse are:
– that he would be childless (this is how the Hebrew text reads)
– that he would not prosper in his lifetime
– that none of his descendants would rule in Judah

Tradition (not the Bible) says that Jehoiachin repented during his Babylonian exile. What we do know from Matthew 1:11-12,  “And after the Babylonian removal, Jehoiachin (i.e. Jeconiah) begat Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begat Zerubbabel,” So, Jehoiachin had children after God cursed him. And, in Haggai 2:23 we see, “‘On that day,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,’ declares the Lord Almighty.” So, Zerubbabel was favored by the LORD, however, he was never a king.

Though Zerubbabel, a descendant of Jehoiachin, did not sit on the throne as king, the fact that Haggai 2:23 uses the same terminology as Jeremiah 22:24 Haggai seems to show that God intended to show a reversal of Jehoiachin’s curse. Nevertheless, it is likely that Matthew included Jehoiachin in his genealogy because of God’s curse, so people would understand that Joseph did not qualify to be the father of the Messiah.

The four points I hope you take away from this article are:
1. Matthew’s genealogy is the genealogy of Joseph.
2. Matthew’s genealogy is sparse and does not conform to the Jewish tradition.
3. Matthew’s genealogy does not attempt to establish Jesus as the Son of God or the Son of Man.
4. Matthew’s intent for his genealogy was to show that Joseph could not have been the father of the Messiah, thereby supporting the virgin birth of Jesus.


The primary source, outside of the Bible, for these lessons was derived from https://jewsforjesus.org/publications/issues/issues-v05-n06/the-genealogy-of-the-messiah/

Photo by Lachlan Donald on Unsplash

Jewish Man

Through the Lineage – Part 1 of 3

This is the first installment of a three-part Bible study about Jesus’ genealogy. It may not be your “cup of tea.” That’s fine. Enjoy your day!

Part 1 – The genealogy of Jesus, as recorded in the book of Luke: Luke’s record of our Lord’s genealogy follows the strict guidance of the Jewish custom for documenting a genealogy. As a reference, you can see this strict genealogical structure in Ezra 2:61. The aspects of this structure we need to notice are that no names are omitted and no females are included. In fact, The Talmud states, “A mother’s family is not to be called a family.” (Ouch!)

Luke’s genealogy is significantly different from Matthew’s record, which we will look at in Part 2 of this series.

Luke maintained the continuity of Christ’s genealogy from Jesus back to God. Also, the omission of the definite article “the” for Joseph followed the mechanism Jews used to include a woman within a genealogy. This mechanism was done by referencing the husband of the woman that they wanted in the genealogy. The Greek language indicated this by omitting the definite article “the” thereby telling the reader that the author was not referring to the husband but, rather, the wife.

Therefore, if we follow this grammatical method for indirectly referring to the wife instead of the husband, it seems that Luke’s record of the genealogy is the genealogy of the Mary, the mother of Jesus. Here’s why many believe this, myself included.

Luke 3: (Young’s Literal Translation) 23 And Jesus himself was beginning to be about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, son of Joseph, 24 the [son] of Eli, the [son] of Matthat, the [son] of Levi, the [son] of Melchi, the [son] of Janna, the [son] of Joseph,.. 37 the [son] of Methuselah, the [son] of Enoch, the [son] of Jared, the [son] of Mahalaleel, 38 the [son] of Cainan, the [son] of Enos, the [son] of Seth, the [son] of Adam, the [son] of God.

Notice that in the literal translation, Luke 3:23 does not say, “as was supposed, the son of Joseph” but, rather, “being, as was supposed, son of Joseph.” The literal translation does not ascribe the definite article “the” when relating Joseph to Christ’s genealogy listed in Luke. All the other names in Luke’s genealogy are referenced with this definite article, as can be seen in verse 24, the son of Eli, the son of Matthat, and so forth.

So, the genealogy of Jesus, recorded in Luke, fits perfectly with the first promise of the Messiah in the Bible, which is found in Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” The Messiah comes from a woman, and therefore the Messiah’s mother should be in His genealogy.

One last but an essential observation regarding Christ’s genealogy in Luke is found in verse 31. Here, we see that Jesus descended not from King Solomon but King David’s son, Nathan. This divergence is a big deal, as we will see in Part 2 of this series.


The primary source, outside of the Bible, for these lessons was derived from https://jewsforjesus.org/publications/issues/issues-v05-n06/the-genealogy-of-the-messiah/
Photo by Josh Appel on Unsplash

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