The genealogy of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament is intermingled with so many others that are useless that it cannot be distinguished. If Moses had kept only the record of the ancestors of Christ, that might have been too plain. If he had not noted that of Jesus Christ, it might not have been sufficiently plain. But, after all, whoever looks closely sees that of Jesus Christ expressly traced through Tamar, Ruth, etc.
- Blase Pascal, Pensees (578), 1660

Genealogies of Jesus

Divisions (Mat 1:1)

There are four major division of genealogies.

• Adam - Noah
• Noah - Abraham
• Abraham - David
• David - Jesus

Data of the Genealogies

Adam - Noah

Noah - Abraham

Textual Transmission Observations

New Testament follows Gen 11 LXX reading. 1 Chronicles (MT and LXX) follows Gen (MT). Cainan may have appeared to be repeating from Gen 5:9 list and been dropped from MT listing in Genesis. 1 Chron may have repeated this before it was copied to LXX for 1 Chr 1

Abraham - David

David - Jesus

Differences Between OT and NT Genealogies

Gaps in the Genealogies

It is fairly easy to demonstrate that there are "gaps" in the genealogies. These were well known to the audience of the book.

The phrase "son of" can mean "descendent of", and does not necessarily mean "a single generation". As an example:

Mat 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Jesus was not the son of David or Abraham in the sense that neither of them was his father.In this instance, "son of" means "descendent of". Jesus is frequently called the son of David. We would use the phrase "descendent of David."

Spelling Inconsistencies

Several issues:

• No Standardized spelling
• No dictionaries
• Language to language translations

Name Changes

God frequently changed the name of someone to include Himself in their name. This was standard practice in that culture and time. This practice was not limited to Israel. For instance Esarhaddon is mentioned in 2 Kings 19:37 means "Assur has given a brother." Asurnasipal means "Assur preserves the son." Assur was the name of one of the Assyrian deities.

2 Ki 23:34 And Pharaoh nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.

Role of the Septuagint

The New Testament relies on the text of the LXX more closely than it does the MT.

Differences Between New Testament Genealogies

Thus all the very apparent weaknesses are strength. Example; the two genealogies in Saint Matthew and Saint Luke. What can be clearer than that this was not concerted?   - Pascal, Pensees (578).

. Now, when men lived so long, children lived long with their parents. They conversed long with them. But what else could be the subject of their talk save the history of their ancestors, since to that all history was reduced, and men did not study science or art, which now form a large part of daily conversation? We see also that in these days tribes took particular care to preserve their genealogies. Pascal, Pensees (626).

Solutions to problem of Matthew/Luke Differences

The most common contemporary solution to the differences between Matthew and Luke's genealogy is that Luke's is Mary and Matthew's is Joseph's genealogy. As an example.

Luke traces Mary’s geneaology up from David’s son Nathan, whereas Matthew traces Joseph's geneaology up from David’s son, Solomon, while Chronicles follows a different son of Zerubbabel up. See Web site.

The opinion that Luke's genealogy is that of Mary was unknown to Christian antiquity. In the fifteenth century it was first propounded by Roman Catholic Church to do honour (as they supposed) to Mary. It was first broached by Annius of Viterbo, a.d. 1502.

The problem is the text does not say this at all.

Julius Africanus ca 230 AD said:

Matthan, descended from Solomon, begat Jacob. Matthan dying, Melchi, descended from Nathan, begat Hell by the same wife. Therefore Hell and Jacob are uterine brothers. Hell dying childless, Jacob raised up seed to him and begat Joseph, his own son by nature, but the son of Hell by law. Thus Joseph was the son of both.

Christian antiquity is agreed that:-

1. Both genealogies are those of Joseph.
2. That Joseph was the son of Jacob or of Heli, either by adoption, or because Jacob and Heli were either own brothers or half-brothers; so that,-
3. On the death of one of the brothers, without issue, the surviving brother married his widow, who became the mother of Joseph by this marriage; so that Joseph was reckoned the son of Jacob and the son of Heli.
4. Joseph and Mary were of the same lineage, but the Hebrews did not reckon descent from the side of the woman. For them St. Luke's genealogy is the sufficient register of Christ's royal descent and official claim. St. Luke gives his personal pedigree, ascending to Adam, and identifying Him with the whole human race. (See ANF, Vol 6, Julius Africanus, Epistle to Aristides, ca 230 AD)

Links

• The Biblical Genealogies Were Known to Have Gaps
  • From that site: Matthew 1:8 tells us that Joram fathered Uzziah. However, in 1st Chronicles 3:11-12 we find that Joram fathered Ahaziah, who fathered Joash, who fathered Amaziah, who begot Uzziah who was also called Azariah. To see that Uzziah was also called Azariah compare 2nd Kings 14:21-22 with 2nd Chronicles 26:1-2.
• Comparative Biblical Genealogies
  • Thesis of the author is that there are no gaps. Not well supported by the facts.
• Genealogy of Jesus
  • Proposes a unique solution to the problem. Matthew's geneaology is that of Jacob, the grandfather of Joseph on his mother's side and Luke's genealogy is that of Matthat, the grandfather of Joseph on his father's side.

Copyright 2001 - Douglas Gilliland