When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Hesli, the son of Naggai, the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Heber, the son of Shelah, the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
As we come now to the genealogy of Jesus from Luke’s perspective, there are a few thoughts that often go through the mind of every Bible student. The following points are usually made when addressing the genealogies of the Bible:
-Do they really matter in the whole scheme of spiritual truth?
-This is boring! Do I really have to learn about these lineages?
-Doesn’t the Bible say not to pay attention to these genealogies?
Perhaps some of these feelings may be legitimate, but for the most part the lineage of Bible characters was vital to their own place in life. Without a record of your past ancestry, you may not be able to find out your family heritage and lineage and therefore be prohibited from functioning in the offices of God’s service as priests (See Ezra 2:62; Neh. 7:64).
If you were not born into the Jewish family in the Old Testament, you were considered a Gentile and were forbidden from being a part of the people of God. If you were born into a royal lineage then you were destined to have wealth and prosperity. Otherwise, you may grow up among the common people of your day.
In this particular case we are dealing with the genealogy of the Messiah, Jesus. The reason that this lineage is so important is because many of the OT prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah, predicted His lineage. While Luke’s Gentile audience would not have been interested in OT prophecy concerning the throne of David, they certainly needed to know that Jesus was the Son of God. This is the approach that Luke takes. If Jesus did not come from the proper ancestry, then He cannot be the Messiah of OT prophecy. Therefore, He cannot be the Son of God (Luke 1:32; 2:4).
Paul wrote in sounding a warning for studies like this, when he stated
“As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than {furthering} the administration of God which is by faith.” (I Tim. 1:3-4)
Some have used Paul’s warning to teach that any study regarding a genealogy is unprofitable since it has nothing to do with furthering the administration of God by faith. Yet if you look at that passage again you will see the main point of Paul’s message is to warn the saints against false teachers who are causing contention between brethren over such things as myths and ancestries to support their erroneous beliefs. That is unprofitable! But when we study to show that Jesus is indeed all that He claimed to be, it is a very profitable study. While we will not get involved in a complete character study of every name in this genealogy (which to be honest would be very difficult, if not impossible), we will be able to see that Luke’s record of the lineage of Christ is very important to tracing Jesus back to the beginning, even to God the Father.
Once a student realizes the many views that can be taken when addressing a genealogy like this, perhaps they will find any consideration given to a study of it to be madness.
-Both belong to Joseph
-Both belong to Mary
-Both belong to Mary and Joseph, being first cousins
-Matthew takes Joseph’s line and Luke takes Mary’s
-Matthew takes Mary’s line and Luke takes Joseph’s
-Both Matthew and Luke are using symbolic genealogies (king / priest)
-Others have seen variations of these views of the gospel records
-We will say…Matthew = Joseph, Luke = Mary [w/ first cousin relations]
In trying to harmonize the two genealogies, many scholars have noticed that some of the names in the record match, while others do not. This suggests that somewhere in the lineage, Mary and Joseph were related (probably first cousins). While we might not like that type of marriage today, it was not uncommon for people in Biblical times to try and keep a pure blood line.
Egyptian Pharaoh’s, in many cases could only marry their own sister (and if need be, a first cousin) to guarantee that their people would continue in the line of royal blood. People are finding that concept to be an old-fashioned tradition and have passed laws to make such unions illegal. Many are expanding their family lineage to other families. In the new covenant this is permissible.
I like what J.S Lamar said in his conclusion on discussing this genealogical quandary, “Even if in our ignorance we are unable to perceive the harmony of the two genealogies, we can still believe that they are accurately quoted from the public records, and that their apparent inconsistency results only from our lack of information.”
Since the Holy Spirit was guiding these men to write what they did, we have no place to doubt that the conclusions that come from these records are true and sound. Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of the world.
Josephus once wrote, “I relate my genealogy as I find it recorded in the public tables”. He said later, “From all the countries in which our priests are scattered abroad, they send to Jerusalem [in order that their children may be placed on the official role] papers with the names of their parents and their ancestors; these papers are formally witnessed” Great care was taken when recording the ancestral line of the people in Bible times. An author by the name of Ken Palmer wrote, “Admittedly, much of the documentation that would enable us to draw absolute conclusions is not available.” If the records were inaccurate, don’t you think that the early Jews would have noticed and wrote something against them? It wasn’t until later as the records became few and far between that anyone began to question their validity.
In the text, let’s notice that Luke begins by telling us of the age of Jesus, when He began His ministry, in saying,
“Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age…”
This age was the traditional age for a man to enter into the ministry in the temple services (Num. 4:3). So it seems fitting to place a genealogy here about the ancestral lineage of Jesus. While Jesus would never be a high priest on earth, He is the appointed High Priest of the new covenant in heaven (Heb. 4:14)
Luke begins the genealogy that he will use to follow the lineage of Mary, by saying,
“being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph…”
While that may be confusing at first, Luke references here the miraculous virgin birth of Jesus as he points to the fact that Joseph was not the real birth father of Jesus (Matt. 13:54-56). As we will see, the lineage of Mary, does point back to Adam, and ultimately to God.
The first member of the lineage here is Heli, or Eli. While it has been debated as to whether Luke is getting ready to follow the ancestry of Mary, or if he is addressing the history of Joseph, it seems apparent that since Eli is Mary’s father, we are looking at her ancestors (Jewish Talmud: Haggigah, Book 77, 4)
The reason for this is because Joseph is actually the son of Jacob (Matthew 1:16), and Mary is not a son of Heli, but a daughter to him. So how does Eli fit here? He is actually the father-in-law to Joseph. Eli is Mary’s father and the grandfather of Jesus.
To understand this, we need to take note of the fact that at the beginning of this genealogy, a poor work was done in the translation of the Greek into English. The beginning of this text should read, “And Jesus (being as was supposed the son of Joseph) [“son of” is only added for clarity] of Heli…”
Interestingly, when a Hebrew family’s ancestral line ended with a female, her husband would take her place in the lineage (even as a son-in-law). In some cases, like this one, a grandfather (Eli) was listed as being of Jesus, who was born to his daughter, Mary. Women were rarely included in the genealogical records (even though Matthew tends to break that tradition in his account, including 5 women).
While Matthew tends to post the literal birth parents in his account, Luke tends to use the idea of being, “of” someone, in a symbolic relational sense. Jesus was not literally the son of Jospeh. Adam was not literally the son of God. Shealtiel was an uncle to Zerubbabel, yet in the text, you might get the impression that he was his son. Many times in the Bible this took place (See I Chron. 3:17-19; Ezra 3:2). In this genealogy, Luke is not being inaccurate, but he is approaching his Gentile audience in a way that they could understand his record.
One of the differences that you will notice about Matthew’s and Luke’s genealogies, is that Luke waits until he offers proof that God claimed Jesus as His Son, before telling us of the earthly lineage of Jesus.
While Matthew points to Jesus being a relation to Abraham in fulfillment of the promises made only to him and to Israel, Luke takes the standpoint of Jesus as the Son of God, who is the Creator of all mankind. This would be inclusive of his Gentile audience.
While Mathew starts his gospel account with the genealogy of Jesus, Luke waits until after the baptism of Jesus and the proclamation of God, which stated, “This is my beloved Son…”. Since Luke concludes that Jesus is ultimately “the Son of God” (Luke 3:38), then the message to these Gentiles would have been a major source of encouragement, since all people come from the same Creator. Jews and Gentiles, male and female, high and lowly…each and every one of us had our beginnings with God. This meant that if Jesus were the Christ, the Savior of the world, the Gentiles would have a chance to be saved and enter into eternal life in heaven, through Him.
Jesus was not only a man, born of a virgin woman in the flesh, but he was the Son of God, and Savior of the world. For a great many years, a Savior was promised to the people. But as Luke stated earlier in his gospel, a light to the Gentiles would shine forth unto salvation (Luke 2:30-32). The blessings that are to be found in Jesus, are not only for Jews, but for Gentiles as well. Praise be to God!
As promised during this episode, below is the genealogy simplified by Steven Breedlove:
The Genealogy of Christ
Luke 3:23-38 and Matthew 1:1-17
God who was the father of Adam, who was the father of Seth, who was the father of Enos, who was the father of Cainan, who was the father of Mahalalel, who was the father of Jared, who was the father of Enoch, who was the father of Methuselah, who was the father of Lamech, who was the father of Noah, who was the father of Shem, who was the father of Arpachshad, who was the father of Cainan, who was the father of Shelah, who was the father of Eder, who was the father of Peleg, who was the father of Reu, who was the father of Serug, who was the father of Nahor, who was the father of Terah, who was the father of Abraham.
Abraham begot Isaac; and Isaac begot Jacob; and Jacob begot Judah and his brethren; and Judah begot Perez and Zerah of Tamar; and Perez begot Hezron; and Hezron begot Ram; and Ram begot Ammin'adab; and Amminadab begot Nahshon; and Nahshon begot Salmon; and Salmon begot Boaz of Rahab; and Boaz begot Obed of Ruth; and Obed begot Jesse; and Jesse begot David, the king; and David, the king, begot Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah; and Solomon begot Rehoboam; and Rehoboam begot Abijah; and Abijah begot Asa; and Asa begot Jehoshaphat; and Jehoshaphat begot Joram; and Joram begot Uzziah; and Uzziah begot Jotham; and Jotham begot Ahaz; and Ahaz begot Hezekiah; and Hezekiah begot Manasseh; and Manasseh begot Amon; and Amon begot Josiah; and Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon and after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel; and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel; and Zerubbabel begot Abiud; and Abiud begot Eliakim; and Eliakim begot Azor; and Azor begot Sadoc; and Sadoc begot Achim; and Achim begot Eliud; and Eliud begot Eleazar and Eleazar begot Matthan; and Matthan begot Jacob; and Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Jesus being the son of Joseph, [the husband of Mary, who was the daughter of] Heli, who was the son of Matthat, who was the son of Levi, who was the son of Melchi, who was the son of Jannai, who was the son of Joseph, who was the son of Mattathias, who was the son of Amos, who was the son of Nahum, who was the son of Esli, who was the son of Naggai, who was the son of Maath, who was the son of Mattathias, who was the son of Semein, who was the son of Josech, who was the son of Joda, who was the son of Joanan, who was the son of Rhesa, who was the son of Zerubbabel, who was the son of Shealtie, who was the son of Neri, who was the son of Melchi, who was the son of Addi, who was the son of Cosam, who was the son of Elmadam, who was the son or Er, who was the son of Joshua, who was the son of Eliezer, who was the son of Jorim, who was the son of Matthat, who was the son of Levi, who was the son of Simeon, who was the son of Judas, who was the son of Joseph, who was the son of Jonam, who was the son of Eliakim, who was the son of Melea, who was the son of Menna, who was the son of Mattatha, who was the son of David, the king.
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.
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