THE GOSPELS: LESSON 2: THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS

TEXT: MATTHEW 1: 1 - 17 AND LUKE 3: 23 - 36

          Jesus was the son of Joseph by adoption, for he was of the seed of woman (Gen. 3: 15) and the Holy Spirit. However, for the sake of the Jews who were very interested in genealogies and counted their line of descent as a very important part of their identity, it was imperative that God showed that Jesus was:

1. Descended from Abraham (Gen. 12: 3);

2. Of the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49: 10);

3. Of the line of David (Isaiah 9: 7).

MATTHEW 1: 1 - 17

1. Matthew's genealogy traces the ancestry of Jesus through Joseph, his assumed father.

2. Matthew starts his genealogy with Abraham, the father of the Jews.

3. Matthew divides the genealogies into three periods of 14 generations.

The first period (from Abraham to David) was about 1000 years long. (Average generation length: 71.4 years.)

Second period (from David to Babylon) was about 400 years long. (Average generation length: 28.6 years.)

Third period (from Babylon to Christ) was about 600 years long. (Average generation length: 42.9 years.)

4. The genealogy is an ascending one: from earliest generations to the current one (Jesus).

5. Begat (KJV) means "to father a child." The mothers "bear" children, the fathers "beget" them.

6. Five mothers are mentioned in Matthew's genealogy: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. Tamar bore a child by incest. Rahab was a harlot. Ruth was a very good Gentile woman who has a whole book about her. Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah with whom David committed adultery. Mary was a virgin who loved God. All are women whose stories we should know. Obviously Jesus was not crippled by his somewhat "spotty" heritage.

7. The following people in Jesus' genealogy were pretty important – important enough to have at least one major story about them in scripture:

Abraham                 David

Isaac                       Bathsheba

Jacob                      Solomon

Judah                      Rehoboam

Tamar                      Hezekiah                 Do you know all these people? If not, you

Rahab                     Amos                       better look them up and learn about them.

Boaz                        Josiah

Ruth                        Zerubbabel

Jesse 

LUKE 3: 23 - 36

1. Luke's genealogy traces Christ's ancestry through his mother Mary.

2. Luke goes all the way back to Adam with his genealogy.

3. Luke's genealogy is a descending one: it starts with the current generation (Jesus) and goes back to the most remote ancestor (Adam).

4. In verse 27, the KJV lists Joanna, but this is a faulty rendering of Jo-anon, a man, NOT a woman.

5. There are no mothers mentioned in Luke's genealogy.

6. Luke's list adds the following famous (?) Old Testament personalities:

Adam            Noah

Seth              Shem

Enoch           Methusaleh

7. There seems to be a discrepancy between Matthew's and Luke's list, but there probably is not. The differences are explained by the differences in the blood lines followed. There are two points of departure between the two genealogies: Matthew follows Solomon's line and Luke follows the line of Nathan, another son of David. The two lines then converge again in Shealtiel and Zerubbabel. After Zerubbabel, Matthew followed Zerubbabel's son Abiud and Luke follows Rhesa, another son. The lines finally converge again in Christ. This converging and diverging of family lines is not uncommon in a close-knit society like the Jews. Remember, many Jews married relatives (usually cousins, but Abraham and Sarah were half-siblings!), so the lines often crossed and re-crossed later.

NOTE: From the time of the Babylonian captivity (606 BC) until the birth of Jesus (5 BC) Matthew lists 14 generations, while Luke lists 25. Many (most?) Bible scholars say that Matthew left out some generations in his chronology, but that seems an unjustified conclusion. Matthew is very specific about there being fourteen generations. Did he lie to us or intentionally mislead us just so he could make his numerology fit? There is another, better explanation.

          For the 601 years from Babylon to Christ, Matthew's 14 generations means that the average age of the men was about 43 years when they fathered a child. Though it is certainly on the long side, it is not very unusual, considering it was during a time of captivity, wars, and slavery that resulted in the deaths of many of the Jewish men. There were fewer opportunities to marry and beget children. Also, in the strict Jewish culture before Christ it was not uncommon for men to wait until they were over 30 before they got married and had children.

          For the 601 years from Babylon to Christ, Luke's 25 generations means that the average age of the men was about 24 years when they fathered a child. That too is quite common. Some cultures get married younger and so have children more frequently. In pagan cultures younger marriage was quite common, so this line may have had more pagan influences. It is certainly within the boundaries of natural variation for people of one line to have 14 generations in the same 601 years that a more fecund branch produced 25 generations.

          Conclusion: Matthew's 14 generations from the Babylonian captivity are right AND so are Luke's 25 generations. They just reflect different lines with different influences and genetic abilities. There is no need to brand Matthew a liar or an incompetent historian.

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