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Why Matthew and Luke have different genealogies
Every year we seem to rush through Christmas and never stop to hear the stunning messages the angel Gabriel dropped on Mary. We hear that Mary will give birth to a child that has no human father. Then we switch off. Mary didn’t. We know because she told us. The rest of the message must have been even more stunning to her.
When the angel Gabriel made his announcement to Mary, he stunned her first with the revelation that she would give birth as a virgin. By the way both Matthew and Luke claim a virgin birth. Now the critics argue that both Matthew and Luke derive that claim from a misinterpretation of Isaiah 7:14. “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son.” They argue that the Hebrew word Almah does not mean virgin. The funny thing is the Old Testament usage of the word does imply virgin. Proverbs 30:19 points to the ecstasy beyond understanding of a man falling in love with an almah, contrasted in the next verse to a harlot. More specifically Genesis 24:16, 43 distinguishes a woman “whom no man had known” as “the” almah. Strangely I find that fairly convincing. But why argue over one word, when the Old Testament is far more explicit that God will father a child – not just any child - the child who has to be a non-biological first born son of a man of the exact line of Joseph and a woman who is a derivative of King David. Read on it will be obvious.
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Gabriel first shocked Mary when he told her she would have a virgin birth. Then he shocked her a second time with the words that followed. Although these words may not resonate with many readers, there is no doubt they would have seriously shocked Mary. Those words appear in our Bibles because Mary understood and reported what she heard. You see Mary was under the impression her fiancé was a humble carpenter, but Gabriel’s words revealed to her that Joseph was the highest level of royalty in the land. He was the legal heir to the throne of the great King David, the prince of all Israel. How ironic that he was denied accommodation in his own town when he and Mary should have been provided a palace.
Gabriel then told Mary her son would be given the throne of David. He didn’t say a greater throne or a different throne. It was that exact throne.
We know from the Old Testament that there was only one way this qualification could be met. Three criteria must be satisfied.
First he had to be a direct biological descendant of King David because this was part of God’s covenant with King David.
Second he could NOT be a biological descendant of King Jeconiah (and therefore of Joseph), because God had decreed through Jeremiah that none of Jeconiah’s biological descendants could ascend to the throne.
Third he had to be the legitimate heir through King Jeconiah of Judah, because although King Jeconiah was never king of the northern kingdom, he was still the legitimate heir to the whole kingdom, just as David was.
The First condition was satisfied through Mary. Matthew tells us they were actually married before Jesus was born. Mary became a Joseph when she married Joseph. The custom of a woman taking on her husband’s name carries through to the present day.
She was a Joseph. In the source texts of modern translations (Textus Receptus, etc) all the other ancestors of Mary are specified by Luke with the definite article (the Eli, etc) whereas Mary is simply called a Joseph implying that she was other than “the” Joseph that would normally appear in a genealogy. Here is Luke’s genealogy (in reverse order to Luke):
The David
The Nathan
The Mattatha
The Menan
The Melea
The Eliakim
The Jonam
The Joseph
The Judah
The Simeon
The Levi
The Matthat
The Jorim
The Eliezer
The Jose
The Er
The Elmodam
The Cosam
The Addi
The Melchi
The Neri
The Salathiel
The Zorobabel
The Rhesa
The Joannan
The Juda
The Joseph
The Semei
The Mattathias
The Maath
The Nagge
The Esli
The Naum
The Amos
The Mattathias
The Joseph
The Janna
The Melchi
The Levi
The Matthat
The Eli
A Joseph (meaning Mary)
The son Jesus
The second condition was satisfied in that Joseph was a kind of step father of Jesus but not the biological father. Nevertheless Jesus was his firstborn. He passed on the succession to his firstborn son. God proclaimed in three different Old Testament passages (1 Chronicles 17, 2 Samuel 7, Psalm 89) that there was a time coming in the succession of heirs to the throne of David when He (God) would be the father of the next in line and His (God’s) son would reign forever on David’s throne. God set the rules for succession and God decreed three times in the Old Testament that this specific succession would be legitimate.
The third condition is demonstrated in detail by Matthew. Matthew’s genealogy is not quite a genealogy at all. It is the legitimate line of succession to King David’s throne. Here is how it works. If the name is in brackets Matthew didn’t list him (or her in the case of Athaliah) and the reasons are shown.
King David
Solomon – True heir
Rehoboam – True heir
Abijam – True heir
Asa – True heir
Jehosaphat – True heir
Jehoram – True heir
(Firstborn of Jehoram) – Cannot be listed because his line does not produce heir
(Ahaziah) – Cannot be listed because not true heir
(Athaliah) – Cannot be listed because not true heir
(Joash) – Cannot be listed because not true heir
(Amaziah) – Cannot be listed because not true heir
Uzziah - True heir after extinction of firstborn line
Joatham – True heir
Ahaz– True heir
Hezekiah – True heir
Manasseh – True heir
Amon – True heir
Josiah – True heir
(Johanan) - True heir but cannot be listed because his line does not produce heir
(Jehoahaz) - Cannot be listed because not true heir
(Jehoakim) – Cannot be listed because not true heir
Jechoniah -True heir after extinction of Johanan line
(Zedekiah) - Cannot be listed because not true heir
Shealtiel - True heir but banned from throne
Zerubbabel – True heir but banned from throne
Abiud – True heir but banned from throne
Eliakim – True heir but banned from throne
Azor – True heir but banned from throne
Zadoc – True heir but banned from throne
Achim – True heir but banned from throne
Eliud – True heir but banned from throne
Eleazar – True heir but banned from throne
Matthan – True heir but banned from throne
Jacob – True heir but banned from throne
Joseph – True heir but banned from throne
Jesus – True heir but not banned from throne because not biological son of Joseph
Now that you understand the implications, take a moment to digest the magnitude of Gabriel’s words to Mary.
Luke 1:31-35
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
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