Genealogies of Jesus
Why Do Genealogies Matter?
- They show a real world history.
- They show that ordinary people matter in the big scheme of things.
- They remind us that God can use us for a greater purpose, even if we don’t see it ourselves.
- They tell a story of God’s purpose and love for all of his creation - good and bad alike.
- Every person in the genealogy has a story, and, when combined, the genealogy tells a story too.
Why the meaning of names is important: https://www.khouse.org/articles/1996/44/
Comparing The Genealogies Of Jesus
| Matthew | Luke | John | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| God | God | ||
| Adam | Man, Red, One from the soil, Beginning | ||
| Seth | Set, Appointed, Foundation | ||
| Enosh | Man, Weak But Social Individual, Frail and miserable, Mortal | ||
| Kenan/Cainan | Acquirer, Networker, one who obtains, possessor, sorrow, dirge, elegy | ||
| Mahalalel | Praise Of God | ||
| Jared | Descent, to go down or descend, shall come down | ||
| Enoch | Inaugurated, Trained, Dedicated, teaching | ||
| Methuselah | When he is dead it shall be sent | ||
| Lamech | Strong man, For humiliation | ||
| Noah | Rest | ||
| Shem | Name, Fame, Conscious Knowledge Of The Whole Of Creation | ||
| Arphaxad | Unclear but possibly: Boundary Of The Chaldeans. | ||
| Kenan/Cainan | Acquirer, Networker, one who obtains, possessor, sorrow, dirge, elegy | ||
| Shelah | Missionary, Emissary | ||
| Eber | The Region Beyond, One From Beyond, He Who Passed Over | ||
| Peleg | Division, Dividing Canal | ||
| Reu | Friend, Associate | ||
| Serug | Branch | ||
| Nahor | Snort, Scorched, Freeman | ||
| Terah | Breather, Delay, Wanderer | ||
| Abraham | Abraham | Unclear but perhaps: Their Protection, Their Shield. | |
| Isaac | Isaac | Laughter, He Will Laugh | |
| Jacob | Jacob | He Who Closely Follows, Supplanter | |
| Judah | Judah | Praised, Let Him Be Praised | |
| Perez by Tamar | Perez | A Breach | |
| Hezron | Hezron | Enclosure, Cluster, Village | |
| Ram | Ram/Aram/Arni | High, Exalted | |
| Admin* | |||
| Amminadab | Amminadab | People of Liberality, My Kinsman Is Noble | |
| Nahshon | Nahshon | Serpent, Bronze, Oracle | |
| Salmon | Sala | Robe Man, Coat Rack | |
| Boaz by Rahab | Boaz | In Strength, By Strength | |
| Obed by Ruth | Obed | Servant, Slave | |
| Jesse | Jesse | My Husband, Yah Exists | |
| David | David | Beloved, Weak, Flowing | |
| Solomon by the wife of Uriah | Recompense, Completeness, Peace | ||
| Rehoboam | The People Are Enlarged, People Of Width | ||
| Abijah | Yah Is (My) Father | ||
| Asaph (Asa) | Asa: Man Of Sorrows, Healer; Asaph: Gatherer, Collector | ||
| Jehoshaphat | Yah Has Judged, Yah Governs | ||
| Joram (Jehoram) | Joram: Yah Is Exalted, The Lord Exalts; Jehoram: Yah Is High | ||
| Uzziah | Power Of Yah, Yah Is Strong, Yah Is My Strength | ||
| Jotham | Yah Is Perfect, Yah Is Complete | ||
| Ahaz | He Has Grasped, Possessor | ||
| Hezekiah | Yah Strengthens | ||
| Manasseh | Forgetting, Evaporating | ||
| Amos (Amon) | Amos: Burden; Amon: Master Workman, A Nourisher | ||
| Josiah | Despair Of Yah, Fire Offering Of Yah | ||
| Jechoniah | Yah Establishes, The Lord Will Establish | ||
| Shealtiel | I Have Asked God | ||
| Zerubbabel | Seed Of Babel | ||
| Abiud | My Father Is Majesty, Father Of Praise | ||
| Eliakim | God Sets Up | ||
| Azor | |||
| Zadok | Righteous, Just | ||
| Achim | Established, Raised up | ||
| Eliud | My God Is Majestic | ||
| Eleazar | God Has Helped, Whom God Helps | ||
| Matthan | Gift | ||
| Jacob | He Who Closely Follows, Supplanter | ||
| Nathan | Given, He Gives | ||
| Mattatha | Gift Of Yah | ||
| Menna | |||
| Melea | Fullness | ||
| Eliakim | God Sets Up | ||
| Jonam | He Will Be Gracious, Yah Is Gracious | ||
| Joseph | Increaser, May He Add | ||
| Judah | Praised, Let Him Be Praised | ||
| Simeon | He Who Hears | ||
| Levi | Joined, Joiner | ||
| Matthat | Gift | ||
| Jorim | Yah Is Exalted | ||
| Eliezer | God Of Help, God Is Help | ||
| Joshua | Yah Saves, Yah Will Save, Yah Is Salvation | ||
| Er | City, Aroused, Wild Ass | ||
| Elmadam | God Of Blood | ||
| Cosam | |||
| Addi | My Witness, My Era | ||
| Melchi | My King, Royal | ||
| Neri | My Lamp, Bright | ||
| Shealtiel | I Have Asked God | ||
| Zerubbabel | Seed Of Babel | ||
| Rhesa | Pinnacle, Disenfranchised | ||
| Jaonan | |||
| Joda | |||
| Josech | |||
| Semien | |||
| Mattathias | Gift Of Yah | ||
| Maath | Small | ||
| Naggai | Shining | ||
| Esli | Reserved, Approximation Of Yah | ||
| Nahum | Compassion, Consolation | ||
| Amos | Burden | ||
| Mattathias | Gift Of Yah | ||
| Joseph | Increaser, May He Add | ||
| Jannai | |||
| Melchi | My King, Royal | ||
| Levi | Joined, Joiner | ||
| Matthat | Gift | ||
| Heli | My God, (Yah is) High | ||
| Joseph the husband of Mary | Joseph | Increaser, May He Add | |
| Jesus | Jesus | Jesus | Yah Will Save, Yah Saves |
Outline
- 3 genealogies
- Matthew
- Jacob’s family line
- “begat”
- Descended from David’s son Solomon
- Forward through time - Abraham to Jesus - typical of Jewish genealogies
- 5 women mentioned - not typical of Jewish genealogies
- Covenant fulfillment (2 Samuel 7:12-16)
- Curse of Jechoniah (2 Chronicles 36, Jeremiah 22:30, Coniah/Jehoiachin)
- Human/legal heir to the throne
- Joram - Uzziah skipped (2 Chronicles 22-25):
- Ahaziah - Yah Has Grasped
- Joash
- Amaziah - Yah Is Strong, Strength Of Yah
- Josiah - Jechoniah skipped (2 Chronicles 36):
- Eliakim/Jehoiakim - God Sets Up / Yahu Raises Up
- Egyptian gap: Judah, Perez, Hezron (Genesis 46:12) - Nahshon son of Amminadab (Numbers 7:12)
- Includes the Babylonian exile.
- 42 generations called out (3 groups of 14 each) but the number is not accurate.
- Luke
- Mary’s family line
- “[son] of”
- Descended from David’s son Nathan
- Backward through time - Jesus to Adam - not typical of Jewish genealogies
- Divine lineage - offspring of Eve (Genesis 3:15)
- Mary as female heir (Numbers 36)
- Spiritual heir to the throne
- Mary’s relative Elizabeth is a Levite
- John
- Son of God
- Eternal
- begat vs son of - biological vs adopted
- Two branches of Davidic lineage
- Some names are spelled/translated differently by different translators. (Ram/Aram/Arni; Cainan/Kenan)
- Matthew
The Genealogies of Jesus
When I first read the genealogies of Jesus, I basically skipped over them. They just seemed like a collection of names that meant very little to me.
Then I discovered that the genealogies didn’t even match, and that made me doubt the infallibility of the Bible. I mean they listed Joseph as the son of two different fathers - how could that be right!?
Over time I would learn a little bit more, here and there, about the genealogies. And I knew that one day I would have to dig in for myself and try to understand why they are in the Bible, and why they are different. There had to be a reason, and I wanted to know it.
It turns out that there is a reason, or at least a story, behind the genealogies. And it’s a fascinating one. But the more you dig into the genealogies, the more questions you find yourself asking. So, I’m probably not completely done studying them - I’m just a lot further along than I was before.
Three Genealogies
There are actually 3 genealogies in the gospels. There’s the genealogy through Joseph in Matthew 1:1-16, the genealogy through Mary in Luke 3:23-38, and the “genealogy” of Jesus as the Son of God in John 1:1-5.
Matthew and Luke’s genealogies look similar enough at first glance to be deceiving, but once you dig deeper you continue to find more and more nuance to each one.
For example, Matthew’s genealogy starts with Abraham and lists out each father as begetting a son going forward into the future until he gets to Joseph, where he breaks the chain and makes sure to say that Jesus was born of Mary. It’s form is of a typical structure when compared to other genealogies in the Old Testament, and is our first hint that Matthew was probably writing to a predominantly Jewish audience. The underlying implication is that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise that God made to David in 2 Samuel 7:12-16.
The genealogy in Luke, however, starts with Jesus and goes backward in time, past Abraham, to Adam and then God listing each man as being the “son of” the next. The underlying implication is that Jesus is of the line of humans that started with Adam - that is to say, not just Jewish, but related to everyone. There’s also the unspoken reminder of what God said to the serpent about Eve’s offspring in Genesis 3:15.
The New Adam
Matthew 1:1 (“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ”) parallels Genesis 5:1 (“The book of the generations of Adam”).
The genealogy in Genesis goes forward from Adam to Noah. The genealogy in Matthew goes backward from Jesus to Adam.
Jewish scholars probably would have picked up on this and drawn the conclusion that Matthew is implying that Jesus is the new Adam, or as significant as Adam, or the completion of what God started with Adam, or something along those lines.
Names In The Genealogies
When it comes to the names in the genealogies, you have to keep in mind that they have been translated across different languages and across many centuries. Some of the spellings are different depending on what translation you read, and the name itself my be different depending on the original text used by the translators. For example, Ram also appears as Aram (not too big a leap) or Arni (which is the Greek for Ram). Also, Salmon in Matthew appears as Sala in Luke, which probably hints to Luke being from Assyria since Sala would have been the Assyrian form for Salmon. These are the kind of details that you have to dig into your study bible to find out, and I usually have to consult several different study bibles to get a fuller understanding. All that to say that what appear to be major differences at first glance turn out to not be that big of a difference if you take the context of the translators into account when you’re reading.
Women In Matthew’s Genealogy
One thing that is not typical of Jewish genealogies in Matthew’s genealogy is that there are five women included, and to take it a step further, each of these women were blemished in one way or another from a Jewish perspective.
Tamar: Tamar was the daughter-in-law of Judah. Her story is told in Genesis 38. Two of Judah’s sons died while married to her, so he didn’t want to give her his third son. Since he deceived her, she deceived him and pretended to be a prostitute when she heard that he was coming to a town near her. He got her pregnant, and that child became an ancestor in the family line of Jesus.
Rahab: Rahab was a Canaanite prostitute. Her story is told in Joshua 2 and Joshua 6. She helped the Israelite spies escape from Jericho when Joshua sent them in to spy it out, and in return they promised to spare her and her family.
Ruth: - Ruth was a Moabite woman. Her story is told in the book of Ruth (one of only two women in the Bible to have a book named after them). Her character and morality are of the highest quality, especially compared to the moral degeneracy of Israel during the time of the Judges, which is when her story takes place. According to the genealogy, Rahab was her mother-in-law by Boaz; Naomi being her mother-in-law by her first husband.
Bathsheba - David took Bathsheba, and had her husband killed. Her story begins in 2 Samuel 11. Bathsheba’s story is not reflective so much of her immorality, but rather of David’s. She becomes the mother of Solomon, but Solomon also squandered the wisdom that God gave him by setting up altars to other gods and leaving Israel in a divided state at the end of his reign. David’s temptation for her ended up shaping the entire future of Israel and the world.
Mary: - Mary is the mother of Jesus. Her story begins in the gospels, mainly Matthew and Luke. From a strictly legal Jewish perspective, though, she was pregnant out of wedlock, which meant that they could have stoned her to death. I’ll dig into her story more later.
”Begat” vs “[Son] of”
Matthew’s genealogy lists the names in forward chronological order (from the past to the present) and specifies that each father “begat” (KJV) a son.
The word “beget” means to procreate or generate offspring, and is usually used in the context of a male parent. This is in contrast to “adopt,” which means to take as one’s own.
So, a father can have children that he biologically begat, as well as children that he adopted.
The fact that Matthew uses the word begat shows that Joseph was the physical descendant of David through Solomon.
In Luke’s genealogy the names are listed in reverse chronological order (from present to past) and specifies that each man was the “[son] of” his father. This implies that adoption would have been a valid means of lineage since parenthood is only implied since the original text does not specifically say “son of”, but only “of” - the “son” part is implied.
Why is this so important? Well, because when you compare Matthew’s and Luke’s genealogies you will see that Joseph ends up having two different fathers (begat by Jacob, and ”/[son/] of” Heli). This implies that Joseph was perhaps adopted even though his biological father was known.
Another thing to consider in this line of thinking is that we know that Jesus is the only begotten son of God (John 3:16) but Luke calls Adam the son of God in his genealogy - again emphasizing the difference between begotten and adopted.
A Cursed Blood-line
There is a curse on one of the men in Matthew’s genealogy (Jechonias - 2 Chronicles 36:9-10) removing the kingly line from him and his descendants (Jeremiah 22:30). He is also the second to last king to reign during the first temple era. After this there will not be another sovereign king on the throne of Israel because they will always be under the rule of a foreign authority - Persians, then Greeks, then Romans. See the notes on Luke 3 for details about how God fulfilled his promise to David that he made in 2 Samuel 7. The kings that they will have, such as Herod, will always be subjected to a higher earthly authority, like how Herod was a subject of the Roman emperor.
His relative (either brother or uncle depending on the translator) was the last king, so it was not his offspring, which the curse said it could not be.
This curse means that Joseph’s actual bloodline - the true royal bloodline - was cursed, and could not produce another king of Israel. But, as Joseph’s adopted son, Jesus inherited the royal right to the throne, without the curse of the bloodline.
Mary’s bloodline, in Luke, was also from David but bypassed the blood curse, which means that through Mary Jesus still fulfilled God’s promise to David that he would always have an heir on the throne of Israel.
Babylonian Exile
Matthew includes the Babylonian exile as part of his genealogy. The significance of this might be to mark a change in God’s relationship with Israel. This happens at the same time that Jeremiah pronounced the curse that ended the kingly line that descended from Solomon.
God brought the exiles back from Babylon after 70 years, but Israel was never a sovereign nation again. In fact, it was destroyed once again after Jesus.
And today, since 1948, it is a sovereign nation once again - waiting to build the temple for a third time.
The first temple era started with Solomon and ended with the Babylonian exile. The second temple era started with the remnant that returned from exile and ended with Jesus and the apostles. The third temple era has yet to start, but will end with the return of Christ.
Joseph’s Two Fathers
Assuming that Matthew’s genealogy relates to Joseph, and Luke’s relates to Mary, then Mary and Joseph were both from the tribe of Judah - both being descendants of David. The genealogies, however, both name Joseph as the descendant - even though they attribute different fathers to him (Jacob in Matthew’s genealogy and Heli in Luke’s).
In Numbers 36 Moses was telling the tribes of Israel what portion of the promised land belonged to each of them. And there was a man named Zelophehad who had no sons but only daughters to whom an inheritance was to be given. The daughters asked to receive the inheritance of their father, and were given it, but the other men of their tribe complained that if the women married men from other tribes their inheritance would gradually be reduced as the other tribes took it by marriage. So the Lord gave Moses the law that the daughters would keep their inheritance only if they married within their tribe.
According to a discovery made by C.I. Scofield, Joseph was probably adopted by Mary’s father when he married her because she had no brothers to receive her father’s inheritance. The only way she could receive the inheritance was if she married someone from her own tribe.
It is said that Mary did not have any brothers. You can only find this in the Bible through deductive reasoning. This discovery was attributed to Dr. C. I. Scofield, editor of the Scofield Study Bible. It was in support of his position that because of a blood curse on the Davidic royal line see: Matthew 1, the Lord’s claim to the Throne of David could only have come through Mary, a descendant of David’s, and then only if she had no brothers.
According to Numbers 36:8 this would give her the right of inheritance as long as she married within the tribe of Judah. (Joseph was of both the tribe of Judah and the cursed royal line.) Conceiving the Lord without the participation of her betrothed husband sidestepped the blood curse because her son would have none of Joseph’s blood. When Mary and Joseph were wed, Jesus became Joseph’s son and heir, the only man in the last 2600 years to have a legal right to the Throne of David.
Further evidence that Mary had no brothers is that after the crucifixion she became the responsibility of the apostle John, not a brother as would have been Jewish custom had she had any. Knowing she had nowhere to go, the Lord saw to this from the cross (John 19:26-27. Also, the Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible indicates that it was Jewish custom for a son-in-law to be adopted when the father of the bride had no son, as was the case with Mary’s father. Some say this is why Joseph is called a son of Heli (Mary’s father) in Luke’s genealogy of the Lord (Luke 3:23).
Source: https://gracethrufaith.com/ask-a-bible-teacher/did-mary-have-any-brothers/
Elizabeth Is A Levite
Luke 1:5 tells us that Elizabeth is a daughter of Aaron - so she’s of the tribe of Levi. And Luke 1:36 tells us that Elizabeth is Mary’s relative. So, does that mean that Mary is of the tribe of Levi?
First, the term translated as “relative” in Luke 1:36 is not specific. Some translators translate it as “cousin” but it’s not necessarily that specific.
Second, Mary is a young girl (a virgin), and Elizabeth is an old woman (past the age of bearing children), so you have to break the concept that they are of the same generation. They are not. Elizabeth is likely old enough to be Mary’s mother, or even grandmother.
It’s possible that they are related, by marriage, because their relatives married across tribal boundaries. The argument that Mary must be a Levite because Elizabeth is does not hold water.
If Joseph was Jesus’ biological father, and he is from the tribe of Judah, and Mary is from the tribe of Levi, then Jesus would be from the tribe of Judah, but John the baptist would be from Levi, so, since John’s cousin Jesus would be from the tribe of Judah does that imply that John is also from the tribe of Judah? No.
Because people were allowed to marry across tribal boundaries, they can have relatives from different tribes. Marrying across tribal boundaries is exactly the issue that the inheritance law from Numbers 36 was made to address.
The Number 7
Considering the significance of the numbers in both Matthew and Luke’s genealogies, it could be that neither of them is an actual biological genealogy, and both are theological in nature.
At the end of his genealogy Matthew calls out that there are 3 groups of 14 generations each spanning the major events of Israel’s past - Abraham to David, David to the exile to Babylon, and the exile to Babylon to Jesus.
Some names are left out of Matthew’s genealogy, though. Between Joram and Uzziah he left out Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah. And between Josiah and Jechoniah he left out Eliakim.
Also, there are only 41 men (including Jesus) listed in the genealogy, so it doesn’t work out to a complete 42 generations. Why leave names out and come up short in terms of the total count?
Also, the number of generations from Abraham to David don’t seem to account for the time that Israel would have been in Egypt (about 400 years). It’s hard to imagine the population of Israel going from 70 men to 600,000 men in only 4 generations.
Genesis 46:12 says that Judah, Perez, Hezron entered Egypt in the days of Joseph, and Numbers 7:12 says that Nahshon son of Amminadab was the leader of the tribe of Judah when God told Moses to organize them before they departed from Mt. Sinai.
That means that the lives of Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, and Nahshon spanned the entire time Israel was in Egypt.
Nobody really knows why he called out these groups of 14 generations. There’s a few different theories that are based in numerology but none of them have really convinced me yet.
42 = 7 x 2 x 3 or 7 x 6
7 being the number of completion and it being multiplied by 2 making it doubly complete, and then repeated 3 times for emphasis.
Maybe it has something to do with God’s completeness (7) and His work in each era being complete (7).
Another take on this is that 42 is equal to 6 groups of 7, and that has some relation to the 6 days of creation and the 7th day of rest from Genesis.
DaViD
D appears 4th in the Hebrew alphabet and V appears 6th. D = 4, V = 6 4 + 6 + 4 = 14 alluding to David, repeated 3 times for emphasis
There are also other explanations out there, but none of them are very convincing as to why this was included in Matthew’s scripture.
3 Eras
One aspect of the 3 eras - not considering them from a purely numeric standpoint - are perhaps how they relate to the three stages of Gods relationship with us. He builds us up (Abraham to David), He allows us to express our will, which ends up with us sinning (David to exile), and He redeems us (exile to Jesus).
77 Generations
Luke doesn’t call out the number of generations in his genealogy, but it does add up to 77, and it does appear to be grouped by 11 groups of 7 generations each.
77 is the number of full completion. (Genesis 4:24, Matthew 18:22)
Jesus (77th) Joseph (precedes Jesus) Heli Matthat Levi Melchi Jannai
Joseph (precedes Jesus) Mattathias Amos Nahum Esli Naggai Maath
Mattathias Semein Josech Joda Joanan Rhesa Zerubbabel
Shealtiel Neri Melchi Addi Coasm Elmadam Er
Joshua (similar spelling/translation to the name Jesus) (49th = 7 x 7) Eliezer Jorim Matthat Levi Simeon Judah
Joseph (precedes Joshua/Jesus) Jonam Eliakim Melea Menna Mattatha Nathan
David Jesse Obed Boaz Sala (Salmon) Nahshon Amminadab
Admin Arni (Ram) Hezron Perz Judah Jacob Isaac
Abraham Terah Nahor Serug Reu Peleg Eber
Shelah Cainan Arphaxad Shem Noah Lamech Methuselah
Enoch Jared Mahalalel Kenan Enosh Seth Adam
Jesus Is The Son Of God
The genealogy in Luke seems to focus more on the divine lineage of Jesus as the Son of God. And the genealogy in Matthew seems to focus more on the covenant fulfilling aspect of Jesus as a descendant of Abraham.
The whole point of the different genealogies seems to be God’s way of pointing out that Jesus was the only possible person who could ever fulfill His promises to David and Abraham. And, being eternal, He set the conditions in place hundreds and even thousands of years in advance for these things to come about in a special way.
God sent His son into the world through the story of all of creation that came from Him. Not as an external deity, but as a living, loving part of that very creation.
Other Resources
BibleArc - Matthew 1:1-17: https://biblearc.com/author/Sujay_Thomas/Messiahs_Genealogy_The_Promised_Seed/
Name meanings taken from: https://www.abarim-publications.com/NaLi/A-MaleBig.html