What's in a name? A look at genealogies…

1. Study Matt 1:1-18 and Luke 3:23-38. What do you know about the authors?

Matthew was financially well off and had his own house. He was educated and knew how to read and write. As a Jewish publican, a tax collector, fellow Jews despised him. Luke was a physician and companion of Paul. As a Gentile, he recorded as a historian and did careful research.

2. Make a table of the names. What do you notice?

Italic text: Matt 1: 1-18 and Bold text: Luke 3:23-38

Notice in Matthew:

-was written for the Jewish audience. The questions Jews had were in regard to Christ’s royal-legal lineage as decreed by the Davidic covenants (2 Sam 7:8-13). This is the lineage of Joseph.

-descending order: "...father of..." with the range of genealogy: Abraham-Jesus.

-5 women noted:

-Tamar (Gen 38:6-29) and Rahab (Josh 2:1-21; 6:17-25) were prostitutes, Ruth (Ruth 1:4-16; 4:10-22) was a Moabitess, and Bathsheba (2 Sam 11:3-5, 14-24; 12:24) was an adulteress.

-Mary had the pattern break: "...the husband of Mary, by whom was born Jesus,...." The Greek term "by whom" indicates that Jesus was the physical child of Mary but not of Joseph.

-Jeconiah, the last Jewish king, is included. Jeremiah's prophecy as, "Record this man as if childless" (Jer 22:30), is in reference to God's judgment to end the Jewish kingship at Jeconiah and deny the occupation of the throne by Jeconiah's descendants and thus deny future blessings. Thus if Jesus was a physical descendant of Jeconiah, He would not be able to sit at David's throne. (2 Chron 36:9-10 Jehoaichin is equivalent to Jechoniah.)

-the genealogical list is short because, in part, Matthew does not list some generations. The reasons are not clear; however, a pattern emerges in his list. The list is broken down into 3 time periods: a) Abraham and David, b) David and the Exile, and c) the Exile and Jesus. During each period, Matthew lists only 14 generations.

Notice in Luke:

-ascending order: "...son of ..."

-range of genealogy: Jesus-God

-the pattern break is noted in the beginning, "…, being supposedly the son of Joseph,…"

-unlike Matthew's list, Luke traces David's line through Nathan. Many scholars believe that Luke was tracing Mary's line and showing that, as she was from David's line, Jesus fulfills the Davidic covenant.

3. In Deuteronomy 21:16, Jewish birthrights are only passed through the father. Does this eliminate Jesus from receiving the kingly rights of the Davidic bloodline?

In Numbers 26 and 27, there is a story of Zelophehad who had only daughters. Moses prayed to God, and the Lord told Moses that the inheritance can flow to the female only if a) there were no male offspring (Num 27:8), and b) if there is marriage, the daughter must marry within their own tribe (Num 36:6). Mary had no brothers and married within her own tribe to Joseph!! Wow!

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