Genealogies of Jesus

[Olddad]

The New Testament contains two genealogies of Joseph (Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38). However,
They do not agree. Taken literally, they give Joseph two fathers!
Jesus is said not to be the son of Joseph.

I am not satisfied with the explanation that one genealogy applies to Joseph and one to Mary, as both claim to refer to Joseph.

Are there any other ways that Christians explain this apparent inconsistency?

[tango]

This is taken from Albert Barnes' notes on the Bible. If you're interested you can download it for free at www.e-sword.net, along with an electronic copy of the Bible. (I've modified the formatting to make it more readable here, aside from that I've posted it exactly as-is)

Various ways have been proposed to explain this difficulty, but it must be admitted that none of them is perfectly satisfactory. It does not comport with the design of these notes to enter minutely into an explanation of the perplexities of these passages. All that can be done is to suggest the various ways in which attempts have been made to explain them.

1. It is remarked that in nothing are mistakes more likely to occur than in such tables. From the similarity of names, and the different names by which the same person is often called, and from many other causes, errors would be more likely to creep into genealogical tables than in other writings. Some of the difficulties may have possibly occurred from this cause.

2. Most interpreters have supposed that Matthew gives the genealogy of Joseph, and Luke that of Mary. They were both descended from David, but in different lines. This solution derives some plausibility from the fact that the promise was made to David, and as Jesus was not the son of Joseph, it was important to show that Mary was also descended from him. But though this solution is plausible, and may be true, yet it wants evidence. It cannot, however, be proved that this was not the design of Luke.

3. It has been said also that Joseph was the legal son and heir of Heli, though the real son of Jacob, and that thus the two lines terminated in him. This was the explanation suggested by most of the Christian fathers, and on the whole is the most satisfactory. It was a law of the Jews that if a man died without children, his brother should marry his widow. Thus the two lines might have been intermingled, According to this solution, which was first proposed by Africanus, Matthan, descended from Solomon, married Estha, of whom was born Jacob. After Matthan’s death, Matthat being of the same tribe, but of another family, married his widow, and of this marriage Heli was born. Jacob and Heli were therefore children of the same mother. Heli dying without children, his brother Jacob married his widow, and begat Joseph, who was thus the legal son of Heli. This is agreeable to the account in the two evangelists. Matthew says that Jacob begat Joseph; Luke says that Joseph was the son of Heli, i. e., was his legal heir, or was reckoned in law to be his son. This can be seen by the plan on the next page, showing the nature of the connection.


Though these solutions may not seem to be entirely satisfactory, yet there are two additional considerations which should set the matter at rest, and lead to the conclusion that the narratives are not really inconsistent.

1. No difficulty was ever found, or alleged, in regard to them, by any of the early enemies of Christianity. There is no evidence that they ever adduced them as containing a contradiction. Many of those enemies were acute, learned, and able; and they show by their writings that they were not indisposed to detect all the errors that could possibly be found in the sacred narrative. Now it is to be remembered that the Jews were fully competent to show that these tables were incorrect, if they were really so; and it is clear that they were fully disposed, if possible, to do it. The fact, therefore, that it is not done, is clear evidence that they thought it to be correct. The same may be said of the acute pagans who wrote against Christianity. None of them have called in question the correctness of these tables. This is full proof that, in a time when it was easy to understand these tables, they were believed to be correct.

2. The evangelists are not responsible for the correctness of these tables. They are responsible only for what was their real and professed object to do. What was that object? It was to prove to the satisfaction of the Jews that Jesus was descended from David, and therefore that there was no argument from his ancestry that he was not the promised Messiah. Now to make this out, it was not necessary, nor would it have conduced to their argument, to have formed a new table of genealogy. All that could be done was to go to the family records - to the public tables, and copy them as they were actually kept, and show that, according to the records of the nation, Jesus was descended from David. This, among the Jews, would be full and decided testimony in the case. And this was doubtless done. In the same way, the records of a family among us, as they are kept by the family, are proof in courts of justice now of the birth, names, etc., of individuals. Nor is it necessary or proper for a court to call them in question or to attempt to correct them. So, the tables here are good evidence to the only point that the writers wished to establish: that is, to show to the Jews that Jesus of Nazareth was descended from David. The only inquiry which can now be fairly made is whether they copied those tables correctly. It is clear that no man can prove that they did not so copy them, and therefore that no one can adduce them as an argument against the correctness of the New Testament.

[Olddad]

Many thanks for this information. I have read it with interest.

[apothanein kerdos]

The New Testament contains two genealogies of Joseph (Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38). However,
They do not agree. Taken literally, they give Joseph two fathers!
Jesus is said not to be the son of Joseph.

I am not satisfied with the explanation that one genealogy applies to Joseph and one to Mary, as both claim to refer to Joseph.

Are there any other ways that Christians explain this apparent inconsistency?

Yes, only Western Society takes genealogies chronologically. The ancients, however, simply used people who would have been somewhat known either through folklore (not fictional folklore either, just people who were known outside of canonical texts) or some other method. This is why Jesus is called the "Son of David" when He is not literally the son of David - but to the ancients to be of someone's blood line is to be of the son of David.

This is why the genealogies are different - each author put different people of noted respect into the mix.

As for Jesus not being the son of Joseph, the Bible admits as much in the genealogies. There are, however, two ways to look at this, both of which are legitimate:

1) Due to how marriages worked during that time period, Mary would have been related to Joseph somewhere down the line and wouldn't have been that far removed. This means she too would have been of the bloodline of Joseph, which makes the question, "Is Jesus really part of the line of David" null because her relation to Joseph would make the answer, "Yes."

2) Adoption was viewed as coming into the bloodline. It is possible that Joseph adopted Jesus which, in turn, would have made Him a part of Joseph's bloodline. Notice that Emperor Augustus early on in his reign called himself Julius Caesar, after his uncle. The reason is the real Julius Caesar adopted Octavian as his own son and everyone took it literally - he wasn't just adopted, he actually was Julius Caesar's son. Likewise, if Joseph did a similar act, then Jesus would have been considered a legitimate heir and would have justifiably traced his lineage through Joseph's line.

This answer is far more complicated and takes a bit more explaining than the "Joseph vs Mary" lineage, but it also makes the most sense, but still doesn't compromise anything.