THE TWO GENEALOGIES OF JESUS

The New Testament contains two lists that outline for us the genealogy of Christ. Matthew records his in Matthew 1:1–17, and Luke presents his in Luke 3:23–38. The apostle Matthew included his genealogy as the first part of his chronological account of the life of Jesus. By contrast, Luke waited until the end of the third chapter of his Gospel to include a genealogy of Jesus. He placed it between the accounts of Jesus’ baptism and His Temptation as a key element of establishing the Messiah’s credentials. To the Jews of Bible times genealogies were extremely important. There were four major reasons that accurate and complete genealogies were so critical to the ancient Jews. First, ancestry determined one’s claim on land, based on the original tribal allocation of the land of Palestine. Second, ancestry determined claims to the right of inheritance. Third, ancestry in Israel established the basis of taxation. Last, and most important, any claim to the priesthood or royalty had to be verified by genealogy. Therefore, in the theocracy of Israel—a kingdom ruled by God, with its legal statutes outlined in Scripture and led by God-ordained priests and kings—genealogies were very critical. That’s why the Jews kept careful, and accurate genealogical records. The genealogies of Jesus Christ in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke reflect those characteristics.

I. The Differences in the Lists

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: 2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. 4 Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. 5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, 6 and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. 7 Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa. 8 Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah. 9 Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah. 11 Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon. 12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel. 13 Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor. 14 Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud. 15 Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob. 16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ. 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations. (Matt. 1:1-17)

A.The lists.

Matthew’s goal in his list was to satisfy the Jews’ concern about Messiah’s legality. Matthew’s list starts with Abraham and traces the Messiah’s line forward to Jesus. Judaism began with Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel. Therefore, it was only necessary to prove Messiah’s credentials to the Jews by tracing His line from Abraham, through David, right down to Jesus.

Luke’s method gives his genealogy more of a dramatic element than Matthew’s. By starting at the present and working back to the past, the beloved physician turned historian and theologian offers us a sense of wonder and excitement as we try to anticipate how far back his genealogy of Jesus will take us.

B. The Differences between the two records.

Luke traces Jesus’ line back to David through Nathan (3:31), David’s third son born to Bathsheba. But Matthew traces Jesus’ line back to David through Solomon (1:6), David’s first son born to Bathsheba.

Luke identifies Jesus’ grandfather as Heli (3:23), whereas Matthew says that His grandfather was a man named Jacob. there are major differences in the genealogies going from David to Christ. Whereas the lists of names are identical from David to Abraham, the two are completely different when you work your way from David to the Lord Jesus.

II. Explaining the Differences in the Lists.

A. In Matthew, the genealogy is paternal.

There is certainly no problem with having two genealogies for Jesus, but yet people often struggle to explain the differences in the two genealogies. But it’s not really that difficult. Matthew goes through Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph; and Joseph’s father, Jacob; back to David.

The necessity to establish His legal right to the throne of David is another very important reason the two Gospel writers gave us two different forms of Jesus’ family tree. And that legal right came through the father; therefore, Matthew’s paternal genealogy proved that Jesus came from a line that proceeded from David through Solomon. That proof is true even though Jesus was not the human son of Joseph. Because Joseph married Mary, the mother of Jesus, he became the legal father of Jesus. As a result, Jesus received from Joseph the full legal right to the throne of David.

B. In Luke, the genealogy is maternal.

Luke’s maternal genealogy further solidifies Jesus’ claim to the throne of David by proving that He has the blood of David in His veins because of His mother, Mary. Luke goes through Jesus’ mother, Mary; and Mary’s father, Heli; back to David.

The Messiah is king legally through Joseph and naturally through Mary. His scriptural credentials are thorough, clear, and irrefutable. From every perspective, we can crown Jesus King of kings and Lord of lords.

III. Critical Reactions to the Lists.

A. Enemies of Christ sought to discredit Him as Messiah.

The thought that Jesus of Nazareth, the son of plain folks like Joseph and Mary, was the Pharisees, Sadducees, and high priests Messiah was offensive to them, and that’s why they ultimately had Him killed.

That’s why Jesus’ foes did everything possible to dishonor Him and disqualify Him from His Messianic claim. And it’s certainly reasonable to assume that, soon after the Lord made that claim, the Jewish leaders scrambled to find the official scroll containing His genealogical information. They would have had to make just a short trip south of Jerusalem to the town of Bethlehem, where the lineages and tax records for the line of David were kept. Once they got hold of those records, they could have determined rather quickly if Joseph and Mary’s ancestry really was Davidic.

B. No one claimed that Jesus didn’t come from David.

Discovering that Jesus didn’t actually belong to the line of David would have been all His opponents needed to discredit Him as Messiah. Even though Jesus did numerous miracles, preached and taught like no other, and claimed to be sent from the Father, discovering that He was not an ancestor of David would have been enough to disprove His Messianic claim.

There was never an official denial that Jesus was from the Davidic line. In fact, here is what the crowds exclaimed during the Passover season just before Jesus’ death, when He made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem “‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Hosanna in the highest!’” (Matt. 21:9). There was simply no denying our Lord’s rightful ancestry and position of highest honor.