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The
two genealogies of Jesus Christ
The
genealogies of Jesus Christ are given in Matthew 1:1-17 and in Luke
3:23-38. We should not feel strange that we have two genealogies. Every
one has two genealogies: one from his father and one from his mother.
Now Jesus' father was God and thus he could not have a genealogy from
his natural father. However his legal standing in the society was
dependant on the man that people supposed to be his father i.e. Joseph.
That's why the Word of God gives two genealogies. Regarding these
genealogies two supposed problems have been expressed. The first problem
is connected with the fact that while in Matthew's genealogy (Matthew
1:16) we are told that:
"Jacob begot Joseph the husband of
Mary"
i.e. that Joseph was a son of Jacob, in
the corresponding genealogy of Luke we read that:
Luke 3:23
"Now Jesus himself began his ministry at about thirty years of age,
being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,
the son of Matthat....."
The
problem is usually created here because people have taken this genealogy
as a genealogy of Joseph. But the genealogy is not Joseph's but JESUS'.
Jesus, who was supposed by the society to be the son of Josef, was the son of Heli, who was the son of Matthat etc. He was not
the son of Heli from Joseph since according to Matthew Joseph was not
begotten by Heli but by Jacob. Through whom therefore was Jesus the son
of Heli? The answer is through Mary of course1.
Apart from this, another point that
has been a source of controversy is the counting of the generations in
verse 17 of Matthew 1, where we read:
Matthew 1:17
"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."
Most
people read the 3 fourteen of the above passage and instead of trying to
find those three fourteen they try to find a single forty two (42).
Really, where does the Word speak for forty two generations? Nowhere.
The only that it speaks is for three groups of fourteen generations
each. Which are these groups? The answer of the Scripture is very clear:
The first group is from Abraham to
David. Really:
"from Abraham to David are
fourteen generations"
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judas, Phares,
Esrom, Aram, Aminadab, Naasson, Salmon, Booz, Obed, Jesse, David.
The
2nd group is from David to the captivity in Babylon. The mistake of many
is that though the Word says "FROM DAVID" they start to count
from Solomon. Following the boundaries of the Word we have:
"from David until the captivity
in Babylon are fourteen generations"
"David, Solomon, Roboam, Abia, Asa,
Josaphat, Joram, Ozias, Joatham, Achaz, Ezekias, Mannasses, Amon, Josias"
This
is the regal group of fourteen generations since all in this group were kings2.
The group starts with David and closes with Josias the last real king3
of the kingdom.
Regarding the third group we are
told that it is from the captivity in Babylon until Christ. Really:
"from the captivity in Babylon
until the Christ are fourteen generations"
Jechonias4,
Salathiel, Zorobabel, Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Sadoc, Achim, Eliud, Eleazar,
Matthan, Jacob, Joseph, Jesus.
As
it is evident therefore, when the Word says three groups of fourteen
generations that is what it means. If we now try to find forty two
generations, we search for something that the Word does not say and
obviously we are going to have problems.
Tassos Kioulachoglou
Footnotes
1.
The fact that instead of Mary's name we have that of her husband
must not be considered as strange. As it can be confirmed by having a
look at the various genealogies given in the Bible it is really a very
rare thing to meet a woman's name in them. This also happens with the
genealogies given in Matthew and in Luke where there isn't any woman in
them. The reason for this has probably to be sought in the oriental
costumes of the lands and times of the Bible (press here
to return where you stopped).
2.
Apart from those kings, three other kings also reigned when the kingdom
was still independent. Those kings were: Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah. Their
omission from the list is made deliberately by God probably because of
their wickedness (see Deuteronomy 29:20) (press here to
return where you stopped).
3.
After the death of Josias in Megiddo (II Chronicles 35:22-23) the
kingdom stopped to be independent and it passed first under the power of
Egypt and ultimately under the power of Babylon (II Chronicles 36) (press
here to return where you stopped).
4.
Though Jechonias is referred two times, one in Matthew 1:11, where
we are told that he and his brothers were begotten "ABOUT the time
of the carrying away to Babylon", and one a verse later in Matthew
1:12 where it says that "AFTER they were brought to Babylon
Jechonias begot Salathiel...", he has to be included in only one of
the two groups that have as boundary the carrying away to Babylon. The
reason is because (in contrast to David in the case of the first and
second group) the boundary is not Jechonias but the captivity in Babylon
and therefore Jechonias in the counting has to be placed in only one of
the two sides of this boundary. The group in which Jechonias belongs is
the third one since in any other case the second group would have
fifteen generations while the third only thirteen which is not what the
Word says (press here to return where you stopped).
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