Geneology of Christ

[truseek]

I have been wondering about this for some time now, and cannot fina a way to recocile the geneology in Matt with the one in Luke. Input?

Also, in a report found in 2Sam 12:7 and 1Chron. 28:4-10, the messianic line of descent was to be through none other than Solomon. But Luke has Jesus descending from Nathan (v. 31), which disqualifies Jesus as being Israel's Messiah. Nathan was not involved in any way in the promise to David to establish his throne forever. Nathan was never a king in Judah.

The geneology in Matt. has King Jeconiah, but:

Jeremiah 22:30 Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah."

From Easton's Revised Bible Dictionary

Jehoiachin

Succeeded his father Jehoiakin (B.C. 599) when only eight years of age, and reigned for one hundred days 2Ch 36:9 He is also called Jeconiah Jer 24:1 27:20 etc., and Coniah Jer 22:24 37:1 He was succeeded by his uncle, Mattaniah Zedekiah (q.v.). He [Jehoiachin] was the last direct heir to the Jewish crown. He was carried captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, along with the flower of the nobility, all the leading men in Jerusalem, and a great body of the general population, some thirteen thousand in all 2Ki 24:12-16 Jer 52:28 After an imprisonment of thirty-seven years Jer 52:31,33 he was liberated by Evil-merodach, and permitted to occupy a place in the king's household and sit at his table, receiving "every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life" Jer 52:32-34

In Christ

Truseek

[Leonard]

Traditionally scholars have proposed that one follows the (adoptive) line of Joseph, while the other follows the lineage of Mary.

[Guest LadyC]

right... one account is jospeh's line, the other is mary's line. joseph was actually adopted by his uncle, so even though it's his 'adoptive line', it's also his biological line.

[Bread_of_Life]

I was actually always confused about the genealogy in the bible, because:

1. It gives 2 of them, and they're different

and

2. It's through Joseph who was no relation to Jesus through seed/blood line

[truseek]

Sa, I think the reason it is thrtough Joseph is because Joseph, though not Christs biologival father, would have been the source of his inheritance.

Why, if one of them is through Mary, do neither mention Mary?

I'm really not tryin to be a pain here, just tryin to figure this out.

In Christ

Truseek

[Leonard]

Difficult to say. I'd have to try to second-guess the motivations of people I don't personally know, and that is difficult even with people I do know. In any event, if the earliest Christians had thought it embarassing, they would have written extensive explanations. So it seems to me, there must have been a perfectly good explanation with which everybody was familiar. That the oral tradition explaining it may not have been passed on, is only greater proof that the early Church took it to be such common knowledge they didn't even need to write it down.

I studied this out many years ago, and though I can't remember quite how it works out, the line through which Joseph was born was rejected from ever having a lineal descendent reign in Israel, yet since they counted geneologies for the royals through the male blood line, being born of Mary would not have qualified Jesus to be King of Israel. So if he's born of Mary, He has to be adopted by a different Davidic line in order to have legitimate succession.

I gave you the gist of it; if you want more info you'll have to search the prophetic Scriptures with a good concordance on your own; I don't see the need for me to go research it again!

[stevehut]

Another explanation that I've heard:

In the Bible, the terms "father" and "son" are not always literal. Sometimes a genealogy may skip a generation because the in-between person is not well-known. So "father" could actually mean "grandfather", or "great-grandfather", etc.

[truseek]

Hrm, interesting, I will most definitely be looking into this further. The trouble is, when I try to find info on it online I mostly tuen up sites that either give a very basic and unsatisfatory view, or sites attempting to discredit the Bible.

In Christ

Truseek

[Guest LadyC]

matthew's account of the geneology of Christ was written for the jews, to demonstrate the royal bloodline being traced back to king david. for this reason, because it is addressing the jews, the lineage is traced through the paternal line... joseph's line. granted, joseph wasn't a biological father to Jesus... no man was. but jewish custom always traced one's lineage through the paternal side of the family.

luke, however, wrote his account for the greeks and gentiles, who weren't interested in Christ's royal lineage. so his account traces Christ's roots through his maternal line all the way back to abraham.

now, i hope i got that all right! i get very confused with the begats and such. in any case, a couple of things to take note of regarding the maternal lineage, which may venture slightly off topic. first, Jesus's lineage through either line gives evidence to his being the king of the jews because mary and joseph shared a good deal of their ancestery as cousins to one another as well as husband and wife. second, tamar is a direct ancestor of mary... which certainly sheds just a little light on why onan was struck down for not complying with the command to provide his brother, tamar's deceased husband, an heir!

you might find this link helpful... click here... i haven't read all the way through it yet so i can't say it will be satisfactory, but somewhere i've seen another site that gave a very good explanation of the two accounts. if you'd like, i'll see if i can find it.

[truseek]

Thank you very much, quite helpful there. This topic has been a major point of contention for many skeptics I know, and myself as well. I hold that all scripture is inerrant, it is just sometime difficult for us to see what the intended meaning was when we forget who it was written to.

In Christ

Truseek