Luke 2-3: What's In A Genealogy?

And all my readers throw their hands in the air and wonder, "There are so many great things in these two chapters, and Nathan picks out the list of boring names?!"

I'll tell you what: you guys can bring up some of the other wonderful tidbits from the rest of the two chapters. I thought I would point out something in the genealogy of Christ in Luke 3:23-38.

It's good to know there are two genealogies of Christ - one in Matthew 1 and one in Luke 3. You would think these two would be identical, but if you glance through them together you will quickly find they are not. Here are a couple of differences:

1. Matthew's genealogy starts with Abraham and works its way down to Jesus. Luke's genealogy starts with Jesus and works backwards all the way to "Adam, the son of God."

2. The names of the men from Abraham to David are identical, but Matthew traces Jesus' lineage through David's son Solomon. Luke traces His line through David's son Nathan. From David, these two genealogies are completely different, obviously tracing two separate lines.

The question is: what does this mean? The most reasonable explanation is one genealogy lists Jesus line through his earthly father, Joseph; and the other follows Mary's ancestry. I believe Matthew is Joseph's genealogy and Luke is Mary's. This would mean that Mary was a descendant of Nathan, son of David, and Joseph was a descendant of Solomon, son of David. They BOTH came through David, of the tribe of Judah.

So, Jesus had a claim to the throne in a LEGAL sense through his earthly father, Joseph. But, if anyone wanted to be picky in that Joseph wasn't REALLY His father, He also had a claim to the throne in a BLOOD sense through His mother, Mary. There is no way to say Jesus is NOT a descendant of David! This was to fulfill prophecy (Luke 1:32, 33: "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end").

Hebrews makes a big deal out of the fact that Jesus is a high priest, but not from the tribe of Levi. He's from the tribe of Judah (Hebrews 7:11-19). This is a NEW priesthood with new rules: a new covenant.

Anyway, those are some thoughts to consider. It IS so cool to see God's plan unveiled. I hope we can all get worked up and be passionate about seeing these things in the word - even in the genealogies!

God bless,
Nathan