Luke 3:23-38 The lineage of faith

Luke 3:23-38 The genealogy of Jesus was discussed earlier (Luke 1:26-38). Here we find what must be Mary's genealogy. The evidence for this is as follows. It is completely different from that given in Matthew 1:1-16, which includes Jeconiah at the time of the deportation to Babylon. (Matthew 1:11-12). Matthew 1:16 says that Jacob begat Joseph - the greek word 'gennao' meaning specifically begotten, born of, conceived. Luke 3:23 says that Joseph was the son - greek word 'huios' of Eli. This word meaning son is also used metaphorically of moral characteristics. Since Mary's parents were never mentioned, we have no idea what this relationship means, in fact, we are only inferring that Eli was Mary's father.

          Why did the Evangelists give us two completely different genealogies? Perhaps we should get the certainty that Jesus was qualified to fulfill the promise that the seed of David would establish his throne forever. (2 Samuel 7:16) To the Jews, this would have been important because the then-reigning kings - Herod's line - were not Jews and not descended from David. This was probably why Herod was so insecure that when he heard that one was born King of the Jews, he engaged in wholesale slaughter to try to eliminate the legitimate King. (Matthew 2:7-8 & 16). However, neither of these genealogies was present at that time. Why were they recorded for us 50-70 years later?

         Could this be a continuation of the Old Testament legacy of recording lineage, that we find in many places, the most notable being I Chronicles 1-8? Matthew showed Jesus' descent from Abraham, important to Jews. Luke showed Jesus' descent from Adam. A simple observation - the line of descent from Abraham given in Matthew 1 passes through Jeconiah, which brought a curse on that line - the Jewish kingly line. The line of descent from Adam passes through Abraham but not through Jeconiah, avoiding the curse. The physical line of Judaism had failed, in Jeconiah. The line of faith that brings us to Mary is the line that brings us the Savior Messiah. Hebrews 11 gives numerous examples to show that it is not physical lineage, but faith, that constitutes being children of God, the theology being presented in Galatians 3.