Bible Question: 1) If it is true that Jewish genealogy traces the Mothers side, then why is the focus on Joseph rather than Mary in the Matthew and Luke genealogies? 2) Where do you find evidence that Mary was a decendant of David? |
Bible Answer: While I think that this subject has been beaten around the bush enough, I did find your questions interesting and decided to give it a try. As stated all through out the strand, there are two geneologies given: one in Matthew and one in Luke. One gives Joseph's geneology and the other gives Mary's geneology. Now, Matthew uses different language in his version than Dr. Luke. Notice that Matthew says "begat" (KJV) and "was born" (NASB), thus presenting the lineage in the form of physical birth and physical descendants. Also notice in Matthew 1:16 that he changes the wording slightly. He says that Joseph was the husband of Mary and that Jesus was born to Mary. He doesn't say that Jesus was born to Joseph like he does with the others. Thus, Matthew clarifies that Joseph was given charge to raising the young messiah, but was not his direct Father. Later on, with Joseph's conversation with the angel, we find that the angel was giving Joseph the responsibility to raise Jesus as his son. So, according to Jewish Law, Joseph would adopt Jesus as his son and Jesus, through adoption law, would be entitled to the throne that Joseph a was descendant of. Now, as for Dr. Luke's geneology. Keep in mind that Joseph was given the responsibility to raise Jesus. Now, here Dr. Luke uses different terms than Matthew. Dr. Luke says, "the son of" all throughout the geneology list. Now, there are a few interesting things about this list. First, Dr. Luke gives the age of Jesus when he began his ministry at the start of the geneology. Jesus is 30 years old. Why is this significant? Well, it establishes that Jesus was officially the age of adulthood and was legally able to go out on his own. The second thing I find interesting is that Dr. Luke goes through Nathan, the brother of Solomon, to establish the line to the throne. Remember that Jeconiah, descendant of Solomon and last king of Judah, was removed from the throne by God and the line of Solomon was denied access to the throne of David. Therefore, Jesus had to be a descendant of David through a different child of David than Solomon. Dr. Luke establishes this. The final part I find interesting is at the close of the geneology. Notice that Dr. Luke records the line all the way back to God, through Seth, the son of Adam. By doing this, Dr. Luke confirms that Jesus fulfilled the messianic prophecy of Genesis 3. Now for why Dr. Luke's geneology is that of Mary. We have already established that Matthew talks about birth parents. Dr. Luke is talking in different terms. With that in mind, and that Joseph was given charge over Jesus' up-bringing, and that Joseph married Mary, this lineage must be establishing a line through Mary, but using Joseph as the legal start. Through marriage, Joseph was the son of Mary's father. Joseph would recieve everything that Mary would recieve in her inheritance through legal marriage. Jesus would also benefit through Joseph legally adopting Jesus, as was custom in those days, and through being birth decendant of Mary's father. So, Dr. Luke's account must be about Mary. Jesus Loves You! Jesusman |