December 23, 2020 This is not an easy topic. There are many theories and ideas from both Apologetics and Atheists. Some will point out quickly that the lineage in Matthew contradicts the lineage in Luke. At first glance, yes. This topic ought to interest anyone who wants to know if Jesus is who God says he is. It was so important to Matthew, a Jewish tax collector, that he begins his account and Gospel writings with a genealogy. Consider the placement of Matthew's writings in the context of the entire Bible. Matthew opens the entire New Testament. The lineage listed in Matthew is extremely important to the entire Bible because it ties the Old Testament together with the New Testament and tells us Jesus is the Messiah the Jews had been anticipating. Matthew also alludes to the fact that Jesus was not only the Savior for the Jews but also for the Gentiles. We must begin by talking about the way in which records were made and why they were important to record at all. Why did these records exist? They easily existed for the importance of land ownership since land was crucial to existence in Israel in the bible times. God promises land to Abraham and his descendants forever. Genesis 13:15 ; Genesis 15:18. These records eventually became necessary to secure the inheritance rites of the throne, but we will get to that in a moment.
So they make record of the land owner by passing it from father to son. Sometimes a man did not have a son. He would then pass the land to his daughter, but his daughter must then marry within the same tribe in order to ensure the inheritance remained in their father’s tribe. Numbers 27; Numbers 36:5-12
When this occurred, the genealogy would reveal that land was passed through the daughter by placing an article "the" before the father's name. So, the genealogy would then reflect that the man married into the family would then become the son of the man without a biological son.
Take a look at the genealogy in Luke 3. It says, "Joseph, the son of Heli..." in the english Bible. If you take a look at the original greek, it will show an article "the" before the name of the father, Heli. In the original Greek it would read: "Joseph, the son of the Heli." (emphasis mine) This means a few things, 1- Mary did not have any brothers; 2- Mary's father's name is Heli; 3- We are looking at Jesus' genealogy through the bloodline of his mother, Mary in Luke 3. This lineage shows us that Jesus' lineage can, in fact, be traced back to King David and all the way back to Adam.
King Jeconiah/Jehoiakim had a curse placed on him in Jeremiah 36:27- because he burned a scroll written by the prophet Jeremiah. God placed a curse on King Jeconiah/Jehoiakim and God stated that King Jeconiah/Jehoiakim would not have an heir through the line of David. Now, remember, they kept lineage records in order to keep track of who has legitimate claim to the throne.
Matthew's record, then, reflects the bloodline of Jesus through Joseph. It is very clear by looking at chapter 1, verse 16. Matthew's point in placing Joseph's genealogy is not to point out that Jesus was an illegitimate heir to the throne, and from the corrupted line. No, Matthew includes Joseph's bloodline to show us that Jesus was indeed born of the Holy Spirit and not through the bloodline of Joseph since Joseph's bloodline was cursed from King Jeconiah/Jehoiakim! (Matthew 1:18). Absolutely remarkable!
My friend, treasure these things in your heart and worship Him for all that he has done for you personally. Praise Him for all he has done for us in his first coming as the lamb and be ready for the harpazo (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18). He is coming again as the lamb. I pray this Christmas is remarkably set apart from those that came before.
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