THE GENEALOGIES ACCOUNT OF THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST

I have never read of anyone in the Bible with two (2) different Genealogies except Jesus Christ.

There are two (2) Genealogies Account of the birth of Jesus Christ:

1. One is in Matthew Chapter 1.
2. The other is in Luke Chapter 3.

Both are the same: Starting from Abraham to David in both Accounts.

The only difference however lies in the way the Lineage was traced from David to Jesus Christ:

1. Matthew Account goes through David’s son Solomon
2. Luke Account goes though David’s son Nathan

David had at least nineteen (19) sons including Nathan and Solomon – 1 Chronicles 3:5.

Nathan was older but Solomon became king

Matthew’s Lineage through Solomon is said to be the Royal Line that shows those who sat or should have sat on David’s throne.

Luke’s Lineage through Nathan is a Biological Line that simply shows descent from David’s loins

Also interestingly: Solomon’s Line goes down to Jacob as the father of Joseph -Matthew 1:16. While Nathan’s Line goes down to Heli as the father of Joseph -Luke 3:23.

Now, we know Joseph cannot have had two (2) fathers and that Heli is not the same Person as Jacob.

But one thing for sure is that both of Jesus’ Parents were descended from David. But Bible scholars tell us that Heli was Joseph’s father-in-law.

So that Matthew is actually the Genealogy of Joseph while Luke is the Genealogy of Mary.

Joseph came from David through Solomon down to Jacob, his father –
A Biological and a Royal descent.

Mary also came from David through Nathan down to Heli – A Biological descent.

Joseph was the son of Jacob and the son-in-law of Heli

So why does the Bible include both Genealogies?

The answer lies in one man in Joseph’s Royal line called Jeconiah or Jeconias or Jehoiakim.

These three (3) names refer to the same Person as we have in Matthew 1:11, 1 Chronicles 3:16 and 2 Chronicles 36:8

Jeconias was the last king before Judah went into exile. God cursed Jeconias.

The account of the curse can be found in Jeremiah 22:30:

This is what the Lord says: “Record this man as childless, a man who will not be successful in his lifetime. None of his descendants will succeed in sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah. (MSG)

… Nothing will ever come of his life. He is the end of the line – The last of the kings.

Truly, Matthew declares that there were fourteen (14) Generations from Abraham to David, fourteen (14) from David to the carrying away to Exile, and fourteen (14) from exile to Christ – Matthew 1:17.

More significantly, that man was cursed and his descendants forbidden from ruling on David’s Throne.

Yet, the Messiah had to be not just the descendant of David but the Rightful Heir to the throne of David – Matthew 22:42

But there was now a Problem with the Royal Line – Joseph’s line.

None of the descendants of Jechonias could rule on David’s throne.

Had Jesus been born of that line, he would have been from an accursed line whose descendants were declared ineligible to rule and therefore unfit to be the Messiah.

But Jesus did not descend Biologically from Joseph.

He was conceived without a human father – Born of the Holy Spirit by the virgin Mary (who was descended from David) and therefore became the Seed of David according to the flesh from an Uncursed Line.

The line that had no curse on it – Nathan’s line, produced Heli and the Virgin Mary with her Son Jesus Christ.

The line that had a curse on it – Solomon’s line, Jeconiah’s line produced Joseph through Jacob.

So Jesus was born of His mother’s line which had no curse on it but had no claim to the throne of David.

And He had a foster father who had a claim to the throne but could not sit on it.

But, the moment Joseph took the unborn Child under His foster care and adopted Him, he transferred to Jesus Christ the title that had come down to him through his Royal Ancestor Solomon.

… So Jesus was born the Legal Messiah, the Royal Messiah, the Uncursed Messiah and so the True Messiah.

Therefore Jesus Christ remains the “Only Possible Messiah”.

None of Jesus’ half-brothers – The children of Joseph and Mary could lay such a claim because the curse on the Royal Line from which they were Biologically descended would have precluded them from sitting on David’s throne

No other Person could ever have fulfilled these conditions except Jesus Christ.

He is the Seed of Abraham, and the Seed of David -Matthew 1:1

NB: This is a Scholastic view and School of Thought first put forward by two (2) Bible Scholars of the 19th and 20th Centuries, Bernard Weiss and James Orr, and which was first read about fifteen (15) Years ago in James Montgomery Boices’s book on Apologetics “Standing On The Rock”.

Ebele UzoPeters

RESEARCH WORK BY

MOSES DURODOLA
CONVENER, DISCOVERY MEDIA CREW