In these two charts the number before the name is the generation number counting from Adam.
There are two different genealogies given for Christ in Matthew 1:1-17 and in Luke 3:23-38. Matthew, writing for a Jewish audience starts with Abraham, and works down through David and the Kings of Judah to Jesus. Luke, writing for a gentile audience, starts with Jesus and works all the way back to God, through his son Adam.
Between the names of David and Jesus the two lists diverge twice. They meet in the name of Zerubbabel who lived in Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity. Matthew groups his list into three parts with 14 generations in each part (see below for tables). In order to arrive at only 14 generations between David and the exile he omits four steps that are listed in 1 Chronicles. These I have indicated. As mentioned in the section on the Exodus the lists in Ruth and 1 Chronicles 2:10-13 gives far fewer generations in the tribe of Judah before David that the list for the tribe of Levi, so there are obviously some skipped links even here, and Matthew follows the Chronicles list exactly.
Matthew follows the line through David's son Solomon, while Luke goes from Nathan, Solomon's full brother by the same mother Bathsheba (though Luke does not mention any mother's names).
When we come to the name of Shealtiel in generation 55, Matthew lists his father as the king who was taken to Babylon, Jeconiah, while Luke lists Shealtiel as the son of Neri, not known from other records. Various speculations have been made to reconcile this difference. One suggestion is that Neri was adopted by Jeconiah and thus Shealteal was grandson of Jeconiah, and Matthew skipped a generation. The other is that Neri married Jeconia's daughter and again Shealtiel would be a grandson of Jeconiah. In 1 Chronicles 3:17 Shealtiel (Salathiel) is listed as a son of Assir (the captive) and the suggestion is made by some that Neri married Assir's widow. This is the option that I have chosen but all three are guesses based on possible solutions, and any or none could be correct. See also the table of the line of David after the Captivity.
Then at the end of both lists (or rather the start of Luke and the end of Matthew), Matthew gives Joseph the husband of Mary as the son of Jacob, while Luke lists him as the son of Heli. Again speculation exists on the possibility of an adoption or levirate marriage, but I have adopted the assumption that Luke is actually listing Mary's father, who was Heli, but again this cannot be proved.
There is one other problem in Luke's listing, and it concerns the immediate descendants of Hezron, son of Judah. Luke lists Arni as the son of Hezron, and Admin as the son of Arni and Amminadab as his son. Matthew follows the lists in the Old Testament which give Amminadab as the son of Ram (also called Aram) who was the son of Hezron. I have not listed Arni and Admin in my main tables so they are un-numbered in table 25.
One very interesting point in the Matthew list is the listing of four women in addition to Mary. Luke does not list any. It is common in Bible genealogies to ignore the women - even when a wife or mother is mention she is often not named. There are a few women named and in most cases there is an interesting story. It would be interesting to produce a document on the women named in Bible genealogies, however there are good books on the women of the Bible already.
The Line of Christ according to Matthew 37--Solomon 38--Rehoboam 39--Abijah 40--Asa 41--Jehoshaphat 42--Joram ( 43--Ahaziah)46--Azariah 47--Jotham 48--Ahaz 49--Hezekiah 50--Manasseh 51--Amon 52--Josiah ( 53--Jehoiakim Eliakim)54--Jeconiah Coniah Jehoiachin 56--Shealtiel Salathiel 57--Zerubbabel 58--Abiud 59--Eliakim 60--Azor 61--Zadok 62--Achim 63--Eliud 64--Eliazar 65--Matthan 66--Jacob 67--Joseph - spouse - Mary 77--Jesus-1146 Matt 1:1-17 verse 17 says there are 14 generations in each group: - Abraham to DavidI have put lines to indicate these sections. Generations 43-45 and 53 are ommitted by Matthew, maybe to keep the round 14 generations. I have listed them in brackets. |
The Line of Christ according to Luke |