The genealogy of Matthew 1 poses a number of problems. Before attempting to resolve some of these problems — before even stating them — let us remind ourselves of the simple facts.
The opening sentence of the New Testament is: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham”. We recall that God made great promises to David and Abraham concerning a “seed” who should bring blessings to mankind. This verse identifies the promised seed as Jesus Christ. The verses that follow are intended to demonstrate the truth of the position that Jesus Christ is the son of David, the son of Abraham. Thus we read that “Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob …” — and so we are led on, generation by generation, to David. From David we are brought, through a further long list of names, to “Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ”.
The name of Joseph presents us with our first problem. We know that the Lord Jesus was God’s son, not Joseph’s son. How then does a list of names linking Abraham and David to Joseph, who was not the father of the Lord Jesus, prove that the Lord Jesus was the son of David, the son of Abraham?
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Author: Peter Watkins
Keywords: Genealogy of Jesus, Christ's genealogy, Jesus' genealogy, Jesus's genealogy, Genealogy of Christ, Mary's genealogy, Joseph's genealogy, Genealogies of Jesus, Son of Joseph
Bible reference(s): Matthew 1:1-16, Luke 3:23-38
Source: Some Difficult Passages, Book 3 (CIL).
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.