A reader writes:
JamesJimmy,I will be conducting a class in three weeks on the synoptic Gospels. I have found your article from This Rock (Dec. 1997) very helpful in explaining the "problem" of the genealogies presented by Matthew and Luke. However, please elaborate on one point for me.
You stated:
Matthew has Christ descending from David through Solomon, while Luke has him descending from David through Nathan. This is not odd. David had more than one son, and a later individual can be descended from more than one of them.
How can someone be descended from more than one son of David? Is this another example of either adoption or the Leviterate Law?
I plan to give the class your article, but I could really use some help on this point.
No prob!
There could be a case here of levirite marriage or adoption, but it doesn’t have to be.
Suppose that my great-great-grandpappy is named Buck.
Suppose also that he has two sons, Rufus and Bocephus. They’re brothers and two of my great-grandpappies.
Suppose that Rufus has a son named Luke and Bocephus has a son named Bo. They’re first cousins and my grandpappies.
Suppose that Luke has a son named Lew and Bo has a daughter named Betty Lou. They’re second cousins and my parents.
Lew and Betty Lou get married. They have me.
I am thus born from two different lines diverging from my great-great-grandpappy, Buck.
Now, this ain’t my real family line, but it illustrates how one ancestor can give rise to two lines that later recombine–without adoption or levirite marriage being involved. You can expand the number of generations in the line or (depending on how close you’ll allow relatives to marry) shrink it, but the principle is the same.
Thus Jesus could be descended from Solomon (a thousand years and many generations eaerlier) by more than one of Solomon’s sons.
P.S., For those who haven’t read my treatment of the two genealogies,
Now, this ain’t my real family line, but it illustrates how one ancestor can give rise to two lines that later recombine
Come on Jimmy, you don’t need to keep any secrets from us.
This answer doesn’t work. To get it, you have to admit the name of a woman in place of a man in the list of geneologies. For example, try your example without “Betty Lou”. It’s true that you have have two lines combine, but that’s not the question. The question is how to have two lines of divergent male ancestors combine.
Does that make any sense? If you were tracing your ancestry back, you’d go by succesive fathers, grandfathers, etc., not mothers. No one traces their geneology on the mother’s side.
As far as I can see it, your argument simplifies into saying that one geneology must trace the geneology of the Virgin Mary, and the other that of Joseph. Otherwise, unless you trace from your mother, without levirite marriage, adoption, etc., you will only have one genology. Make sense?
WHY IS WORLD DOUTING IF JESUS EVER EXISTED?PLS IF HE REALLY EXISTED EXPLAIN IN DETAIL TO ME THROUGH MY EMAIL ADDRESS.THANKS
To get it, you have to admit the name of a woman in place of a man in the list of geneologies…. No one traces their geneology on the mother’s side.
There are already women named in Jesus’ genealogies (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Mary), though the men are also listed in each case. It seems there’s no aversion to bringing in women.
There are also generations without names (skipped generations), which allows the possibility of other women in the lines.
It is not true that people do not consider descent from women in genealogies.
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