Meaning of the Genealogy of Jesus Pt 1 Gospel of Matthew Video Bible Study. Glenn Russell & Ranko Stefanovic (Host). The name Jesus is from the Greek (and Latin) for the Hebrew Jeshua (Joshua), which means the Lord is salvation. The title Christ is from the Greek for the Hebrew Meshiah (Messiah), meaning anointed one. Son of David was a highly popular Messianic title of the times. The genealogy in Matthew is traced through Joseph, Jesus’ legal (though not natural) father, and it establishes His claim and right to the throne of David(1:6). The genealogy in Luke 3:23-38 is evidently that of Mary, though some believe it is also Joseph’s by assuming that Matthan (Matt. 1:15) and Matthat (Luke 3:24) were the same person and Jacob (Matt. 1:16) and Eli (Luke 3:23) were brothers (one being Joseph’s father and the other his uncle). Matthew, in giving Jesus pedigree, is attempting to show that Jesus is the One to whom Moses and the prophets bore witness. Inasmuch as Messiah was to be the seed of Abraham (Gen. 22:18; Gal. 3:16), the father of the Jewish nation, and of David, founder of the royal line (Isa. 9:6,7;11:1; Acts 2:29,30). Matthew presents evidence that Jesus qualifies as a descendant of these two illustrious men. Without such evidence, His claim to Messiahship would be held invalid, and additional proofs could be dismissed without further examination of His claim (cf. Ezra 2:62;Neh. 7:64). At the time Matthew wrote, it was probably possible to verify his genealogy of Jesus by comparing it with accessible public records. A large part of it (Mat.1:2-12) could be checked against Old Testament lists (1 Chron. 1:34; 2:1-15; 3:5, 10-19). The fact that, so far as we know, no contemporaries of Matthew, even the avowed enemies of the Christian faith, ever challenged the validity of this family pedigree is excellent testimony favoring the genuiness of the genealogical list. In view of the fact that Matthew has clearly omitted at least four genealogical links where a comparison with Old Testament lists can be made, it is entirely possible that he may have omitted at least 11 from the more obscure period between the Testaments. It may be observed, also, that an average span of 24 years between a mans own birth and that of his successor is far more probable than 37 years. This observation tends to confirm the 37 generations of Luke and the probability that Matthew arrived at 24 by the intentional omission of about 15 names from his list. Matthew, writing primarily an apologetic to Jews proving Jesus to be the Messiah, wanted to show Jesus’ legal right to the throne of David. Therefore his genealogy begins with Abraham and goes through David and his son Solomon to Jesus’ legal father, Joseph. On the other hand, Luke is writing primarily to Gentiles and the world and, therefore, wants to show Jesus’ physical lineage as the perfect man. So he traces Mary’s line back to Adam through Heli, Mary’s father—the father-in-law of Joseph--and on through David’s son Nathan. One important support for this is that, in the Greek, the name ‘Joseph’ has no article where all the other names do, putting Joseph’s name in a different category. Luke 3:23 can be translated with Joseph’s name in a parenthesis: And when Jesus Himself began (His ministry) He was about 30 years old, being the son (it was supposed, of Joseph) of Heli, of Matthat, of Levi... and so forth. ‘Son’ is not repeated every time, only the article ‘tou’, so Jesus is seen as the son of all these. youtu.be/Hv1amlEMHc4
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 18:44:08 +0000
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