Genealogy of Jesus Generation Mat 1:16-2 Luk 3:23-38
1 Jesus Jesus
Jesus' genealogy can be found at two places in the Bible:
2 Joseph Joseph
1. Matthew's gospel (Mat 1:2-16). Starts with 3 Jacob Heli
Abraham and lists his descendants all the way 4 Matthan Matthat
down to Jesus. There are 41 generations in total,
5 Eleazar Levi
divided into 3 sections as follows:
6 Eliud Melchi
1. Abraham - David (from Abraham to David) 7 Achim Janna
2. David - Josias (from David until the 8 Sadoc Joseph
carrying away into Babylon)
9 Azor Mattathias
3. Jechonias - Jesus (from the carrying away
10 Eliakim Amos
into Babylon unto Christ)
11 Abiud Naum
Each section contains 14 generations. Note, that 12 Zorobabel Esli
David is counted twice: Once at the end of the first 13 Salathiel Nagge
section, then once again at the beginning of the
second section. This explains how 41 generations 14 Jechonias Maath
are divided equally into three. See Mat 1:17 for 15 Josias Mattathias
further explanation.
16 Amon Semei
2. Luke's gospel (Luk 3:23-38). This genealogy 17 Manasses Joseph
starts with Jesus and follows his line up until God. 18 Ezekias Juda
There are 77 generations mentioned in total.
19 Achaz Joanna
20 Joatham Rhesa
In each of the two genealogies every name is different up
until David with the exception of Joseph, Zorobabel and 21 Ozias Zorobabel
Salathiel. Therefore it is practically impossible to reconcile
22 Joram Salathiel
them by matching the persons and say, they are just listed
by their different names (as we've seen many times before 23 Josaphat Neri
in the Bible). This suggests that the two genealogies do
24 Asa Melchi
not trace the same lineage.
25 Abia Addi
Since you can trace a person's ancestors through their 26 Roboam Cosam
father, and also through their mother (and the two 27 Solomon Elmodam
genealogies should naturally be different) it is easy to come
to the conclusion that one of the two genealogies in the 28 David Er
gospels must list Jesus' ancestors through his "father", while 29 Jesse Jose
the other one lists them through his mother.
30 Obed Eliezer
Matthew's genealogy 31 Booz Jorim
Jesus was called the "son of David" in Mat 1:1, which is a 32 Salmon Matthat
clear reference to his right to inherit David's throne.
33 Naasson Levi
In 2Sam 7:12-17 God tells David (through the prophet 34 Aminadab Simeon
Nathan) that David's kingdom would remain forever and his
royal line would go through the son who would build the 35 Aram Juda
temple or as it is also called, the house of God. This son of 36 Esrom Joseph
David is Solomon, as we can read in 1Chr 22:7-10.
37 Phares Jonan
38 Judas Eliakim
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Only Matthew's genealogy mentions Solomon (Salmon) as 39 Jacob Melea
well as the following kings after him, therefore we can see
that this is the "royal line" and it shows the legal right to 40 Isaac Menan
David's throne being passed down all the way to Joseph who 41 Abraham Mattatha
adopted Jesus, thus making him the heir of David's
kingdom. 42 Nathan
43 David
Since the right to the kingdom always passes from the 44 Jesse
father to the son, we can conclude that Matthew's genealogy
45 Obed
lists Jesus' ancestors through his "father", Joseph.
46 Booz
Luke's genealogy 47 Salmon
Based on the previous facts, Luke's genealogy must list
48 Naasson
Jesus' ancestors through his mother:
49 Aminadab
Jesus was the natural son of Mary, who conceived by the 50 Aram
Holy Ghost and therefore He becomes the Son of God (Luk
51 Esrom
1:34-35). Considering the fact that by the Jewish tradition
women are never listed in the genealogical links, it is 52 Phares
acceptable that Luke lists Joseph instead of Mary (as he was 53 Juda
the "father" of Jesus) and thus Luke names Joseph as son of
Heli. Further, since Heli had no sons but only daughters, we 54 Jacob
can find a precedent of the same type of name substitution 55 Isaac
in Num 27:1-11 and Num 36:1-12.
56 Abraham
Reading through Luke's genealogy, we can see how Jesus, 57 Thara
through his blood relationship with his mother and her 58 Nachor
ancestors, becomes the true son of God.
59 Saruch
Curse against Jechonias 60 Ragau
Jechonias (also called Jehoiachin, Jeconiah, Coniah) was an 61 Phalec
evil king and also he was in the royal line of David as it is
mentioned in Matthew's genealogy. God was outraged with 62 Heber
him and judged the royal line with a curse: no descendant of 63 Sala
Jechonias would sit as king of Israel (Jer 22:24-30).
64 Cainan
This seemingly contradicts the promise that God made to 65 Arphaxad
David that his son, Solomon's seed would always be on the 66 Sem
throne (1Chr 22:7-10) and also would make Jesus ineligible
67 Noe
to the throne, as he was the descendant of Jechonias.
68 Lamech
But, since Jesus was only an adopted son and not biological 69 Mathusala
son of Joseph, the curse did not affect his right to the throne
70 Enoch
as he was not of Jechonias' seed. This curse also indicates
that the Messiah cannot have a human father since then the 71 Jared
curse would pass onto him too.
72 Maleleel
73 Cainan
74 Enos
75 Seth
76 Adam
77 God
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Zorobabel and Salathiel Question
The only two names that are matching in the two genealogies between Jesus and David (besides Joseph),
are Zorobabel and Salathiel. This raises the question of whether these persons were the same or not.
The verses in question are:
1Chr 17 And the sons of Jeconiah; Assir, Salathiel his son,
1Chr 18 Malchiram also, and Pedaiah, and Shenazar, Jecamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah.
1Chr 19 And the sons of Pedaiah were, Zerubbabel, and Shimei: and the sons of Zerubbabel;
Meshullam, and Hananiah, and Shelomith their sister:
Mat 1:12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat
Zorobabel;
Luke 3:27 Which was the son of Joanna, which was the son of Rhesa, which was the son of Zorobabel,
which was the son of Salathiel, which was the son of Neri,
If Zorobabel and Salathiel in the two genealogies are the same,
Then the facts we have to keep in mind are:
1. The Zorobabel mentioned in Luk 3:27 who is a blood relative of Mary and through her a blood
relative of Jesus, can not be a blood relative of Jechonias because of the curse mentioned above.
2. The verses above name Salathiel a son of Jechonias AND the son of Neri
3. The verses above name Zorobabel a son of Pedaiah AND the son of Salathiel.
We will have to assume the following, which are actually not entirely described in the Bible:
(a) Salathiel was the biological son of Jechonias. This makes (2.) halfway true.
(b) Salathiel died without child, but left behind a widow
(c) Pedaiah was Salathiel's brother and took Salathiel's widow and begat Zorobabel, this way
Zorobabel can be called as Son of Salathiel AND son of Pedaiah. This makes (3.) true.
(d) Pedaiah can not be Salathiel's biological brother, since then he would be the biological son of
Jechonias and therefore Zorobabel would become biological grandson of Jechonias and violate (1.)
Therefore Pedaiah has to be only adopted son of Jechonias and only half brother of Salathiel. This
makes (1.) true.
(e) Jechonias has to have Neri's daughter as a wife, and this way we can call Salathiel as son of
Neri, referring to his grandfather through his mother. This makes (2.) true.
(f) Pedaiah has to be a son of Neri's daughter. This way he can be called as son of Jechonias when
(e) happens and Pedaiah becomes Jechonias' adopted son as it is required by (d)
The assumptions between (a) and (f) could be shown with the following family tree:
Neri Note:
* * Vertical lines: "parent-child"
Horizontal lines: marriages
Jechonias * Daughter of Neri
*: this relationship or person is not described
by the Bible, just by the assumptions between
* (a) and (f)
Salathiel *Wife of Salathiel Pedaiah
* *
Zorobabel
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If Zorobabel and Salathiel in the two genealogies are NOT the same,
Then the facts we have to keep in mind are:
1. The Zorobabel mentioned in Luk 3:27 who is a blood relative of Mary and through her a blood
relative of Jesus, can not be blood relative of Jechonias because of the curse mentioned above.
This is automatically true.
2. The verses above name one Salathiel a son of Jechonias AND the other Salathiel a son of Neri
This is automatically true.
3. The verses above name Zorobabel a son of Pedaiah AND the son of Salathiel.
The only thing we have to assume is:
(a) Salathiel (Jechonias' son) died without child, but left behind a widow
(b) Pedaiah was Salathiel's biological brother and took Salathiel's widow and begat Zorobabel, this
way Zorobabel can be called as Son of Salathiel AND son of Pedaiah. This makes (3.) true.
This could be shown with the following family tree:
Jechonias Neri Note:
Vertical lines: "parent-child"
Horizontal lines: marriages
Salathiel
Salathiel *Wife of Salathiel Pedaiah *: this relationship or person is not
* * described by the Bible, just by the
assumptions between (a) and (b)
Zorobabel Zorobabel
Zorobabel and Salathiel Answer
There are only two reasons to assume that the two persons listed in Matthew's genealogy are the same as in
Luke's:
1. They lived approximately during the same time
2. Their names were rarely used
As we compare the two possible answers above, we can conclude that we stay closer to the facts described
in the Bible if we accept that the Zorobabel and Salathiel mentioned in Matthew's genealogy are NOT the
same as the Zorobabel and Salathiel mentioned in Luke's list.
Missing names in Matthew's genealogy
Matthew's list leaves out Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah, and Eliakim from the generations of the kings. The
reason for why their names were omitted is not known, but as we can see throughout the Bible, the terms
"son", "father" and "begat" are not always used literally.
Because of this, the list is still correct and does not contradict the Old Testament genealogies:
1Chr 3:11-16
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