I hope I'm not opening a can of worms but....
I have a question about the lineage of Jeasus. Or maybe an explanation.
Abraham father of Isaac. etc. etc. father of, father of, until Joseph the husband of Mary.
It's all genetics up to Joseph but not the father of Jeasus. Jeasus considered Joseph to be his earthly father. How did the Jews reconcile Joseph being a step father and still part of Jeasus's lineage?
Wow, Moni, that was an eye full. I had to read your response a few times to understand. But it makes sense now, thank you. It's a small thing in the big picture.
Great question!! I know this had me stumped for a long time.
David Guzik explained it well.:
i. Another of the royal line that Matthew passed over was in between Josiah and Jechoniah (Mat 1:11), and his name was Jehoakim (2Ch 36:5-8). Jehoakim was so wicked that through the Prophet Jeremiah, God promised that no blood descendant of his would sit on the throne of Israel (Jer 36:30-31). This presented a significant problem: If someone was a blood descendant of David through Jehoakim, he could not sit on the throne of Israel and be the king and the Messiah because of this curse recorded in Jer 36:30-31. But if the conqueror was not descended through David, he could not be the legal heir of the throne because of the promise made to David and the nature of the royal line.
ii. This is where we come to the differences in the genealogies of Matthew and Luke. Matthew recorded the genealogy of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ (Mat 1:16). He began at Abraham and followed the line down to Jesus, through Joseph. Luke recorded the genealogy of Mary: being, (as was supposed) the son of Joseph (Luk 3:23). He began with Jesus and followed the line back up, all the way to Adam, starting from the unmentioned Mary.
iii. Each genealogy is the same as it records the line from Adam (or Abraham) all the way down to David. But at David, the two genealogies separated. If we remember the list of Davidís sons in 2 Samuel 5, we see that Satan focused his attention on the descendants of the royal line through Solomon ñ and this was a reasonable strategy. According to Mat 1:6, Josephís line went through Solomon (and therefore Jehoakim, the cursed one). Jesus was the legal son of Joseph, but not the blood son of Joseph ñ so the curse on Jehoakim did not affect him. Joseph did not contribute any of the ìbloodî of Jesus, but he did contribute his legal standing as a descendant of the royal line to Jesus. Maryís line ñ the blood line of Jesus ñ did not go through Solomon, but through a different son of David, named Nathan (Luk 3:31). Mary was therefore not part of that blood curse on the line of Jehoiakim.