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The Gospel of Matthew begins not with the birth story itself, but with a genealogy of Jesus. This is to establish “Messianic credibility” beginning with the Messiah must be a descendant of King David:

1Chronicles 17.11 When your days are over and you go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 2Samuel 7 12. When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14I will be his father, and he will be my son.

Matthew presents an incredibly detailed genealogy from Joseph to Abraham the literal and proverbial “father” of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. (King David is in verse 6):

1. The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:

2. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.

3. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram.

4. Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon.

5. Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse.

6. Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.

7. Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa.

8. Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah.

9. Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah.

10. Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah.

11. Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

12. After the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel.

13. Zerubbabel was the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor.

14. Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud.

15. Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob.

16. Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.

17. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.

19. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.

20. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

21. “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

22. Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

23. “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.”

24. And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife,

25. but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.

Ahh, clean cut, clear and meaningful. Thanks be to God… but wait there’s already an issue: The Gospel of Luke has a genealogy, too. And it is completely different.

Luke 3 23. When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli,

24. the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph,

25. the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Hesli, the son of Naggai,

26. the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda,

27. the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri,

28. the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er,

29. the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi,

30. the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim,

31. the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David,

32. the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon,

33. the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah,

34. the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,

35. the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Heber, the son of Shelah,

36. the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,

37. the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan,

38. the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Uh oh… Joseph has two daddies (Matt. 1:16 & Luke 3:23), and two great-grandfathers (Matt. 1:15 & 3:24), and so on. One explanation of this discrepancy is that Matthew’s genealogy is that of Joseph’s (the legal, patriarchal one), and Luke’s Gospel contains that of Mary’s (the only source of Jesus’ actual human bloodline, but of no value in a patriarchal society where a woman’s name could not be on legal genealogies).

Another explanation of the discrepancy in Jesus’ genealogy is the occurrence of a “Levirate marriage”: if a Jewish man died before having any children, the dead man’s brother was bound by law to marry and impregnate his wife so that the dead brother’s lineage might continue with a son. So one genealogy might be one of the legal (dead) father, and the other of the biological (brother) father. Maybe, but the great-grandfathers are clearly different, too (Eleazar vs. Levi). In fact, almost every generation is different between the two gospels. Did the Levirate marriage scenario happen multiple times in the lineage?

The “multiple Levirate marriage” scenario is improbable but not impossible, and the “genealogy of Mary” theory is even more so. Therefore, if your faith in Jesus relies on his absolute literal lineage from King David, then you can have it. There’s chance enough to believe, if you need. Personally, my faith doesn’t rely on these genealogies being factual, and I think it’s silly to put so much importance on such a trivial detail of who Jesus was in terms of lineage.

Ummm… trivial? Well, let me ask you this: why are Christians even having this discussion if we believe he truly is The Son of God? It seems a little redundant to argue that he was also from the line of David. Would someone actually say, “Oh! He’s ‘The Son of God’ and he’s descended from King David? Well, now I’ll take his story seriously. Before when he was just ‘The Son of God’, I was like, ‘meh’. But NOW…”

Personally, instead of setting Jesus apart, I find this emphasis on his Davidian lineage and his “Child of God” status very affirming to our universal potential as humans. Consider this: King David died almost 1000 years before Christ was even born. He begat Solomon, but Solomon begat… and begat… and begat some more. From David to Jesus is 27 generations (by Matthew’s count), which in reality is probably more like 50 (at 20 years per generation). That means at least thousands, tens-of-thousands, or even hundreds-of-thousands of Jewish people were his descendants and “from the line of David” during the time of Jesus!

Could it be, that instead of making Jesus something apart, something rare and higher and better than us, that being one of hundreds-of-thousands just like him should make him more like the rest of us? Perhaps a more spiritual understanding of this whole “genealogy dilemma” is that being from “the line of David” isn’t really all that unique or important; the earthly origins and pedigree don’t really matter. Rather it’s how we live and act in this lifetime that make us God’s Children. We should realize that we ALL have the potential to be and do what Jesus was and did: be the living embodiment of God’s love, compassion, and concern for justice in this world.

Our faith should never rely solely on who Jesus was predicted to be. Rather our faith should be grounded in who he was and what he meant in his life, in his death, and what he means walking with us today.