The genealogy of Jesus through his legal father Joseph is given by two passages from Gospels, Matthew 1:2-16 and Luke 3:23-38. Both of them trace his line to King David and from there on to Abraham. These lists are identical between Abraham and David, but they differ radically between David and Joseph.

Matthew starts with Solomon and proceeds through the kings of Judah up and including Jeconiah. A few of the Judean kings are left out though, for instance; Uzziah is given as the son of Joram thus skipping four generations. Thus Jesus is established as legal heir to the throne of Israel. At Jeconiah the line of kings was terminated due to Israel being conquered by Babylonians. The names continue with Jeconiah's son and his grandson Zerubbabel, who is a notable figure in the Book of Ezra. The names between Zerubbabel and Joseph do not appear anywhere in the Old Testament or other texts, with a couple of exceptions.

Luke's list

Several theories have been proposed to explain the discrepancy. The oldest one, ascribed to Julius Africanus, uses the concept of Levirate marriage. It suggests that Matthan, grandfather of Joseph according to Matthew, and Matthat, grandfather of Joseph according to Luke, were brothers, married to the same woman one after another. Matthan's son, Jacob, was Joseph's biological father, and Matthat's son ( and Jacob's half-brother ), Eli or Heli, was his legal father.

It is also theorized by some that, while Matthew gave the genealogy of Joseph, Luke gave the genealogy of his wife Mary. Thus, when Luke 3:23 says "Joseph, the son of Heli," it actually means "son-in-law." This theory makes more sense if Joseph was a de facto foster father to Jesus; therefore, it is only possible to establish blood connection between Jesus and David via his mother.

Most scholars today accept that one or both Gospels are not presenting literal history in their genealogies. Scholars are divided on which, if any, is more likely to be accurate. The names in Matthew's genealogy match the historical

Luke's genealogy is considerably longer than is Matthew's, presenting a far more plausible number of names. That Luke goes through David's much less acclaimed son Nathan and does not include the kings of Israel in Jesus' lineage is also seen as adding to Luke's credibility. However the names on Luke's list seem to lack the historical accuracy of Matthew. The names for figures who lived centuries earlier reflect those of the first century AD rather than the periods in which the people actually lived. Luke's genealogy also contains several repeated groups of closely similar names, perhaps indicating inadvertent duplication at some point.

Among the most radical theories explaining the discrepancy is the one that suggests that Evangelists give accounts of childhoods of two distinct people, whose only common features were that they were both named Jesus and both their families lived in Nazareth at one time or another. Stories of Matthew 2 and Luke 2 are sufficiently different to allow this, and, furthermore, the events surrounding the births can be independently dated: Luke's - 6 AD, Matthew's - likely around 6 BC, thus giving at least some credibility to the theory.

Relevant verses