4157 — Genealogy of Jesus
Matt. 1:1-17 gives us the royal genealogy of Jesus. Joseph was the reputed father of Jesus, was in law his legal father, and the right of rulership comes through the male; and therefore the genealogy from Abraham down through the royal family of David comes to Jesus through His legal father. This is through the royal line, and it is Matthew that talks of the kingdom of God. The very next chapter tells that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the city of David, in the days of Herod the king, and was called the king of the Jews. Luke, however, presents our Lord preeminently as the Son of Man; and therefore he shows His descent from Adam, the very first man, tracing it clear back to God, the Creator of man, and reversing the record from Adam down to the mother of Jesus. But inasmuch as the genealogy comes through the male, the mother herself is not named. That would have been contrary to Jewish usage and law. So it tells us that Jesus "began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli." Heli was evidently the father of Mary. This seems to be the most reasonable view of it; and tracing back through Heli, we are carried through the royal family of David again, up through the seed of Abraham, to Adam, the progenitor of the race; one tracing Jesus through the royal line, the other through His human descent.