Luke 3:26
Which was the son of Maath, which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Semei, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Juda, Which was the son of Maath, which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Semei, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Juda,
This link belongs to the genealogy that traces the human, fleshly ancestry of Jesus on his mother's side through Mary, with Maath, Mattathias, Semei, Joseph and Juda standing as her forefathers. Mary herself is not named because genealogies were reckoned through men, so her husband Joseph is named in her place and Jesus is listed as his son, as was supposed. Luke thus gives the literal blood line and natural human descent through David's son Nathan to Mary, while Matthew gives the legal royal inheritance through Solomon to Joseph, Christ's legal father. By tracing that unbroken line back to Adam it shows the Son of God is truly Son of Man, joined to the whole human family and Saviour of all nations. So legally he is son of David and heir to the kingdom through his marriage-linked relation to Joseph, and literally he is Son of David according to the flesh through Mary.
Human Line Through Mary
Luke 3:26 is one link in the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3 that traces his human, fleshly ancestry on his mother's side through Mary, with Maath, Mattathias, Semei, Joseph and Juda standing as Mary's ancestors in the line from David through Mary back to Adam. That human line runs back to Adam, the very first man, and beyond Adam to the Son of God and to God, showing that the Son of God is truly the Son of Man, the seed of the woman and of the human family. It is distinct from Matthew's genealogy, which gives the kingly side and legal royal inheritance through Joseph as legal father.
Mary herself is not named because genealogies were reckoned through males and it was not customary to trace through women or to name women, so her husband Joseph is named in her place and Jesus is listed as Joseph's son, as was supposed. Luke gives the literal blood line and natural human descent through Mary, while Joseph is named because reckoning is through the male, through whom inheritance passed. Heli, named as Joseph's father, was in reality Mary's father and Joseph's father-in-law and legal father because Joseph was Mary's husband, making Jesus Heli's maternal grandson and legally Heli's grandson through marriage. Joseph is therefore counted as the son of Heli because Heli is Mary's father and Joseph is Mary's husband, and as Joseph's wife Mary was treated as the son of her father and Jesus as Joseph's son.
Heli may have been another name for Joseph. The genealogy may also be Joseph's private family line, with Jesus counted as Joseph's legal son, or it may be Mary's genealogy making Jesus a grandson of Heli and naturally descended from David's royal family, in which latter view Jesus is also legally included in that family through his marriage-linked relation to Joseph. Under Jewish law Joseph was Jesus' legal father, while Mary's descent was physical. The line comes through David's son Nathan, Solomon's brother, with each step presented as direct father-to-son descent, in contrast to Matthew's line of royal inheritance through Solomon.
The genealogy runs backward from Heli through David and Abraham to Adam, the first man and son of God, and it is placed after the account of Christ's birth, John's preaching and the baptism of Jesus, when Jesus was about thirty years of age and began to teach. Luke presents Jesus as the Son of Man, and this genealogy traces his human descent through the family of David and the seed of Abraham, identifying him on the human side of his nature as Son of Adam and through Adam Son of God. The named ancestors are real, literal progenitors and the history connected with them is as factual as later Jewish history, not allegory, and descent from Abraham was regarded as proof of citizenship in the Jewish nation and a right to covenant blessings. With the surrounding verses the genealogy compresses the centuries between the Old and New Testaments into a family line intended to establish royal descent, giving no inspired account of the events of those centuries.
Counted father to son, the chapter counts seventy-five generations from Christ to Adam, with seventy-four names between Adam and Christ exclusive of both. Mary's line contains more names than Joseph's line, which accounts for the difference in number between Matthew and Luke.
Luke and Matthew Compared
Luke gives the literal blood line and natural human descent from Adam down through David's seed to Mary, while Matthew gives the legal royal inheritance and reigning house from Abraham through David and Solomon to Joseph, Christ's legal father. The line in Luke runs through David's son Nathan, Solomon's brother, whereas the line in Matthew runs through Solomon to Joseph, and the two lines are distinct yet meet in the course of time. Joseph is named in Luke's reckoning in place of Mary because genealogies were customarily listed through males and reckoned through the male, through whom inheritance passed, and because a male member of the house was required. Heli was the father of Mary and legally the father of Joseph because Joseph was Mary's husband, so Joseph is counted as the son of Heli and is counted next to Jesus in both genealogies because heirship comes through the father.
Luke traces the line back through Heli to Adam himself, tracing it through Adam and Enoch and Noah, while Matthew traces back to David and through David to Abraham and traces the royal pedigree from Abraham through David and Solomon to the time Jesus was born. Matthew gives a complete forty-two-generation record from Abraham through David and Solomon to Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ, and Luke serves as a parallel second witness fortifying that record. Together these long genealogies bear mighty witness to the divinity of the Word, showing the Deliverer came as the seed of the woman through the female portion of the race.
Luke presents Jesus not as the son of Abraham and heir to David's throne but as the Son of Man and Son of Adam, tracing human descent back to Adam the son of God and showing his connection with the whole human race. Matthew by contrast traces the reigning house through David from Abraham to Joseph, making Jesus the legal son of Joseph and heir to the throne. Luke gives the mother's side to show Jesus is of man, of the human family, running back to Adam the very first man and beyond Adam to God, so that the Son of God is truly the Son of Man, whereas Matthew gives the kingly side through Joseph as legal father to show Jesus as rightful King and rightful Heir of Abraham. Unlike Matthew's genealogy, which follows Joseph's royal line and establishes heirship to David's throne, Luke's genealogy shows Jesus as David's Seed according to the flesh through Mary.
Therefore legally Jesus was a Son of David and heir to the kingdom through his marriage-linked relation to Joseph, since heirship comes through the father, and literally He was the Son of David according to the flesh through Mary. This blood descent from David holds despite Joseph not being His biological father, for Heli named as Joseph's father was Joseph's father-in-law and Mary's real father, making Jesus Heli's maternal grandson. By the explanation of those who held it, the genealogy may instead be Joseph's private family line, with Jesus counted as Joseph's legal son and also naturally descended from David's royal family as Heli's grandson. Son in the title Son of David means a descendant removed by many generations according to common Scripture usage, proving He was born of the seed of David according to the flesh.
The two accounts stand alongside each other and call for harmonizing, though distinct. Luke's ancestry through Mary traces from Heli her father back through David and Abraham to Adam, with Jesus as Joseph's supposed son but in reality Heli's maternal grandson. Together with Matthew's genealogy it confirms descent from Abraham, establishes identity as the promised Seed of Abraham, and establishes heirship to the covenant renewed to David.
Witness of the Genealogy
The link stands in the genealogy that traces Jesus on his mother's side and shows that he is of man and of the human family. It presents him as the seed of the woman coming through the female portion of the race, with the names standing as men because it was not customary to trace through women and the husband of Mary is named instead of Mary herself. The line runs backward through Mary's father Heli and through the family of David and the seed of Abraham to Adam the very first man, and through Adam and Enoch and Noah and beyond Adam to God, showing that the Son of God is truly the Son of Man. This is Luke's presentation of Christ as Son of man after the account of his birth, emphasizing his humanity, and as the true and perfect Son of man.
By carrying the ancestry back to Adam it shows his connection with the whole human race. In the same tracing it presents him as Saviour of all nations and Saviour for all people. The human ancestry is given in an unbroken line back to Adam, identifying him as Son of Adam and through Adam as Son of God on the human side of his nature. He is also Son of God directly and from eternity, and together the long genealogies from Abraham through David and Solomon to the time Jesus was born bear mighty witness to the divinity of the Word.
The genealogy shows his parents were Jews, tracing them through the family of David and the tribe of Judah. That earthly lineage can be traced literally and legally through the line of promise back through David and Judah and Jacob to Abraham. While the other tribes were scattered and their genealogies lost, the genealogies of Levi and Judah were preserved so his lineage could be traced on both mother's side and father's side. The tribe of Judah, the ruler tribe, was held together until Jesus came, identifying him as Shiloh of the tribe of Judah to whom the gathering of God's people would be.
God preserved that promised earthly lineage through which the Deliverer, the second Adam, would come despite attempts to destroy it. His ancestors in David's line were part of humanity and subject to the iniquities common to the human race, in a family line containing both wicked and righteous ancestors reaching back through David and Abraham to Adam. Being made flesh and born of a woman he shared the human condition and its liability to temptation, entering human flesh in this real line of descent marked by sin and its consequences to conquer sin on humanity's behalf. Unlike Melchizedek, Christ had a human pedigree with ancestry traced from Adam, was born into the human family, and had a beginning of life.
The genealogy gives the Bible rule for counting generations from father to son. Counted with Genesis 11 and Matthew 1 from father to son, six thousand years from creation do not make two hundred generations. A thousand generations therefore requires twenty-four thousand years yet future from 1868, proving that the thousand generations of those who keep the commandments means more than a thousand and unlimited time from generation to generation.