“Fork In The Family Tree”

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

I was reading the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and in Luke, and I realized that they were different!  I never realized this before; does that mean that there is an error in God’s Word?

Sincerely,
Counting Noses

Dear Counting Noses,

How very perceptive of you to compare those two genealogies.  Yes, there is a difference between the Matt 1:1-16 and the Lk 3:23-38 accounts.  Matthew starts the genealogy at Abraham, and Luke starts the genealogy all the way back at Adam.  The genealogies really begin to differ once you hit the generation after David.  Matthew traces the history from David’s son Solomon (Matt 1:6), while Luke follows David’s son Nathan (Lk 3:31).

The most likely explanation for this is that each book is tracing a different side of Jesus’ family tree.  Matthew is tracing the legal family tree through Jesus’ foster father Joseph.  Luke is tracing the maternal side through Jesus’ mother, Mary.  We often forget, but Jesus (like all humans) has two family trees, both his mother’s and his father’s.

Share