Lineage of Jesus

Below are two lists of the lineage of Jesus from the New Testament
​
Lineage of Jesus             |      Lineage of Jesus
according to Matthew Chapter 1        |   according to Luke Chapter 3
---------------------------------------+-------------------------------------
Adam
Seth
Enosh
Cainan
Mahalalel
Jared
Enoch
Methuselah
Lamech
Noah
Shem
Arphaxad
Cainan  ----- Who is Cainan?
Shelah
Eber
Peleg
Reu
Serug
Nahor
Terah
 Abraham                               Abraham 
Isaac                                 Isaac
Jacob                                 Jacob
Judah                                 Judah
Perez                                 Perez
Hezron                               Hezron
Ram                                   Ram
Amminadab                             Amminadab
Nahshon                                Nahshon
Salom                                  Salom
Boaz                                   Boaz
Obed                                   Obed
Jesse                                  Jesse
 King David                                   King David  
Soloman                                 Nathan
Rehoboam                              Mattathah
Abijah                                Menan
Asa                                   Melea
Jehoshaphat                             Elikim
Joram                                 Jonan
Uzziah                                Joseph
Jotham                                Judah
Ahaz                                  Simeon
Hezekiah                                Levi
Manasseh                             Matthat
Amon                                   Jorim
Josiah                                   Eliezer
Jeconiah                                 Jose
Shealitiel                                   Er
Zerubbabet                            Elmodam
Ahiud                                  Cosam
Eliakim                                 Addi
Azor                                    Melchi
Zadok                                   Neri
Achim                                   Shealtiel
Eliud                                    Zerubbabel
Eleazar                                   Rhesa
Matthan                                   Joannas
Jacob                                     Judah
Joseph                                    Joseph
Jesus                                     Semei
Mattathrah
Maath
Naggai
Esli
Nahum
Amos
Mattathiah
Joseph
Janna
Melchi
Levi
Mattat
Heli
Joseph
Jesus

Matthew Chapter 1 and Luke chapter 3 both dictate the lineage of Jesus but they blatantly contradict each other. Before King David they are in agreement with each other, although Matthew only goes back as far as Abraham. Luke, on the other hand goes back to Adam. Luke 3:36 mentions Cainan in Jesus’ lineage. Who is Cainan? Genesis 10:24 omits Cainan saying Arphaxad begot Shelah and Shelah begot Eber. Genesis 11:12 also has an omission of Cainan in the lineage mentioned there.But it is from King David to Jesus that Matthew and Luke disagree completely. Luke mentioned 43 generations from King David to Jesus. Matthew says there were only 28 generations in the same span but none of the names are the same between the two gospels. It is true people might have more than one name but none of the names match up except David, Jesus and Joseph. They don’t even agree on who Joseph’s father was. They also don’t agree what son of David Jesus descended from. Matthew says Jesus was descended from David’s son Soloman. Luke says Jesus was descended from David’s son Nathan.Why would these two gospels disagree so? The disciples were no historians. They were just put into a situation where they were obligated to put their story into writing. I’m not sure why they didn’t research it, or at least talk it over. I think Matthew tried to exalt Jesus and show more reasons he should be King of the Jews. In Matthew 1:17 he says: All the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations, from David to the captivity in Babylon are 14 generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are 14 generations. Matthew and Luke both agree there were 14 generations from Abraham to King David. This information is in the Old Testament. Then I think he wrote the genealogy to make the other periods 14 generations each. The significance of numbers was highly regarded by people back then, especially in religion.Another thing is that Matthew also made every descendant from David to the exile a King from the Old Testament. (Joram was a king of Israel; the rest were kings of Judah). The problem is the Old Testament doesn’t always say these Kings were a continuous line of descendants. Kings were often assassinated by someone that would then seize power. For example Matthew 1:7 says Rehoboam begot Abijah but 1Kings 14:1 says Amaziah was Abijah’s father. Another contradiction is when Matthew 1:8 says Joram begot Uzziah but Joran was a king of Israel and Uzziah was a king of Judah. The fact that the two were completely unrelated is documented many places in the Old Testament. 2 Chronicles 26:1 is just one example.Matthew was trying to prove a point when he said Jesus was born to a line of Kings. At the time of Christ it was believed that Jesus was to literally be the next King of the Jews. In Matthew 21:2 Jesus is coming to Jerusalem and He tells his disciples where to get a donkey. As Matthew 21:4 says: This was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying: Behold your King is coming to you. Lowly and riding on a donkey. This is referring to Zechariah 9:9 but when you look it up Zechariah goes on to say this King’s dominion shall be from sea to sea (Mediterranean to Dead Sea?). And from the river (Nile or Euphrates?) to the ends of the earth You can see they are talking about a literal king to rule a vast region of land. This is what people believed back then. Only later did people realize that they maybe should consider Jesus as a spiritual king over the Kingdom of God.Lastly I would like to ask — why did Matthew and Luke even mention the lineage of Jesus if He was supposedly born of a virgin birth? Joseph wasn’t even Jesus’ father. God is.------------------[This message has been edited by Dave901, 07-21-2003][This message has been edited by Dave901, 07-21-2003][This message has been edited by Dave901, 07-21-2003][This message has been edited by Dave901, 07-21-2003][This message has been edited by Dave901, 07-21-2003]{Edited by Adminnemooseus, to restore page width to normal. I took out the pre-formating, for the discussion portion of the message. The original author had previously done 5 edits. I hope my edit is true to his intents.}[This message has been edited by Adminnemooseus, 07-21-2003][This message has been edited by Admin, 07-22-2003][This message has been edited by Admin, 07-22-2003]

I can’t see any reason to say Jesus never existed and was created by the Nicene Council. On the other hand, the belief that He was one and the same as God I do believe dates to the 3rd or 4th century AD. I think the writings show a transformation of Jesus from originally being simply portrayed as a religious teacher — to being a someone aspiring to be King. And later he was portrayed as a prophet and eventually in the 3rd or 4th century the writings eventually said God and Jesus were the same. I don’t really believe the idea of a Holy Trinity. I believe God is omnipresent and this omnipresent quality could be called the Holy Ghost. But I don’t think God and Jesus are one and the same.
In the Gospels you will see Jesus himself never considered himself the same as God. He would pray to God (What God would need to pray to himself). He always spoke of God as separate from himself and Jesus never even claimed to know what God was thinking. For example when asked if the sons of Zebedee could sit at his right hand and his left when he ascends into heaven. He replied That is not for me to decide but for God in heaven Mathew 20:23
Also consider Jesus’ last words on the cross were My God. My God. Why have you forsaken me? This doesn’t make it sound like Jesus and God are the same. There are many more examples like these in the gospels.
It started off with Paul’s writings that portrayed Jesus as a messenger from God.
Sup32string, from your remarks I’m sure you’re already convinced Jesus and God aren’t the same but my point to you is if he was a complete fabrication then why wouldn’t these gospels be consistent with the idea of Jesus just being another manifestation of God?

Are you implying Mary was Jesus’ mother genetically? I’ve always thought (maybe assumed) that Jesus was planted in Mary without any of Mary’s genes. If that is the case did Jesus have genes? If so who’s genes did he get? If God is his father, would he have God’s genes? Does God have genes? I wouldn’t think so.

Brad,
You have brought up some interesting topics (such as free will and predestination) but I have to admit I am having trouble following what you are getting at. You imply these topics have relevance to the lineage of David to Jesus. And even if they don’t I thought I’d put in my two cents.
I don’t believe in predestination, free will or luck. They all seem to imply that God is controlling our lives. If someone survives a terrible accident people say God was watching out for him or that it wasn’t his fate to die yet. If that is true why would God have let the accident happen in the first place?
I say God lets things in this life go as they may. When someone dies prematurely, whether from a murderer or even a falling tree, I don’t think it’s God’s work.
There are too many bad and evil things going on in this world for me to believe God has a predestination or fate planed out for us.