Subject: The genealogy of Jesus
Another biblicist finding of inconsistencies of the Bible:
There are many who believe the bible is the Word of God, and some who
believe in an inerrant bible at both the literal and symbolic level. To
believe in inerrancy, is to believe in infallibility; and infallibility
only holds as long as it is free from errors and contradictions. Let us
consider the genealogy of Jesus, there are two lists, one provided in
the Book of Matthew, and the other in the Book of Luke. To make the
lists as clear as possible, they will be written side by side with the
numbers corresponding with the generations. [taken from the NASB]
The Matthew genealogy: Descending
1) Jesus 2) Joseph 3) Jacob 4) Matthan 5) Eleazar 6) Eliud 7) Achim 8) Zadok 9) Azor 10) Eliakim 11) Abiud 12) Zerubbabel 13) Shealtiel 14) Jechoniah 15) Josiah 16) Amon 17) Manasseh 18) Hezekiah 19) Ahaz 20) Jotham 21) Uzziah 22) Joram 23) Jeoshaphat 24) Asa 25) Abijah 26) Rehoboam 27) Solomon 28) David.
The Matthew genealogy: Ascending
King David - Solomon - Rehoboam - Abijah - Asa - Jehoshaphat - Joram - Uzziah -Jotham - Ahaz - Hezekiah - Manasseh - Amos - Josih - Jechoniah - Shealtiel -
Zerubbabel - Abiud - Eliakim - Azor - Zadok - Achim - Eliud - Elezar - Matthan -Jacob - Joseph.
The Luke genealogy : Descending
1) Jesus 2) Joseph 3) Eli 4) Matthat 5) Levi 6) Melchi 7) Jannai 8) Joseph 9) Mattathias 10) Amos 11) Nahum 12) Hesli 13) Naggai 14) Maath 15) Mattathias 16) Semein 17) Josech 18) Joda 19) Joanan 20) Rhesa 21) Zerubbabel 22) Shealtiel 23) Neri 24) Melchi 25) Addi 26) Cosam 27) Elamadam 28) Er 29) Joshua 30) Eliezer 31) Jorim 32) Matthat 33) Levi 34) Simeon 35) Judah 36) Joseph 37) Jonam 38) Eliakim 39) Melea 40) Menna 41) Mattahat 42) Nathan 43) David.
The Luke genealogy: Accending
King David - Nathan - Mattatha - Menna - Melea - Eliakim - Jonam - Joseph -Judah - Simeon - Levi - Matthat - Jorim - Eliezer - Joshua - Er - Elmadam -Cosam - Addi - Melchi - Neri - Shealtiel - Zerubbabel - Rhesa - Joanan - Joda - Josech - Semein - Mattathias - Maath -Naggai - Esli - Nahum - Amos - Mattathias - Joseph - Jannai - Melchi - Levi - Matthat - Heli - JosephTotal # of Generations between Jesus and David: Matthew: 27, Luke: 42.
Out of the genealogy, the only names in agreement are: 1) Jesus, 2)
Joseph, 28/43) David, and 4) Matthan, a version of Matthat [much like
Pete is a version of Peter]. Both genealogies are patriarchal and trace
back to David, since this is a requirement for the Christian concept of
the Messiah.
Christians realized the difficulty these lists presented for years, and
Thomas Paine pointed out that the inability of these lists to conform
was reason enough to reject the idea that the people who wrote them were
ignorant of their subject, and lacked the authority to teach anything.
Three things should be noted:
1) The names do not agree, with the exception of four.
2) The generations do not agree, Luke has 15 more generations in the same time period.
3) No names are left out of the list, so they are continuous from
Joseph to David.
The apologetic of choice for fundamentalists is to claim that one
genealogy is Joseph's and the other Mary's. The rebuttal to that is
simple and honest:
a) Both lists have Joseph, Matt. 1: 16, "16 and to Jacob was born Joseph
...", Luke 3: 23, "23 ... Joseph, the son of Eli ..." Neither list has,
" to Jacob was born Mary, or Mary the daughter of Eli". Therefore, the
Mary genealogy is simply nonexistent.
b) There is a discrepancy of 15 generations between the two lists, Mary
does not change the timeline.
In conclusion, here are the words of Thomas Paine on this subject:
"Now, if these men, Matthew and Luke, set out with a falsehood between
them (as these two accounts [genealogies] show they do) in the very
commencement of their history of Jesus Christ, and of whom and what he
was, what authority (as I have before asked) is there left for believing
the strange things they tell us afterward? If they cannot be believed in
their account of his natural genealogy, how are we to believe them when
they tell us he was the Son of God begotten by a ghost, and that an
angel announced this in secret to his mother? If they lied in one
genealogy, why are we to believe them in the other?" -- The Age of
Reason
Best View using IE 4.0 and aboveLast Update : Sunday, October 01, 2000
