We find in the Gospels two accounts of the genealogy of the Messiah. Matthew chapter one and Luke chapter three contains these accounts, which many of us have never looked closely at. We often become bogged down in all of the “begats” and hurriedly move on. If we do take a few minutes to look at these accounts we will begin to find some difficulties in reconciling them.
Let us notice some of these. Matthew 1:16 says, “And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary,...” However, Luke states something different in Luke 3:23. “...the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli.” We are being told that Joseph has two different fathers. That is one problem. But, let us move on.
In Matthew’s account we see that David the king was the father of Solomon born of Bathsheba and this is the line that comes on down to Jesus. (Matt. 1:6-7) In Luke’s account we find that the descent is from David BUT it is through Nathan, a different son. (Luke 3:31)
There is yet another difficulty we need to look at. Notice a very important statement found in Matthew 1 and verse 17. “So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.” You can count them for yourself and you will find the first two listings truly are fourteen BUT let us count together the last grouping, from the carrying away into Babylon unto Messiah. Beginning with verse 11 of Matthew 1 through verse 16, 1.) Salathiel, 2.) Zorobabel, 3.) Abiud, 4.) Eliakim, 5.) Azor, 6.) Sadoc, 7.) Achim, 8.) Eliud, 9.) Eleazar, 10.) Matthan, 11.) Jacob, 12.) Joseph 13.) Jesus. Whoa! We have a problem as there are only 13 generations.
How do we reconcile everything? Commentators and Bible scholars have tried all kinds of theories and explanations, but have overlooked the obvious. Let us look again at Matthew 1:16. We are told that the Joseph listed here is the husband of Mary. The Greek word used for the English word “husband” is aner, the primary definition being “man.” Vine’s Expository Dictionary of the Bible has this to say, “Denotes, in general, ‘a man, and adult man,’ it is used of man in various relations, the context deciding the meaning.” The translators, knowing that Joseph was the name of Mary’s husband have used the word “husband” when it should have been “FATHER.”
Correctly translated we are able to resolve all of the difficulties. We don’t have two fathers for Mary’s husband, Joseph, BUT a Joseph that was her father, whose father was Jacob. And, her husband’s father was Heli. We now have 14 generations from the carrying away into Babylon until Messiah. We find that the genealogy in Matthew is of the royal, kingly line which comes down from King David through Mary to Jesus, the Messiah. Luke’s genealogy record is a legal one, which was always carried down through the males. Luke even tells us, Luke 3:23, that Joseph was supposed by everyone and for genealogical purposes, to be the Father of Jesus.
Although every English translation that I was able to check has Matthew 1:16 saying “husband” many Aramaic versions indicate that Joseph is the father of Mary. The Aramaic word, where the Greek “aner” is used is “gbra,” which means “mighty man.” A man who is head of a household (a father) is referred to as the “mighty man.” “Bala”is the Aramaic word for husband, and is used a few verses later, verse 19. Matthew 1:16 is referring to the FATHER of Mary while Matthew 1:19 is referring to the HUSBAND of Mary.
The following quotations are from The Chronological Gospels by Michael Rood. “Though translations derived from the Greek text of Matthew confuse the genealogy, the Ancient Hebrew text of Matthew’s Gospel, from which the Aramaic and, later, the Greek were translated, clearly details Miriam’s lineage through her father Yoseph ben Yaakov through the kingly line of David through Solomon. Luke’s Gospel, on the other hand, details the lineage of Miriam’s husband Yoseph ben Eli through David’s son Nathan.” An additional quote, “Mt 1:16, 1 (AHM) father - The Peshitta Aramaic texts of Matthew 1:16 (which was translated from a later Greek text) indicates that Miriam’s gevra (mighty man) was named Yoseph, and Matthew 1:19 specifies that Miriam’s ba’ala (husband) was also named Yoseph. Yoseph is a very common name in Israel. Miriam’s husband Yoseph had three grandfathers with the same name. This undoubtedly led the translators to make “a mistake of familiarity,” thinking that the two “Yosephs” of verses 16 and 19 were one and the same. The Greek translators chose to render both Aramaic words gevra and ba’ala as the Greek word aner, which simply means “a person of full age.”
And one more quotation from this same work, “There is only one ancient Biblical source that maintains the correct lineage of Yeshua, through his mother, to King David - and that is the ancient Hebrew Matthew that has been preserved in Jewish archives... In two of the oldest manuscripts of the Ancient Hebrew Matthew copied into the appendix of Shem Tov Ibn Shaprut’s “Even Bochan” we have the accurate lineage of Yeshua that shows his direct ancestral path to the throne of David -“Yoseph avi Miriam” - Yoseph the father of Miriam of whom was born Yeshua.”
What a difference the translation of one word can make.
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