Matthew 1:16

Matthew 1:16. Joseph, the legal father, whose genealogy is here given. In Luke 3:23, Joseph is called ‘the son of Heli.' Explanations:

(1.) Luke gives the genealogy of Mary, Hell being her father, and the father-in-law of Joseph. This is the most probable view, since the writers of the New Testament assume that Jesus was descended from David through his mother. It involves no positive difficulty, and is in accordance with the prominence given to Mary in the opening Chapter s of Luke. See notes on Luke 3:23.

(2.) Both are genealogies of Joseph. This assumes one, or perhaps two, levirate marriages in the family of Joseph. (A levirate marriage was one in which a man wedded the widow of his elder brother, the children being; legally reckoned as descendants of the first husband: comp. Deuteronomy 25:5-6; Matthew 22:24, and parallel passages.) It is supposed that Jacob (Matthew) and Heli (Luke) were brothers or half-brothers, one of whom died without issue, the other marrying the childless wife. If brothers, Matthan (Matthew) and Matthat (Luke) refer to the same person. The objection to the whole theory is, that Jewish usage would insert in the genealogy not the name of the second husband (the real father), but only that of the first husband who died childless. The theory that Jacob and Heli were brothers compels us to assume an identity which is opposed rather than favored by the similarity of the names: Matthan and Matthat. The theory that they were half-brothers assumes a second levirate marriage in the case of Matthan and Matthat. Besides the double difficulty thus created, there is no evidence that the levirate usage applied to half-brothers. The view that the names Matthan and Matthat refer to the same person, involves the cousinship of Joseph and Mary, which is nowhere alluded to. According to another hypothesis, the royal ancestry of Joseph is given by Matthew, a descent from David through private persons is traced by Luke. This implies inaccuracy in one or the other.

Of whom was born. The form here changes in accordance with the miraculous conception and birth of Jesus.