Matthan
Matthan
Jesus was a member of Parthian royalty by virtue of Joseph and Mary being first cousins, once removed, sharing the same grandfather, Matthan, who was part of both the Parthian and Judean royal families.
The Hebrew practice of levirate marriage according to Eusebius’ explains[1] the difference between the genealogy in Matthew and Luke 3:23-38.
Matthan, a descendant of King David’s son Solomon, married a woman that tradition names as Estha. Matthan begot Jacob by Estha. Matthan, who was Parthian Royalty, is the grandfather of Joseph, Mary’s husband, per Matthew.
When Matthan died, Matthat, a descendant of King David’s son Nathan, married Estha the widow and begot Eli. Matthat is the legal grandfather of Joseph, Mary’s husband, per Luke.
Thus Jacob and Eli were half-brothers with the same mother (Estha) but different fathers (Matthan and Matthat, respectively). The German scholar Friedrich Bleek in loco; a Lapide, Luke 3: 23, says that Matthan had two daughters, Sobs and Anna, and a son Jacob. Soba was mother of Elisabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, and of Anna, mother of Mary.
Eli married but died without a son.
Eli’s half-brother Jacob married Eli’s widow. again according to the levirate law of Deuteronomy 25:5-6 to raise up a son for his half-brother Eli.
Then Jacob begot Joseph.
Legally Joseph was the son of the dead brother Eli according to the levirate law in Luke’s genealogy.
But Joseph was also the natural born son of Jacob in Matthew’s genealogy.
Matthew gives us the biological genealogy through Joseph’s natural father Jacob and Luke gives the legal genealogy through Joseph’s legal father Eli. Both genealogies are correct.
- ↑ Book 1 of Ecclesiastical History in Chapter 7, titled “The Alleged Discrepancy in the Gospels in Regard to the Genealogy of Christ.” Eusebius' source was a letter from Julius Africanus to Aristides which cites Desposyni(trans: "belonging to the Lord" often reserved for Jesus' blood relatives), descendants of the brothers of Jesus.