| Luke 3:23-31 23 Now Jesus himself was about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, who was the son of Heli,6 24 Who was the son of Matthat, who was the son of Levi, who was the son of Melchi, who was the son of Janna, who was the son of Joseph, 25 Who was the son of Mattathias, who was the son of Amos, who was the son of Naum, who was the son of Esli, who was the son of Nagge, 26 Who was the son of Maath, who was the son of Mattathias, who was the son of Semei, who was the son of Joseph, who was the son of Judah, 27 Who was the son of Joanna, who was the son of Rhesa, who was the son of Zorobabel, who was the son of Salathiel, who was the son of Neri, 28 Who was the son of Melchi, who was the son of Addi, who was the son of Cosam, who was the son of Elmodam, who was the son of Er, 29 Who was the son of Jose, who was the son of Eliezer, who was the son of Jorim, who was the son of Matthat, who was the son of Levi, 30 who was the son of Simeon, who was the son of Judah, who was the son of Joseph, who was the son of Jonan, who was the son of Eliakim, 31 Who was the son of Melea, who was the son of Menan, who was the son of Mata, who was the son of Nathan, who was the son of David, | |||||||||
6 Joseph was the son of Heli. Joseph was clearly the son of Jacob, Matthew 1:16. So this verse, Luke 3:23, the recording of son of Heli should be understood to mean son-in-law of Heli. Therefore this genealogy of Jesus in Luke is actually the genealogy of Mary, while Matthew records the genealogy of Joseph. Actually, the word son is not in the original, so it is correct to supply either son or son-in-law in the translation. The two genealogies show that both parents were descendants of David — Joseph through Solomon (Matthew 1:7-15), thus Jesus inherits the legal right to the throne of David, and Mary through Nathan (Luke 3:23-31), her line thus carrying the seed of David, since Solomon's line had been refused the throne because of Jechoniah's sin.
Further By Jewish law, the name of a woman cannot be mentioned in a genealogy. For a woman's genealogy to be traced, you must use the name of her husband, but in such a way as to indicate it is really the wife's. Hebrew and Greek allow such a subtle distinction. With English we never put the article "the" in front of a name, such as the Matthew, or the Joseph. Hebrew and Greek do not have such restrictions. So, on close examination of the Greek text of Luke, every name has "the" in front of it, except the name of Joseph. This missing article of "the" indicates it is the genealogy of Joseph's wife, Mary instead. The absence of Mary’s name is quite in keeping with Jewish practices on genealogies, and it was not unusual for a son-in-law to be listed in his wife’s genealogy.
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