Jacob (Gen. 49:1 -28).

The heads of the twelve tribes.

Joseph (Gen. 50:23 -26).

Children of Ephraim and Manasseh.

While there are many generations in the Scriptures, there are only two

passages which use the full term, 'The book of the generations of' namely of

Adam (Gen. 5:1) and of Christ (Matt. 1:1), the one item of difference being

that the word 'generation' is in the plural in Genesis 5:1.  However

interesting from a doctrinal or scientific point of view all the genealogies

of the Scriptures may be, they pale into insignificance in the presence of

the Book of the Generation of Jesus Christ, to which they one and all were

pointing down the ages.  The genealogy given in Matthew 1 is comparatively

straightforward, its main purpose being to establish the lineage of the child

called Jesus, with David and Abraham.  We shall learn much more both of the

purpose of this genealogy and of the age -long enmity that has existed

between the two seeds (Gen. 3:15), if we consider the genealogy given in

Luke's Gospel as presenting another line of descent essential to the

fulfilling of all the conditions attached thereto.

Immediately following the baptism of the Saviour at Jordan, the descent

from heaven of the Spirit as a dove, and the voice declaring Him to be the

beloved Son of God, we read:

'And Jesus Himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was

supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli' (Luke 3:23),

and so on through Nathan, David and Abraham to Adam.  The Gentile aspect of

Luke's Gospel is made manifest by this added set of names, right back to

Adam; Matthew being satisfied to take the Saviour's genealogy back to Abraham

and to stay there.  While the Saviour was not a priest while on earth, 'for

it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah; of which tribe Moses spake

nothing concerning priesthood' (Heb. 7:14), He nevertheless conformed to the

law governing the Levites, who 'From thirty years old and upward' were

enrolled for the service of the Tabernacle (Num. 4:3).

We know that Christ was commonly 'supposed' to be the son of Joseph

(John 1:45; 6:42; Luke 4:22), and this is no argument either for or against

the actual fact of the Virgin birth, for Mary herself, following the custom

of the time, speaks of Joseph as the Saviour's 'father' in this very Gospel

that so insists on His mother's virginity (Luke 2:48).  It is written in Luke

2:39 that Joseph and Mary performed all things according to the law of the

Lord in connection with the infant Christ, and this would have included the

payment of the redemption shekel.  This would have made Jesus, Joseph's son

in the eyes of the law, a claim which He recognized (Luke 2:51).  Nomizo, the

word translated, 'as was supposed', does not carry with it, in any of its New

Testament  occurrences, a strong legal element, but in a genealogy,

'supposition' is hardly the word to translate a derivative of nomos, 'law',

especially as we shall see that Joseph, the next named, was himself not the

physical son of Heli, but a son -inlaw, too.  Hence we can open the genealogy

with the words:

'Jesus ... being legally reckoned the son of Joseph' (Luke 3:23).

Matthew traces the genealogy of Joseph back through Jacob who begat

him, to Solomon, David and Abraham.  Luke traces Joseph's genealogy back

through Heli, his father -in -law, to Nathan, David, Abraham and Adam.