Joseph (Ἰωσήφ) (Gospel)

Differing Genealogies of Matthew and Luke

The books of Matthew and Luke both present a genealogy of Jesus, and while they match in the early line, they differ significantly (almost totally) in the later parts of the line. There are several theories that have been proposed through history of how to resolve this.

1) Some have proposed that this is proof that all of this has just been made up. For this work I am rejecting this option, as it is based on the theory that the Bible can be treated as a fairly reliable work.

2) A second theory is that Joseph became adopted as a child, and thus had two distinct 'fathers', one biological, and a second a legal line.

3) Another theory is that one of the genealogies is that of Joseph, and the other is of Mary. When using this theory, most make Matthew the Joseph line and Luke the Mary line.

Luke's genealogy follows the Jewish tradition of not mentioning women, (Matthew breaks that tradition several times). In Luke's genealogy, Joseph's listing is different in two ways, one, it includes the phrase 'so it was thought' and two, every other name in the genealogy is preceeded by the definite article, but Joseph's was not.

A second theory to adopt Luke as the line of Mary would be if Mary was the eldest child of her parents, and had no brothers, then Jewish law would have a kinsman marry her, and the first child would be considered legally of the line of her father, not the father's line. Joseph could have been chosen as that kinsman.

The work uses the assumption that the Lukian genealogy is of Mary.

Jewish Marriage Customs

The Jews had a somewhat involved set of customs for marriage in this period (and for most of their history). The couple went through a number of stages:

Informal:
1) Typically, the fathers would introduce the Boy and the Girl to each other when they were young to get to know one another and to see if they are comfortable together. This as an informal process, and often fairly short.

2) If it seems that things may work out, the Girls family would "Promise" her to the Boy and his family. This was not a legally binding agreement, but wasn't taken likely.

Formal.
3) Betrothal, when the girl has grown to a young lady and the Boy a young man, and starting to establish himself, the Boys father works out and pays the Girls father the Bride Price, (in effect buying her). At this point, for most purposes they are legally married, but for a period of typically 6-12 months, the bride still lives with her family, and no 'marital relations' occur. This is a time of proving and validating their worthiness. This is the state of Joseph and Mary when Mary was meet by the angel and became with child by the power of the Holy Spirit.

4) At a later point, typically 6 months to a year later, the Groom would come and claim his bride and take her into his home, and they become fully man and wife. This is likely what occured in Mathew 1:24-25, though the marriage wasn't consumated until after Jesus was born.