ne Luke provides in his gospel. This can easily be reconciled, however, by understanding the difference between the two books. Luke, who was writing to a mainly Gentile audience, chose to give the genealogy of Jesus through His mother, Mary. This was probably the most natural thing for Luke to do, since Mary was biologically Jesus' parent and Joseph was not. Matthew, however, was writing to a primarily Jewish audience, and chose to give Jesus' legal genealogy through his step-father, Joseph, as would have been properly recognized by the Jewish laws. With this being understood, most of the differences between Matthew and Luke's genealogies are accounted for.

The other issue that often arises from a close reading of the Scripture is the absence of a fourteenth name in the last section of the genealogy. Matthew chose to present Jesus' genealogy in three sections of fourteen, choosing to skip over a few names in order that the genealogy would be more easily remembered. However, the last section of the genealogy only has thirteen - not fourteen - names. How is this accounted for? According to an early church father named Epiphanius, the name Jeconiah should actually appear twice in the list. According to him, Jeconiah chose to name his son after himself, meaning that the first and second names in the third section of the genealogy should be Jeconiah. A Scribe apparently saw that the name appeared twice and thought it to be an error, omitting it from the manuscripts available to us today.

The Meaning of a Mixed-Race Messiah

Jesus was certainly a Jew, but His genealogy reminds us that His ancestry includes Gentiles, as well. This was obviously important to Matthew, who went out of his way to mention three Gentile women who normally would not have been included in a formal genealogy. Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth were all Gentile women who married into Jesus' Jewish heritage. Matthew is most probably reminding his readers of these Gentiles to foreshadow a major theme of his gospel: namely, that Jesus has come to save not only the Jews, but the Gentiles as well.

In a world that is constantly struggling with racial and ethnic prejudices, there are several important truths we can learn from Jesus' mixed heritage. One of these is that we ought not to judge someone's character or worth by the race or nationality of their ancestors. Stereotyping is never godly, and undermines the Biblical teaching about individuality. Moreover, we should always remember that salvation is available to all people, no matter what their skin color, language, or customs.

On a side-note, whatever a person might think about interracial marriage, it should be observed that there were at least three in Jesus' genealogy, including at least one that was looked upon as an act of goodness on the part of God.

The Grace of God in Jesus' Genealogy

Anyone who has spent time studying the characters of the Old Testament cannot but help to be amazed at the terrible sinners that God graciously placed into the lineage from which Jesus would come. Consider these examples:

Abraham: Though certainly a hero of the faith, the father of the Jews also had his faults. When residing in Egypt, Abraham deceived the Pharaoh into thinking that his wife Sarah was actually his sister, and allowed her to be married to the Egyptian leader. This awful deception was done out of a selfish desire to be treated well in the country.

Tamar: Fearing the shame of never having children, Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and slept with the father of her deceased husband.

Rahab: Unlike Tamar, prostitution was Rahab's profession - at least until she became a follower of Israel's God.

David: This "man after God's own heart" was guilty of adultery, lying, and murder.

Solomon: As wise as he was, the son of David was foolish to marry hundreds of pagan wives that turned his heart away from the things of God and brought turmoil to the land of Israel.

Rehoboam: Solomon's son, Rehoboam chose to treat God's people with oppression rather than compassion, resulting in the nation of Israel being torn in two.

This list ought to bring hope to the hearts of sinners, for it reveals that God often chooses the very worst of sinners to be recipients of His grace. No one is "too sinful" to be saved.

It's important to note that when Matthew comes to the name of Joseph, he changes his phraseology. Where as he would normally have said "Jesus, the son of Joseph", he chooses in stead to say "Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ." This abrupt change in language gives evidence to the unique manner in which Christ was born, and reflects Matthew's teaching that Jesus

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