Was Heli listed as Joseph's father in Luke 3 verse 23 because Jacob did not live up to godly standards when Jacob was listed as the father of Joseph and the husband of Mary in Matthew 1 verse sixteen?

Who was Jesus' grandfather on his father's side?

• Jacob

Matthew 1:16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

• Heli

Luke 3:23 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.

Because of the Jewish Levirite laws, both are correct, but in different ways. In Jewish law, if a man died childless, his brother was to marry the widow, and the first son born would legally be the dead man's heir (Deuteronomy 25:5-6). In the story of Ruth, we see that this was not limited to brothers; the nearest male relative willing to take on the responsibility would marry the widow.

The logical (and traditional Roman Catholic and Orthodox) understanding is that Joseph's mother was originally the wife of Heli, but that he died without offspring. His kinsman Jacob then took the widow as his wife, and she bore Joseph. So, while "Jacob begat Joseph", legally Joseph was the son of Heli. Both were descendants of Zerubabel, and apparently Jacob was the nearest kinsman to Heli willing to fulfill the Levirite duty. Matthew follows the natural line of descent, while Luke follows the legal line of descent.

There is another line of thought which has the Luke genealogy following the ancestors of Mary, but this is problematic since Mary was a relative of Elizabeth (Luke 1:36), who was of the line of Aaron the descendant of Levi (Luke 1:5), and thus she could not be of the line of David the descendant of Judah.

There is another line of thought, though Elisabeth was of the house of Aaron, Mary could be of the house of david, for those two houses often intermarried, as uniting of royalty and the priesthood in the Messiah.

Also look at Mat.1:6 from David starts at Solomon whose mother was Urias, but the linage starts at Nathan who also was a son of David in Luke 3:31, two differant genealogies.

Answer

If we look at the genealogies more fully, we can soon see that there can be no answer to this Question. Matthew gave Jacob as Joseph's father, while Luke gave Heli as his father. But Jacob's father was Matthan son of Eleazer, while Heli's father was Matthat son of Levi, so they were not brothers. Going further back, Matthew gives Zorobabel's paternal grandfather as Jechonias, while Luke says Neri.

Matthew and Luke were satisfying an apparent need to know more about Jesus, but had little information to go on. We should accept these inconsistencies rather than look for spiritual or moral reasons for them.

First answer by Itchie.c2. Last edit by Dick Harfield. Contributor trust: 381 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 55 [recommend question]