Luke and Matthew record Jesus’ genealogy. See FreeBibleStudyHelp.com, Matthew, commentary 1 for information about Matthew’s genealogy. Luke’s genealogy follows the traditional Greek style, and Matthew’s genealogy follows the traditional Jewish style.
Some differences between the two include the people they begin and end with; Luke begins with Jesus and ends with Adam, the Son of God. Luke says with each generation, “…the son of “. Matthew begins with Abraham and ends with Jesus. With each generation he says, “…the father of “. Thus, their orders are in reverse of the other. Luke is emphasizing that Jesus is the Son of God and the Son of Man. Matthew’s emphasis is, Jesus is the son of Abraham.
Each comment about their genealogy. The comments greatly differ from each other. Matthew points out something the modern reader considers unusual. He concludes with a comment. “…Thus, there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.” (Matthew 1:17), leaving the modern reader wondering why that is important. Luke makes his comment in the beginning by stating Jesus was “… about thirty years old when he began his ministry,” leaving the modern reader wondering why a statement about the general age of Jesus is important. I wrote about his comment on the website.
Another difference is that Matthew includes five women. Luke has none.
Another difference is the people who are included in each. Scholars have proposed various explanations for the differences between the people in each genealogy. The following are most prominent. 1) One (probably Matthew) records the genealogy of Joseph, and Luke follows Mary’s line; 2) one (probably Matthew) spiritualizes the genealogy rather than following it literally (Luke); 3) the lines of descent cross but are different because one list includes several adoptive lines through levirate marriages (Deuteronomy 25:5-10), and 4) people often have more than one name, including Abraham, who was Abram (a trait I found in researching my own genealogy).
Considering Luke’s mention of Jesus’ approximate age, most scholars who address it write that in Greek society, men often entered public service at the age of thirty; and Levites’ service in the temple began at thirty (the letter of Hebrews has a strong emphasis on the fact that Jesus is our High Priest). Like a good Greek historian, Luke says “about thirty” (Luke 3:23) rather than stating an estimate as a definite number, as was more common in traditional Jewish historiography.
Being a person who has looked as his own genealogy I agree with what Apostle Paul later wrote, “But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, I have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.” (Titus 3:9-11; 1 Timothy 1:4) I ran into frustrations, insights, and problems when looking into my own genealogy. However, I also discovered interesting historical facts and stories handed down and forgotten if not put into writing.
