The New Testament provides two accounts of the genealogy of Jesus, one in the Gospel of Matthew and another in the Gospel of Luke. Yet, the two accounts disagree on who Joseph’s father was: Matthew says it was Jacob, while Luke says it was Heli. So who was Jesus’ paternal ‎grandfather? There are other differences which will be explained in the next two articles. 

Patrilineage of Jesus according to Matthew:

Patrilineage of Jesus according to Luke:

This article will explain why Joseph’s father differs in the two accounts.

Saint Matthew listed the genealogical order of Christ according to offspring, the result of a marriage between man and woman according to the natural order of things. Saint Luke listed the order of Jewish Law that states that a brother can bring up a child for his brother if he dies without having his own children (heirs). This is described in the Old Testament as follows:

“When brothers dwell together and one of them dies without a son, the widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother is to take her as his wife and fulfil the duty of a brother-in-law for her.” (Deuteronomy 25:5, NKJV).

Therefore, the father of Joseph, Heli, is Joseph’s father according to law, but Jacob according to biology.

When Jacob begat Joseph, Joseph became a legal son to the dead Heli, and at the same time a biological son to Jacob. Therefore, Saint Matthew said that Jacob begat Joseph, which is true. Saint Luke recorded that Joseph is the son of Heli, which is also true according to Jewish law. Matthew mentioned the biological genealogy, and Luke mentioned the legal genealogy.

But if Jacob and Heli were brothers, wouldn’t both genealogies merge from Joseph’s grandfather to David, and therefore, have the same names and number of generations?

Good question! Not if Jacob and Heli were half-brothers from the same mother. In this case, Joseph’s grandfather will also be different because Jacob and Heli are not heirs to the same father, only from the same mother.

One explanation is that Matthan and Matthat married the same woman [in succession after being widowed]. She (Estha, according to tradition) begat children from each, who were uterine brothers. So her first husband, Matthan, is the father of Jacob. Matthat, her second husband, fathered Heli. Fast forward a couple of decades, and unfortunately, Heli died childless. Hence, Jesus’ paternal ‎grandfather is… both of them! One by law and the other by nature.

To make things seem less complicated, here’s a diagram:

Conclusion:

Saint Luke went on with the genealogical legal sequence from Heli, who died childless but got a legal seed from his half-brother Jacob, descended from Nathan, son of David. Saint Matthew went on from Jacob, Heli’s half-brother from the same mother, descended from Solomon, David’s youngest son. The two genealogies did not meet until David, because the half-brothers, Jacob and Heli, were uterine (by mother with separate fathers) brothers. The genealogy of Christ is confirmed, from the biological and the legal points of view; that He is the son of David, the son of Abraham, and the son of Adam.

Find the next two articles in the series here:
Did Matthew count the number of generations incorrectly? (Jesus’ Genealogy: 2 of 3)
How can Jesus be the descendant of the cursed ‎Jeconiah? ‎(Jesus’ Genealogy: 3 of 3)