Doubts About The Names and Numbers in Biblical Genealogies

Introduction

John Robbins believes there is divine “mathematical” significance in the “42” generations from Abraham to Jesus as listed in the 1st chapter of the 1st book of the New Testament, Matthew. But I question whether any worthwhile meaningful knowledge can be gained (or proven to others) by the mere search for numerical coincidences, especially since both the names and numbers in Matthewʼs genealogical list remain in historical doubt.

Doubts About the Names Listed in Biblical Genealogies (and/or the Numbers of People Listed in Them)

• Doubt #1: “The Genealogies in Matthew and Luke”
  (their differences, and attempts to reconcile them)

• Doubt #2: “Did Moses Write the Lists of Genealogies in the Bible?”
  (conflicting genealogies found elsewhere in the Bible)

• Doubt #3: “Exagerrated Ages of the Sumerian/Babylonian Kings”
  Compared with those of the Hebrew Patriarchs” by Edward T. Babinski

• Doubt #4: Luke apparently constructed his genealogy around the idea that he was living in the very last generation, the “77th” generation since Adam!

  The 77 Generations

  by Jona Lendering

  In the Gospel of Luke 3.23-38, we can read the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth. Like all genealogies in preliterate societies, it is not reliable: we may be confident that Jesusʼ father was a man named Joseph, but it is questionable whether his grandfather was indeed called Eli. (Matthew 1.16 calls him Jacob.) Going further back, the family tree becomes increasingly unreliable, although it is of course possible that the family of Jesus remembered correctly that it descended from David. The discovery of a first-century CE tomb of the ‘house of David’ in Jerusalem proves that descendants of the legendary king were recognized in Jesusʼ age.

  The genealogical truth was, of course, not Lukeʼs real aim. He wanted to show that Jesus was of Davidic descent and could therefore be the Messiah. Luke plays an interesting game in this genealogy, which we can appreciate by comparing his text with its sources.

  Luke started by combining existing genealogies.

  Genesis 5.3-32 (from Adam to Shem)

  Genesis 11.10-26 (from Shem to Abraham)

  Genesis 25.19-26, 35.23, 46.12 (from Abraham to Hezron)

  Ruth 4.18-22 (from Hezron to David)

  2 Samuel 5.14, Kings 1 and 2, Ezra 5.2 (from Nathan to Zerubbabel)

  Having combined these family trees, Luke inserted two names. In Genesis 11.12-13 Shelah is the son of Arphaxad; but Luke makes Shelah the grandson of Arphaxad by inserting Kainan. The other addition is Admin. In doing so, Abraham, who had belonged to the twentieth generation, moved to the twenty-first generation, and David moved from generation #33 to generation #35. In other words, Luke introduced a system in which every seventh generation, a special man arose: e.g., Enoch (7), Abraham (21), David (35).

  Finally, he added new names to bridge the gap between David and Jesusʼ father Joseph. Luke was more or less obliged to mention Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, a descendant of David who played an important role in the development of messianology (more). Shealtiel was probably the son of one of the last kings of independent Judah and therefore a descendant of king Salomo (cf. Matthew 1.6), but Luke makes him a descendant of another son of David, the prophet Nathan.
  The names added by Luke are again highly significant: in the forty-second and the seventieth generation we find a Joseph, in the forty-ninth (7x7) a Jesus. Again, Luke plays with the number seven. Other interesting names are the four patriarchs in generation 42-45.

	Luke	Luke's Sources
77	Jesus of Nazareth
76	Joseph
75	Eli
74	Matthat
73	Levi
72	Melki
71	Jannai
70	Joseph
69	Mattathias
68	Amos
67	Nahum
66	Esli
65	Naggai
64	Maath
63	Mattathias
62	Semein
61	Josech
60	Joda
59	Joanan
58	Rhesa
57	Zerubbabel	Zerubbabel	53
56	Shealtiel	Shealtiel	52
55	Neri	Mattaniah/Zedekiah	50
54	Melki	Jehoiachin	51
53	Addi	Eliakim/Jehoiakim	50
52	Kosam	Jehoahaz	50
51	Elmadam	Josiah	49
50	Er	Amon	48
49	Jesus	Manasseh	47
48	Eliezer	Hezekiah	46
47	Jorim	Ahaz	45
46	Matthat	Jotham	44
45	Levi	Azariah/Uzziah	43
44	Simeon	Amaziah	42
43	Judah	Joash	41
42	Joseph	Ahaziah	40
41	Jonan	Jehoram	39
40	Eliakim	Jehosaphat	38
39	Melea	Asa	37
38	Menna	Abijah	36
37	Mattatha	Rehoboam	35
36	Nathan	Solomon	34
35	David	David	33
34	Jesse	Jesse	32
33	Obed	Obed	31
32	Boaz	Boaz	30
31	Salmon	Salmon	29
30	Nahshon	Nahshon	28
29	Amminadab	Amminadab	27
28	Admin
27	Aram	Aram	26
26	Hezron	Hezron	25
25	Perez	Perez	24
24	Judah	Judah	23
23	Jacob	Jacob	22
22	Isaac	Isaac	21
21	Abraham	Abraham	20
20	Terah	Terah	19
19	Nahor	Nahor	17
18	Serug	Serug	17
17	Reu	Reu	16
16	Peleg	Peleg	15
15	Eber	Eber	14
14	Shelah	Shelah	13
13	Kainan
12	Arphaxad	Arphaxad	12
11	Shem	Shem	11
10	Noah	Noah	10
9	Lamech	Lamech	9
8	Methuselah	Methuselah	8
7	Enoch	Enoch	7
6	Jared	Jared	6
5	Mahalalel	Mahalalel	5
4	Kenan	Kenan	4
3	Enosh	Enosh	3
2	Seth	Seth	2
1	Adam	Adam	1
	God	God

One question is: why seventy-seven generations? The answer lies in the First book of Enoch, a collection of texts that share an interest in the patriarch Enoch, about whom it is written that ‘he was taken away’ instead of ‘he died’ (Genesis 5.24). This line caused many to think that Enoch had ascended to heaven and had written reports about it.

One of the five parts of 1 Enoch is the so-called ‘Book of the Watchers’, which was written in the third century BCE. It describes the fall of the angels and their punishment:

“And the Lord said to [the arch-angel] Raphael: ‘Bind [the rebel] Azazel hand and foot and throw him into the darkness!’

“And Raphael made a hole in the desert, which was in Dudael, and cast him there. On top of him, he threw rugged and sharp rocks. And he covered Azazelʼs face in order that he may not see light and […] may be sent into the fire on the great day of judgment. […]

“And to Michael the Lord said: ‘[…] Bind them for seventy generations underneath the rocks of the ground until the day of their judgment is concluded.’”
[1 Enoch 10.4-6, 11-12; tr. E. Isaac]

In other words, the day of judgment was to take place seventy generations after Enoch. Now this patriarch lived in the seventh generation, and we may therefore conclude that the author of the Book of the Watchers assumed that the end of history would be in the seventy-seventh generation.

In another part of the First book of Enoch, the so-called “Book of Similitudes” (first half first century BCE), we learn more about the last judgment. We read how the Messiah, who is said to be created before the universe and is called the “son of man”, will judge mankind, which has risen from the death.

Back to Luke. By making Jesus of Nazareth the seventy-seventh of the list, he is obviously playing with these thoughts. What he is in fact saying is that Jesus was the Messiah and that the last judgment is very, very near. After all, when Luke composed his gospel during the persecution by the emperor Domitian, there were only a few survivors of the generation of Jesus.