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The Births Of The Messiah
The oldest of the gospels, the Gospel of Mark, tells us almost nothing of the ancestry, birth, or childhood of Jesus. We learn nothing of Joseph the carpenter, supposed father of the alleged Messiah, and it only mentions that Jesus' mother was named Mary
Mark 6:3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.
The latest gospel,that of John, has very sparse details about the human side of Jesus, although he does mention that Jesus had a father named Joseph and an un-named mother, as well as brothers.
Only in the canonical gospels of Matthew and Luke is there to be found any mention of the genealogy Jesus. For some reason, however, the genealogies don't match...
| Typical Apologetics Reasons For Inconsistencies In The Genealogies |
| In any given society, genealogies may function in more than
one of the three spheres...it would be possible for a society to
have a number of apparently conflicting genealogies, each of
which could be considered accurate in terms of its function. Luke's goes all the way back to Adam and has 56 generations. His interest is in establishing a tone of universality in the Gospel message and mission, as he does in Acts with the admission of Gentiles into the Kingdom of God. This is all there is to his purpose, and so the genealogy is linear rather than segmented. Matthew's goes back to Abraham and has 3 groups of 14 generations. Here he certainly telescopes, as noted above (and Luke probably does, too). But Matthew is trying to prove certain points with his genealogy that Luke is not. Second, Matthew has split into blocks of 14 so as to match the Hebrew sum for the numerical equivalent to the name David. Finally, Matthew wants to include some women of a questionable character, because they serve as an "in your face" to the expected charge that Jesus' birth was in some way scandalous or abnormal. |
| There is no discrepancy because one genealogy is for Mary and the other is for Joseph. It was customary to mention the genealogy through the father even though it was clearly known that it was through Mary. |
Interestingly, unless you're a Christian,:
according to Jeremiah 22:28-30, no descendent in Solomon's line could be king. Jesus avoided this curse by getting the legal right to the throne from Joseph, who was not a blood relative, and the blood right as son of David from Mary. Although this odd, convoluted explaination seems to satisfiy Christian Apologetics this fascinating solution is never mentioned in the scriptures.
22:28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?
22:29
O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.
22:30
Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.
There was really no need for a genealogy or detailed biography of Jesus when the Book of Mark was written as it was expected that the end of the world was near and Jesus would return, trailing clouds of glory, within a generation. There was only a need for his followers to take heed the warnings,
Mark 13:33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
13:34 For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.
13:35
Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:
13:36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
13:37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
By the time the authors of Matthew and Luke wrote their own gospels, not first-hand accounts but heavily plagiarized from Mark, including the passage predicting that the world would soon end
Matthew 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
it had become abundantly clear that the world was carrying on as usual and had definitely not ended, and that Christians would be in for a very long wait.
So, something was required to keep the faithful happy while they were waiting for his delayed return and to stop his followers from drifting away. After all, why believe in someone who can't even fulfill his own prophecy? Membership must have been dwindling so something had to be found to act as a good selling point for the faith.
Picture the scene ~ a conversation between two priests, Hezron and Matthat:
"We've got to face facts, we backed the wrong one. He's not coming back, is he?"
"No he's not. I always thought that one was unreliable, what with cursing a fig tree and encouring his friends to steal a horse. What are we going to do now, pack this in and get proper jobs?"
"WHAT! You must be joking! Listen Matthat, my grandad didn't do all that work on Leviticus, making sure that the priests got the pick of the crop and the best of everything, for us to throw it all away just because its not true . This is the plan: we'll declare him to be "the messiah", "the anointed one", "the Christ" or whatever, that everyone has been waiting for.
You have a word with Matthew. He's got a copy of Marks' book. Tell him to add in a genealogy "proving" that Jesus is related to that randy David. He's a good lad with plenty of imagination. I'll do the same with Luke."
"What a great idea, Hezron! It won't even matter if they don't match. There'll always be someone who'll believe what we tell them, dispite the contradictions and inconsistencies."
"Now you're catching on, Matthat! That should keep them happy for a while. After that we'll start crediting Jesus with being a god. Why should the pagans have all the good myths? Give him a virgin birth, a few miracles, a crucifixion and resurrection, maybe even a fulfilled prophecy."
Some Of The Many Virgin Births Preceeding Jesus |
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| Ra | Apis | Jove |
| Jason | Horus | Osiris |
| Hercules | Dionysos | Amenkemp |
