The genealogy in the Bible is a literary form of the Middle East. It is given in order to present a message, at times, a religious one. It is not a family history as per the mentality of modern man. We must remember that the problems that the Biblical authors had were different from ours. For example, " grandchildren" were called "children" by the ancients. "Giving birth" did not necessarily mean physical birth. Similarly, when certain names were not available in a genealogy, ancients used fabricated names. This has been done in the genealogies in Genesis 25: 1-4. For example, Median, Sheba, Asurim are the names of countries. The writers of genealogies intended to show that certain individuals belonged to particular tribes. Blood relationship, therefore, is not very often intended in the account of genealogy. There was dissension among the Jewish rabbis as to which tribe the Messiah would belong (Aaron's or David's?)

In Jewish writings tables of equal number can be seen in the genealogies of the ancients. Groups of seven, ten or fourteen numbers are mentioned, for instance. These numbers have symbolic significance.

This method was useful to retain the genealogy in the memory. Such groups were made use of in Midrash raba. For example, from Abraham to Solomon, and from Solomon to Zedekiah there are 15 generations each. In the book of Enoch, history is divided into years of ten weeks. In Pirke Aboth there are ten generations from Adam to Noah, and ten from Noah to Abraham. In the book of Baruch, the history of the world from Adam to the Messiah is divided into twelve periods. The historian Josephus holds that there are seven generations from Abraham to Moses. Enoch can be seen as belonging to the seventh generation from Adam in Jude 14. We can see from these examples that the genealogy in the Bible was not written in the manner in which it is recorded today. In 1Tim 1:4 this idea is seen very clearly. St Paul warns us not to give attention to legends or endless genealogies. If taken literally, there is only a span of 4000 years from Adam to the birth of Jesus. But we cannot reject the scientific conclusion that the history of mankind dates back to lakhs of years.

In the Greek gospels of Matthew and Luke, the usage of the word 'genealogy' is not seen. The idea given in Matthew 1:1 is " The book of the Generation".
 
 

The genealogy of Jesus in St. Luke's gospel is inserted between the account of the baptism of Jesus and his temptation in the desert. This genealogy begins with Jesus and goes backward and ends in Adam. Whereas the genealogy in Matthew begins with Abraham and ends in Jesus. In Luke's genealogy there are seventy seven generations. Here eleven groups of seven individuals each are presented. The account of this genealogy connects the chief events of salvation history. The number " Seven" in the Bible denotes perfection. Seven and its multiples are, therefore, seen in the Bible. The Hebrew word for seven is "Shivah", the root meaning of this word is, to be filled, become perfect, be satisfied etc. The evangelist is symbolically roping in the salvation history of seventy seven generations. St Luke's account is written as follows:

1. The generations after the monarchy ( three groups of seven each) ( 3:24-27)

2. The generations during the monarchy ( three groups of seven each) ( 3:27-31)

3. The generations prior to the monarchy ( two groups of seven each) ( 3:32-34)

4. The generations before Abraham ( three groups of seven each) (3:35-38)

Thus Luke has divided the genealogy of Jesus into eleven groups.

What the evangelist presents here is the indication that in Jesus begins the twelfth, new and perfect people. Thirty six names of this genealogy are not mentioned in the Old Testament ( the names given in Matthew's gospel are also different). The rest of the names are there in the Old Testament.

The purpose of the third gospel is to picture Jesus as the Son of Adam. Jesus, the son of Adam, is a man in every respect like us, our brother-this is what the evangelist is revealing here. The gentile Luke has written his gospel for gentiles. Jesus, therefore, is seen as the Saviour of all people. Jesus, in the genealogy of Luke, is the Saviour of all who are Adam's children and of the whole human race. St Paul also highlights Jesus as the new Adam ( cf 1 Cor 15:22, 45). In the temptation in the wilderness that follows the account of the genealogy of Jesus, Jesus is the Son of Adam. He re-captures the lost paradise by his victory over Satan. Luke ends the genealogy indicating that Jesus is the Son of God. ( cf Lk.3:38). In his baptism he was anointed the Son of God ( cf Lk. 3:22). This idea continues to be presented through the genealogy.

The evangelist emphasises that the stable union that Jesus, the Son of God, fosters with the whole of mankind, must make our view of Jesus and the salvation he bestows, very wide and all inclusive. Jesus is the Saviour not only of Jews. For him there is no distinction of colour or creed, male or female, sinner or the righteous.

It is God himself who is the Creator of the history of the human race that takes its origin from Adam: "...the son of Adam, the son of God" (Lk 3:38). Jesus is the unifying power of that history. The divine purpose of human history reaches its culmination in Jesus. Great is our duty to put all our trust in Jesus, consider all people as our brothers and sisters and make efforts for their salvation.