MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/5/2026
10:25 AM
My Worship
Time Focus: “The
Supposition of Jesus’ Ancestry”
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: Luke
3:23b
Message of the verse: “being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph,”
In John MacArthur’s commentary on this brief phrase he
stated that it “is of profound theological significance.” He goes on to write “It was commonly supposed
that Jesus was the son of Joseph, understandably so since as far as
most people knew, Jesus was just on of Joseph and Mary’s children (cf. Matthew
13:54-56).”
(cf. Matthew 13:54-56)
“54 and coming to his hometown he taught them in
synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get
this wisdom and these mighty works? 55
Is this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not
his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where
then did this man get all these things?’”
“But that
supposition was incorrect, and He was physically only the son of Mary. That affirms the reality of His virgin
conception and birth.” This was written
about in an earlier chapter of MacArthur’s commentary that I am using. “The Greek text makes it clear that Joseph is
not part of Luke’s genealogy. All the
other names are preceded by the definite article tou, but joseph
is not, thus indicating that the mention of his name is parenthetical. The phrase could be more accurately rendered,
‘Jesus…being (as was supposed the son of Joseph) the son of Eli’; that is, the
grandson of Eli through Mary. This is
another compelling reason for viewing Luke’s genealogy as Mary’s.” I went over that
in a previous SD stating that Luke’s genealogy is from Mary, while Matthew’s
genealogy is from Joseph. “How could
this be Joseph’s genealogy when Luke’s grammar makes it clear that Joseph was
not part of it? Futher, as R.C.H. Lenski
points out,
“How Luke
could think of appending a genealogy of Joseph after saying that Jesus was only
supposed to be the son of Joseph, i.e., a physical son, Luke himself
having shown at length that this supposition was wrong, and that Jesus was a
physical son only of Mary, has yet to be made clear by those who find the
genealogy of Joseph here. (The Interpretation of St. Luke’s Gospel [Minneapolis:
Augsburg, 1946] 218-219. Italics in original).”
Now I am going to quote the next
section from MacArthur’s commentary but he states that the verses that this
short section come from Luke 3:27.
The Similarity of Two Ancestors
Luke 3:27 “Zerubbabel…Shealtiel.
‘The names from Eli (vs. 23) to Rhesa (v.
27) and from Neri (v. 27) to Mattatha (v. 31) do not appear
anywhere else in Scripture. All that can
be said of them is that they were common Jewish names of the time. The names of Zerubbabel and Shealtiel
sandwiched in between are known; in fact, they are the only two names after
David’s time that are common to both the genealogies of Luke and Matthew. It is possible that the names refer to
different individuals, and that there was a father named Shealtiel and a son
named Zerubbabel in both genealogies. Or
a levirate marriage may account for their presence in both genealogies. Zerubbabel himself may have been the
child of a levirate marriage, since 1 Chronicles 3:19 lists Pedaiah as his
father, while the Old Testament elsewhere calls him the son of Shealtiel (e.
g., Ezra 3:2; Neh. 12:1; Hag. 1:1), the brother of Pedaiah (1 Chron.
3:17-18). Similary, Luke refers to Neri
as the father of Shealtiel, while 1 Chron, 3:17 lists Jeconiah as his
father. Again, this is either another
case of levirate marriage, or adoption.”
I will finish this section of this SD by going over the verses mentioned
above in the order that they are listed.
(e. g., Ezra 3:2; Neh. 12:1; Hag. 1:1)
“2 Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with
his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen, and
they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as
it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God.”
“1 ¶ These are the priests and the Levites who
came up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah,
Ezra,”
“1 ¶ In the second year of Darius the king, in the
sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the
hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of
Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest:”
(1 Chron, 3:17-18)
“17 and the sons of Jeconiah, the captive:
Shealtiel his son, 18 Malchiram,
Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama and Nedabiah;’
Spiritual
Meaning for my Life Today: Genealogies are important,
especially when it comes to the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
5/5/2026
11:08 AM
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