The Genealogy of Yeshua: Part 1 - Matthew's genealogy is of Miriam not Yosef

The genealogy of Yeshua is a very interesting but complex issue. On the one hand we have Christian apologists who argue for a virgin birth and on the other, orthodox Jewish scholars who argue that if such an event did actually occur this would invalidate the Messiahship of Yeshua, that is, the Torah is very clear that the Messiah needs to be  a literal descendant of King David through his human father.

Further some 'anti-missionaries' like Michael Skobac argue that the genealogy of Yeshua given in the the New Testament invalidates Yeshua's right to a future reign as the King in the Olam Ha Bah (the World to Come), as the genealogy shows that he was descended from the cursed line of Jeconiah and thus cannot qualify to ever become King.

 Also there is some serious confusion surrounding the genealogies. Most Christian scholars/theologians  argue that Matityahu's (Matthew) version is that of Yeshua's father Yosef (Joseph) rather than Miriam (Mary), and that Luke's is that of Miriam rather than Yosef. This leads to some serious difficulties as will be discussed.

Add to this the theological problems involved in that the 3 sets of 14 names listed in Matthew are actually not 3 sets of 14 to start with, as well as the fact that they actually contain a number of well-verified omissions, including a gap of some 76 years in which no names are listed.

 Given the enormity and complexity of this issue, I wish to provide only a very basic overall here of the incredible insights and truth that Uriel Ben Mordechai in particular, and even others like A.B. (Bruce) Barham and Nehemia Gordon, have found and shared on this whole question.

If you really wish to study this issue in any serious depth I would strongly recommend signing on to Uriel's on-line class[1] when he is next covering this topic (it took around 2 hours a week for months for Uriel to 'unpack' the truth and uplifting reality of what is really revealed in the genealogies of Yeshua). I would also recommend the articles by Bruce Barham (see links below).

Matthew: '… Yosef is the father of Miriam...':
Firstly then, Uriel shows most clearly that Matthew's (Matityahu) genealogy is of Yeshua (Jesus) through Miriam (Mary) and her father, who was also named Yosef (Joseph) and that Luke's genealogy is of Yeshua's biological father, Yosef[2].

This is far from the accepted understanding reflected in our Bible translations, where almost every English version has the Yosef, son of Ya'acov in Matthew noted as the 'husband' of Miriam. These same translators and Christian theologians also try to find fanciful ways to get around the issue that Luke's genealogy is clearly than of Yosef, the husband of Miriam and gives Eli (some have Heli) as his farther, which of course is clearly in conflict with Matthew (if Mathew's Yosef is the husband) as Matthew explicitly states that Ya'acov is Yosef's father.

While I personally learned of the reality that Matthew's genealogy is that of Miriam, not Yosef, through Uriel's class, this has been argued for sometime by those familiar with some of the early Hebrew translations of Matthew which clearly have that Yosef was the father of Miriam (see below for details).

This is also detailed in some depth in 'The Chronological Gospels: The Life and Seventy Week Ministry of the Messiah' (2013) by Michael John Rood.Another argument against the claims that Yeshua is the end-times Messiah is that the genealogical record in Matthew passes through the 'cursed line' of Jeconiah, and so, any of his ancestors can not lay claim to David's throne. Uriel also shows that the lineage does not pass through the line of this cursed king.

With regard to Matthew's 'Yosef' and his relationship to Miriam, Uriel ben Mordechai uses the facts of Greek grammar (in particular the feminine singular genitive  of 'ἧς' ('eese')  meaning "of whom/which"), to argue that the reference to Yeshua can only refer to being born via his mother, and that therefore the Yosef mentioned is not his father.

He also explains how the being a “son of David', and thus qualifying as a potential future King and Messiah can come through the mother's line, provided that the mother's father is a 'son of David' (ie. A direct descendent)[3].
The proof of Matthew's genealogy being that of Miriam rather than Yosef is best established through some ancient Hebrew versions, as Michael Rood explains:

“... The Messiah must be from the lineage of King David (Jeremiah 23:5). Though translations derived from the Greek text of Matthew confuse the genealogy, the Ancient Hebrew text of Matthew's Gospel, from which the Aramaic and, later, the Greek were translated, clearly details Miriam's lineage through her father Yoseph ben Yaakov through the kingly line of David through Solomon.
Luke's Gospel, on the other hand, details the lineage of Miriam's husband Yoseph ben Eli through David's son Nathan. ... It is clear that the Yoseph ben Yaakov mentioned in Matthew 1:16 and the Yoseph ben Eli cited in Luke 3:23 (which is the Yoseph who is Miriam's husband in Matthew 1:19) are two different men with two distinct genealogical lines back to David - yet they both bear a very common Israelite name. A woman marrying a man with the same first name as her father is very common in every culture - this led a careless translator into profound error.

 … The Peshitta Aramaic texts of Matthew  1:16 (which was translated from a latter  Greek text) indicates that Miriam’s  'gevra' (mighty man)  was named Yoseph, and Matthew 1:19 specifies that Miriam’s  'ba’ala' (husband) was also named Yoseph.
Yoseph is a very common name in Israel. Miriam’s husband Yoseph had three grandfathers with the same name. This undoubtedly led the translators to make “a  mistake of familiarity,” thinking that the two “Yosephs” of verses 16 and 19 (in Matthew) were one and the same.
The  Greek translators chose to render both Aramaic words  gevra and ba’ala as the Greek word  'aner', which simply  means “a person of full age.” The English translators then chose to translate the singular Greek word 'aner' as  “husband.” - http://thechronologicalgospels.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/TCG_NativitySample.pdf (p45).

For further manuscript support for this, see the two images below (courtesy of Nehemia Gordon). These two, of the oldest manuscripts of the Ancient Hebrew Matthew were copied into the appendix of Shem Tov Ibn Shaprut’s “Even Bochan”, and show that the text reads “Yoseph avi Miriam”.  The Hebrew and Aramaic 'avi' means 'the father of', so the meaning here is that 'Yosef is the father of Miriam' and not the husband, and therefore Matt 1:16 ends with “...Yosef the  father of Miriam of whom was born Yeshua”.

(The words, “yoseph avi miriam” are highlighted in these two manuscript photographs)

  

Next: Part 2: The Cursed King & the missing Kings and Queens:

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[1]Sign on here http://www.ntcf.org/register.html

[2]For the most part I will use transliterations of the Hebrew, especially Hebrew names, which better reflect the sound of the actual names. For example, Yeshua's mother was מִרְיָם , and Miriam or Miryam, sounds a lot closer than Mary! This does get confusing though when we list the genealogies in Matthew and Luke as they can (and do) have several acceptable alternatives.

[3]  For a son of Jewish parents to be have a rightful claim to the 'throne of David' and thus to be a King of Israel, either (or both) parent(s) needs to a of the tribe of Judah (Yehudah). In the case of a woman though, she can only pass this tribal claim on to her son, if she herself is the daughter of a father who is from the tribe of Yehudah. That is, her tribal identification is not sufficient for her grandson, if neither of the grandson's parents of from the tribe of Yehudah.