The genealogies of our Lord given in Matt. 1 and Luke 3 were no doubt copied from existing registers, which were carefully preserved by the Jews. This in no way clashes with the writers being inspired and being led what to copy.
Any one comparing them will see at once that, for the same period given in both, the list in Luke is much fuller than the one in Matthew. In order to bring the list in Matthew into three "fourteen generations" some names are omitted. Thus Ozias is placed as the son of Joram, but on consulting 1 Chron. 3:11,12 it will be seen that three kings are here omitted, Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah. These kings being well known are here omitted; but this omission is not contrary to the usage of the Jews. In 2 Chronicles 22:9 Ahaziah is called the son of Jehoshaphat, whereas he was his grandson. Compare also the pedigree in 1 Chron. 6:3-15 with Ezra 7:1-5, where seven generations will be found to be omitted.
There has been much written as to why the two lists are given in the gospels, and what is to be gathered from them.
On the face of them there is this difference, that in the Gospel of Matthew, wherein Christ is emphatically the Messiah and Son of David, the genealogy stops at Abraham; whereas in Luke, where Christ is Son of man, the list is traced up to "Adam, who was son of God."
A reference to the well-known rule in the Jewish ritual, that if a married man died childless, his brother had to raise up seed to the deceased by the widow, will show that a son might naturally be called the son of the living man, though legally he would be son of the deceased. So that the same person may be called the son of either if the distinction between legal and lineal, or actual, be kept in view.
It will be noted that in Matthew the word begat is used, " Abraham begat Isaac," &c., whereas in Luke it is more indefinite, " Isaac was of Abraham:" from which it has been inferred that Matthew gives the lineal descent, and Luke the legal; but this does not appear to be the case, for in Luke it is said that Jesus was supposed to be the son of Joseph; if it were the legal list He would be the son; then, as we have seen, in one place in Matthew three kings are omitted. The list in Matthew is the royal line which must also be the legal line. In the Old Testament we find that Jechonias was to have no lineal descendant on the throne (Jer. 22:24,25,28-30; 36:30, 31), and yet Salathiel is said to be begotten by him in the royal line.
From all this we gather that Matthew gives the royal and the legal (as recognized by the Jews) descent of Jesus from Abraham, and thence to David. The Jews never disputed that He was-as indeed He was often called-the Son of David.
If this is so, the question returns What is the nature of the genealogy in Luke? It is believed by some to be the lineal descent of Joseph; by others, to be that of Mary. If the former, it would follow that Joseph, the reputed father of Jesus, was the legal son of Jacob, but the lineal son of Heli, which would be possible according to the rule before mentioned. If Luke gives us the genealogy of Mary, it would not name her, for a woman's name is never mentioned in the lists as a link in the succession; then Heli may have been the father of Mary and the father-in law of Joseph her husband.
It seems preferable to regard the list in Luke as the genealogy of Mary, because our Lord is said to be of the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15; Luke 1:35), made of a woman (Gal. 4:4), and to he the seed of Abraham (Heb. 2:16), and the seed of David according to the flesh (Rom. 1:3; 2 Tim. 2:8), the offspring of David. (Rev. 22:16) And as the Lord was not really the Son of Joseph, these scriptures can only be fulfilled through His mother, who must have been a lineal descendant of David, Abraham, and Adam, which are all shown in Luke, and the last not named in Matthew at all. Whereas, if Luke gives the lineal descent of Joseph, we have no account of how the scriptures quoted have been fulfilled.
There can be no doubt therefore that Matthew gives the legal and royal descent of our Lord through Joseph, and Luke the lineal descent through Mary.