In the Gospel
of Luke 3.23-38,
we can read the genealogy of Jesus
of Nazareth.
Like all genealogies in preliterate societies, it is
not reliable: we may be confident that Jesus'
father was a man named Joseph, but it is
questionable whether his grandfather was indeed
called Eli. (Matthew1.16
calls him Jacob.) Going further back, the family
tree becomes increasingly unreliable, although it is
of course possible that the family of Jesus
remembered correctly that it descended from David.
The discovery of a first-century CE tomb of the
'house of David' in Jerusalem proves that
descendants of the legendary king were recognized in
Jesus' age.
The
genealogical truth was, of course, not Luke's real
aim. He wanted to show that Jesus was of Davidic
descent and could therefore be the Messiah. Luke
plays an interesting game in this genealogy, which
we can appreciate by comparing his text with its
sources.
- Luke started by combining existing
genealogies.
- Genesis 5.3-32 (from Adam to
Shem)
- Genesis 11.10-26 (from Shem to
Abraham)
- Genesis 25.19-26, 35.23, 46.12
(from Abraham to Hezron)
- Ruth 4.18-22 (from Hezron to
David)
- 2 Samuel 5.14, Kings 1 and 2, Ezra 5.2
(from Nathan to Zerubbabel)
- Having combined these family trees, Luke
inserted two names. InGenesis 11.12-13
Shelah is the son of Arphaxad; but Luke makes
Shelah the grandson of Arphaxad by inserting
Kainan. The other addition is Admin. In doing so,
Abraham, who had belonged to the twentieth
generation, moved to the twenty-first generation,
and David moved from generation #33 to generation
#35. In other words, Luke introduced a system in
which every seventh generation, a special man
arose: e.g., Enoch (7), Abraham (21), David (35).
- Finally, he added new names to bridge the gap
between David and Jesus' father Joseph. Luke was
more or less obliged to mention Zerubbabel, the
son of Shealtiel, a descendant of David who played
an important role in the development of
messianology (more).
Shealtiel was probably the son of one of the last
kings of independent Judah and therefore a
descendant of king Solomon (cf. Matthew 1.6),
but Luke makes him a descendant of another son of
David, the prophet Nathan.
- The names added by Luke are again highly
significant: in the forty-second and the
seventieth generation we find a Joseph, in the
forty-ninth (7x7) a Jesus. Again, Luke plays with
the number seven. Other interesting names are the
four patriarchs in generation 42-45.
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LUKE
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LUKE'S
SOURCES
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77
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Jesus
of Nazareth
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76
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Joseph
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75
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Eli
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74
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Matthat
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73
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Levi
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72
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Melki
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71
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Jannai
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70
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Joseph
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69
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Mattathias
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68
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Amos
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67
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Nahum
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66
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Esli
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65
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Naggai
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64
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Maath
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63
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Mattathias
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62
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Semein
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61
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Josech
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60
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Joda
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59
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Joanan
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58
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Rhesa
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57
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Zerubbabel
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Zerubbabel
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53
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56
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Shealtiel
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Shealtiel
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52
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55
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Neri
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Mattaniah/Zedekiah
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50
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54
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Melki
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Jehoiachin
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51
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53
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Addi
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Eliakim/Jehoiakim
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50
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52
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Kosam
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Jehoahaz
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50
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51
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Elmadam
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Josiah
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49
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50
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Er
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Amon
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48
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49
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Jesus
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Manasseh
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47
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48
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Eliezer
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Hezekiah
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46
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47
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Jorim
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Ahaz
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45
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46
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Matthat
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Jotham
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44
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45
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Levi
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Azariah/Uzziah
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43
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44
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Simeon
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Amaziah
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42
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43
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Judah
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Joash
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41
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42
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Joseph
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Ahaziah
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40
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41
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Jonan
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Jehoram
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39
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40
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Eliakim
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Jehosaphat
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38
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39
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Melea
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Asa
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37
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38
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Menna
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Abijah
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36
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37
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Mattatha
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Rehoboam
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35
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36
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Nathan
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Solomon
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34
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35
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David
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David
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33
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34
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Jesse
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Jesse
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32
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33
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Obed
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Obed
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31
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32
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Boaz
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Boaz
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30
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31
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Salmon
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Salmon
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29
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30
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Nahshon
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Nahshon
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28
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29
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Amminadab
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Amminadab
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27
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28
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Admin
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27
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Aram
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Aram
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26
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26
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Hezron
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Hezron
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25
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25
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Perez
|
Perez
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24
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24
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Judah
|
Judah
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23
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23
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Jacob
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Jacob
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22
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22
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Isaac
|
Isaac
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21
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21
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Abraham
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Abraham
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20
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20
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Terah
|
Terah
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19
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19
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Nahor
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Nahor
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17
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18
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Serug
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Serug
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17
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17
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Reu
|
Reu
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16
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16
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Peleg
|
Peleg
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15
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15
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Eber
|
Eber
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14
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14
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Shelah
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Shelah
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13
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13
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Kainan
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12
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Arphaxad
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Arphaxad
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12
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11
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Shem
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Shem
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11
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10
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Noah
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Noah
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10
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9
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Lamech
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Lamech
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9
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8
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Methuselah
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Methuselah
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8
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7
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Enoch
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Enoch
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7
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6
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Jared
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Jared
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6
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5
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Mahalalel
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Mahalalel
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5
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4
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Kenan
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Kenan
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4
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3
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Enosh
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Enosh
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3
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2
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Seth
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Seth
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2
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1
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Adam
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Adam
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1
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God
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God
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One
question is: why seventy-seven generations? The
answer lies in theFirst
book of Enoch, a collection of texts
that share an interest in the patriarch Enoch, about
whom it is written that 'he was taken away' instead
of 'he died' (Genesis 5.24). This line
caused many to think that Enoch had ascended to
heaven and had written reports about it.
One
of the five parts of 1 Enoch is the
'Book of the Watchers', which was written in the
third century BCE. It describes the fall of the
angels and their punishment:
And the Lord said to [the arch-angel]
Raphael: 'Bind [the rebel] Azazel hand and foot and
throw him into the darkness!'
And Raphael made a hole in the desert,
which was in Dudael, and cast him there. On top of
him, he threw rugged and sharp rocks. And he covered
Azazel's face in order that he may not see light and
[...] may be sent into the fire on the great day of
judgment. [...]
And to Michael the Lord said: '[...]
Bind them for seventy generations underneath the
rocks of the ground until the day of their judgment
is concluded.'
[1 Enoch 10.4-6,
11-12;
tr. E. Isaac]
In
other words, the day of judgment was to take place
seventy generations after Enoch. Now this patriarch
lived in the seventh generation, and we may
therefore conclude that the author of the Book
of the Watchers assumed
that the end of history would be in the
seventy-seventh generation.
In
another part of the First book of Enoch,
the 'Book of Similitudes' (first half first century
BCE), we learn more about the last judgment. We read
how the Messiah, who is said to be created before
the universe and is called the 'son of man', will
judge mankind, which has risen from the death.
Back
to Luke. By making Jesus
of Nazareth the seventy-seventh
of the list, he is obviously playing with these
thoughts. What he is in fact saying is that Jesus
was the Messiah and that the last judgment is very,
very near. After all, when Luke composed his gospel
during the persecution by the emperor Domitian,
there were only a few survivors of the generation of
Jesus.
FReegards,
Mike Curtiss