III.
But in order that what I have said may be made
evident, I shall explain the interchange1042
| 1042 The
reading of the Codex Regius is ἀκολουθίαν
, i.e., succession; the other leading mss.
give ἐπολλαγήν,
i.e. interchange or confusion. |
of the generations. If we reckon the
generations from
David through
Solomon,
Matthan is found to be the
third from the end, who
begat Jacob the
father of
Joseph. But if,
with Luke, we reckon them from
Nathan the son of
David, in like manner
the third from the end is Melchi, whose son was Heli the
father of
Joseph. For
Joseph was the son of Heli, the son of
Melchi.
1043
| 1043 But in
our text in Luke iii. 23,
24, and so, too, in the
Vulgate, Matthat and Levi are inserted between Heli and Melchi.
It may be that these two names were not found in the copy used by
Africanus. |
As
Joseph,
therefore, is the object proposed to us, we have to show how it is that
each is represented as his
father, both
Jacob as descending from
Solomon, and Heli as descending from
Nathan: first, how these
two,
Jacob and Heli, were
brothers; and then also how the fathers of
these,
Matthan and Melchi, being of different
families, are shown to be
the grandfathers of
Joseph. Well, then,
Matthan and Melchi,
having taken the same
woman to
wife in succession,
begat children who
were uterine
brothers, as the
law did not prevent a
widow,
1044
| 1044 Here
Africanus applies the term “widow” (χηρεύουσαν)
to one divorced an well as to one bereaved. |
whether such by
divorce or by the
death of her
husband, from marrying another. By
Estha, then—for such is her name according to
tradition—
Matthan first, the descendant of
Solomon, begets
Jacob;
and on
Matthan’s
death, Melchi, who traces his descent back to
Nathan, being of the same
tribe but of another
family, having
married
her, as has been already said, had a son Heli. Thus, then, we
shall find
Jacob and Heli uterine
brothers, though of different
families. And of these, the one
Jacob having taken the
wife of
his
brother Heli, who
died childless,
begat by her the third,
Joseph—his son by
nature and by account.
1045
Whence also it is written, “And
Jacob begat Joseph.” But according to
law he was the son of
Heli, for
Jacob his
brother raised up
seed to him. Wherefore also
the
genealogy deduced through him will not be made
void, which the
Evangelist Matthew in his enumeration gives thus: “And
Jacob begat Joseph.” But Luke, on the other
hand, says,
“Who was the son, as was supposed
1046
| 1046
Two things may be remarked here: first, that Africanus
refers the phrase “as was supposed” not only to the words
“son of Joseph,” but also to those that follow, “the
son of Heli;” so that Christ would be the son of Joseph by legal
adoption, just in the same way as Joseph was the son of Heli, which
would lead to the absurd and impious conclusion that Christ was the son
of Mary and a brother of Joseph married by her after the death of the
latter. And second, that in the genealogy here assigned to Luke,
Melchi holds the third place; whence it would seem either that
Africanus’s memory had failed him, or that as Bede conjectures in
his copy of the Gospel Melchi stood in place of Matthat (Migne).
[A probable solution.] |
(for this, too, he adds), of
Joseph, the
son of Heli, the son of Melchi.” For it was not possible
more distinctly to
state the generation according to
law; and thus in
this mode of generation he has entirely omitted the word
“
begat” to the very end, carrying back the
genealogy by way
of conclusion to Adam and to God.
1047
| 1047
Other mss. read, “Adam the son of
God.” |
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