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| The Alleged Discrepancy in the Gospels in regard to the Genealogy of Christ. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Chapter VII.—The Alleged
Discrepancy in the Gospels in regard to the Genealogy of
Christ.
1. Matthew and Luke in their gospels have given us the
genealogy of Christ differently, and many suppose that they are at
variance with one another. Since as a consequence every believer, in
ignorance of the truth, has been zealous to invent some explanation
which shall harmonize the two passages, permit us to subjoin the
account of the matter which has come down to us,107
107 “Over against the various opinions of uninstructed
apologists for the Gospel history, Eusebius introduces this account of
Africanus with the words, τὴν περὶ
τούτων
κατελθούσαν
εὶς ἡμᾶς
ἱστορίαν.” (Spitta.) |
and which is given by Africanus, who was mentioned by us just above, in
his epistle to Aristides,108
108 On
Africanus, see Bk. VI. chap. 31. Of this Aristides to whom the epistle
is addressed we know nothing. He must not be confounded with the
apologist Aristides, who lived in the reign of Trajan (see below, Bk.
IV. c. 3). Photius (Bibl. 34) mentions this epistle, but tells
us nothing about Aristides himself. The epistle exists in numerous
fragments, from which Spitta (Der Brief des Julius Africanus an
Aristides kritisch untersucht und hergestellt, Halle, 1877)
attempts to reconstruct the original epistle. His work is the best and
most complete upon the subject. Compare Routh, Rel. Sacræ,
II. pp. 228–237 and pp. 329–356, where two fragments are
given and discussed at length. The epistle (as given by Mai) is
translated in the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Am. ed. VI. p. 125
ff.
The attempt of Africanus is, so
far as we know, the first critical attempt to harmonize the two
genealogies of Christ. The question had been the subject merely of
guesses and suppositions until his time. He approaches the matter in a
free critical spirit (such as seems always to have characterized him),
and his investigations therefore deserve attention. He holds that both
genealogies are those of Joseph, and this was the unanimous opinion of
antiquity, though, as he says, the discrepancies were reconciled in
various ways. Africanus himself, as will be seen, explains by the law
of Levirate marriages, and his view is advocated by Mill (On the
Mythical Interpretation of the Gospel, p. 201 sq.); but of this
interpretation Rev. John Lightfoot justly says, “There is neither
reason for it, nor, indeed, any foundation at all.”
Upon the supposition
that both genealogies relate to Joseph the best explanation is that
Matthew’s table represents the royal line of legal successors to
the throne of David, while Luke’s gives the line of actual
descent. This view is ably advocated by Hervey in Smith’s
Bible Dictionary (article Genealogy of Jesus). Another
opinion which has prevailed widely since the Reformation is that Luke
gives the genealogy of Mary. The view is defended very ingeniously by
Weiss (Leben Jesu, I. 205, 2d edition). For further particulars
see, besides the works already mentioned, the various commentaries upon
Matthew and Luke and the various lives of Christ, especially
Andrews’, p. 55 sq. | where he discusses
the harmony of the gospel genealogies. After refuting the opinions of
others as forced and deceptive, he give the account which he had
received from tradition109
109 Eusebius makes a mistake in saying that Africanus had received the
explanation which follows from tradition. For Africanus himself says
expressly (§15, below) that his interpretation is not supported by
testimony. Eusebius’ error has been repeated by most writers upon
the subject, but is exposed by Spitta, ibid. p. 63. | in these
words:
2. “For whereas the names
of the generations were reckoned in Israel either according to nature
or according to law;—according to nature by the succession of
legitimate offspring, and according to law whenever another raised up a
child to the name of a brother dying childless;110 for
because a clear hope of resurrection was not yet given they had a
representation of the future promise by a kind of mortal resurrection,
in order that the name of the one deceased might be
perpetuated;—
3. whereas then some of those
who are inserted in this genealogical table succeeded by natural
descent, the son to the father, while others, though born of one
father, were ascribed by name to another, mention was made of both of
those who were progenitors in fact and of those who were so only in
name.
4. Thus neither of the gospels
is in error, for one reckons by nature, the other by law. For the line
of descent from Solomon and that from Nathan111 were
so involved, the one with the other, by the raising up of children to
the childless and by second marriages, that the same persons are justly
considered to belong at one time to one, at another time to another;
that is, at one time to the reputed fathers, at another to the actual
fathers. So that both these accounts are strictly true and come down to
Joseph with considerable intricacy indeed, yet quite
accurately.
5. But in order that what I have
said may be made clear I shall explain the interchange of the
generations. If we reckon the generations from David through Solomon,
the third from the end is found to be Matthan, 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,112
112 Melchi, who is here given as the third from the end, is in our
present texts of Luke the fifth (Luke iii. 24), Matthat and
Levi standing between Melchi and Eli. It is highly probable that the
text which Africanus followed omitted the two names Matthat and Levi
(see Westcott and Hort’s Greek Testament, Appendix, p. 57). It is
impossible to suppose that Africanus in such an investigation as this
could have overlooked two names by mistake if they had stood in his
text of the Gospels. | whose son Eli was the father of Joseph. For
Joseph was the son of Eli, the son of Melchi.
6. Joseph therefore being the
object proposed to us, it must be shown how it is that each is recorded
to be his father, both Jacob, who derived his descent from Solomon, and
Eli, who derived his from Nathan; first how it is that these two, Jacob
and Eli, were brothers, and then how it is that their fathers, Matthan
and Melchi, although of different families, are declared to be
grandfathers of Joseph.
7. Matthan and Melchi having
married in succession the same woman, begat children who were uterine
brothers, for the law did not prohibit a widow, whether such by divorce
or by the death of her husband, from marrying another.
8. By Estha113
113 We
know nothing more of Estha. Africanus probably refers to the tradition
handed down by the relatives of Christ, who had, as he says, preserved
genealogies which agreed with those of the Gospels. He distinguishes
here what he gives on tradition from his own interpretation of the
Gospel discrepancy upon which he is engaged. | then (for this was the woman’s name
according to tradition) Matthan, a descendant of Solomon, first begat
Jacob. And
when Matthan was dead, Melchi, who traced his descent back to Nathan,
being of the same tribe114 but of another
family,115
115 γένος. “In
this place γένος is used to
denote family. Matthan and Melchi were of different families,
but both belonged to the same Davidic race which was divided into two
families, that of Solomon and that of Nathan”
(Valesius). | married her as before said, and begat a son
Eli.
9. Thus we shall find the two,
Jacob and Eli, although belonging to different families, yet brethren
by the same mother. Of these the one, Jacob, when his brother Eli had
died childless, took the latter’s wife and begat by her a son116
116 All
the mss., and editions of Eusebius read
τρίτον
instead of ὑιόν here. But it is very
difficult to make any sense out of the word τρίτον in this connection. We therefore prefer to follow Spitta (see
ibid. pp. 87 sqq.) in reading ὑιόν instead of
τρίτον, an
emendation which he has ventured to make upon the authority of Rufinus,
who translates “genuit Joseph filium suum,” showing no
trace of a τρίτον. The
word τρίτον is
wanting also in three late Catenæ which contain the fragments of
Africanus’ Epistle (compare Spitta, ibid. p. 117, note
12). | Joseph, his own son by nature117
117 κατὰ
λόγον. These words
have caused translators and commentators great difficulty, and most of
them seem to have missed their significance entirely. Spitta proposes
to alter by reading κατ€λογον, but the emendation is unnecessary. The remarks which he
makes (p. 89 sqq.) upon the relation between this sentence and the next
are, however, excellent. It was necessary to Africanus’ theory
that Joseph should be allowed to trace his lineage through Jacob, his
father “by nature,” as well as through Eli, his father
“by law,” and hence the words κατὰ λόγον
are added and emphasized. He was his son by nature and
therefore “rightfully to be reckoned as his son.” This
explains the Biblical quotation which follows:
“Wherefore”—because he was Jacob’s son by
nature and could rightfully be reckoned in his line, and not only in
the line of Eli—“it is written,” &c. | and in accordance with reason. Wherefore
also it is written: ‘Jacob begat Joseph.’118 But according to law119
119 See
Rev. John Lightfoot’s remarks on Luke iii. 23, in his Hebrew
and Talmudical Exercitations on St. Luke. |
he was the son of Eli, for Jacob, being the brother of the latter,
raised up seed to him.
10. Hence the genealogy traced
through him will not be rendered void, which the evangelist Matthew in
his enumeration gives thus: ‘Jacob begat Joseph.’ But Luke,
on the other hand, says: ‘Who was the son, as was
supposed’120
120 This
passage has caused much trouble. Valesius remarks, “Africanus
wishes to refer the words ὡς ἐνομίζετο
(‘as was supposed’) not only to the
words ὑιὸς
᾽Ιωσήφ, but
also to the words τοῦ
῾Ηλὶ, which follow, which
although it is acute is nevertheless improper and foolish; for if Luke
indicates that legal generation or adoption by the words ὡς ἐνομίζετο, as Africanus claims, it would follow that Christ was the
son of Joseph by legal adoption in the same way that Joseph was the son
of Eli. And thus it would be said that Mary, after the death of Joseph,
married his brother, and that Christ was begotten by him, which is
impious and absurd. And besides, if these words, ὡς ἐνομίζετο, are extended to the words τοῦ ῾Ηλὶ, in the same way they can be extended to all which follow. For
there is no reason why they should be supplied in the second grade and
not in the others.”
But against Valesius,
Stroth says that Africanus seeks nothing in the words ὡς ἐνομίζετο, but in the fact that Luke says “he was the son
of,” while Matthew says “he begat.” Stroth’s
interpretation is followed by Closs, Heinichen, and others, but Routh
follows Valesius. Spitta discusses the matter carefully (p. 91 sq.),
agreeing with Valesius that Africanus lays the emphasis upon the
words ὡς ἐνομίζετο, but by an emendation (introducing a second ὡς ἐνομίζετο, and reading “who was the son, as was supposed, of
Joseph, the son of Jacob, who was himself also the son, as was
supposed,—for this he also adds,—of Eli, the son of
Melchi”) he applies the ὡς ἐνομίζετο
only to the first and second members, and takes it in
a more general sense to cover both cases, thus escaping Valesius’
conclusions expressed above. The conjecture is ingenious, but is
unwarranted and unnecessary. The words which occur in the next
sentence, “and the expression, ‘he begat’ he has
omitted,” show that Africanus, as Stroth contends, lays the
emphasis upon the difference of form in the two genealogies, “Son
of” and “he begat.” The best explanation seems to me
to be that Africanus supposes Luke to have implied the legal generation
in the words “the Son of,” used in distinction from the
definite expression “he begat,” and that the words
ὡς ἐνομίζετο, which “he also adds,” simply emphasize this
difference of expression by introducing a still greater ambiguity into
Luke’s mode of statement. He not only uses the words, the
“Son of,” which have a wide latitude, admitting any
kind of sonship, but “he also adds,” “as was
supposed,” showing, in Africanus’ opinion, still more
clearly that the list which follows is far from being a closely defined
table of descent by “natural generation.” | (for this he also
adds), ‘of Joseph, the son of Eli, the son of Melchi’; for
he could not more clearly express the generation according to law. And
the expression ‘he begat’ he has omitted in his
genealogical table up to the end, tracing the genealogy back to Adam
the son of God. This interpretation is neither incapable of proof nor
is it an idle conjecture.121
121 This
seems the best possible rendering of the Greek, which reads
τὴν
ἀναφορὰν
ποιησ€μενος
ἑ& 240·ς τοῦ
᾽Αδὰμ, τοῦ
θεοῦ κατ᾽
ἀν€λυσιν.
οὐδὲ μὴν
ἀναπόδεικτον
κ.τ.λ., which is very dark,
punctuated thus, and it is difficult to understand what is meant
by κατ᾽
ἀν€λυσιν in connection with the preceding words. (Crusè translates,
“having traced it back as far as Adam, ‘who was the son of
God,’ he resolves the whole series by referring back to God.
Neither is this incapable of proof, nor is it an idle
conjecture.”) The objections which Spitta brings against the
sentence in this form are well founded. He contends (p. 63 sqq.), and
that rightly, that Africanus could not have written the sentence thus.
In restoring the original epistle of Africanus, therefore, he throws
the words κατ᾽
ἀν€λυσιν into the next sentence, which disposes of the difficulty, and
makes good sense. We should then read, “having traced it back as
far as Adam, the Son of God. This interpretation (more literally,
‘as an interpretation,’ or ‘by way of
interpretation’) is neither incapable of proof, nor is it an idle
conjecture.” That Africanus wrote thus I am convinced. But as
Spitta shows, Eusebius must have divided the sentences as they now
stand, for, according to his idea, that Africanus’ account was
one which he had received by tradition, the other mode of reading would
be incomprehensible, though he probably did not understand much better
the meaning of κατ᾽
ἀν€λυσιν as he placed it. In translating Africanus’ epistle here, I
have felt justified in rendering it as Africanus probably wrote it,
instead of following Eusebius’ incorrect reproduction of
it. |
11. For the relatives of our
Lord according to the flesh, whether with the desire of boasting or
simply wishing to state the fact, in either case truly, have handed
down the following account:122
122 The
Greek reads: παρέδοσαν
καὶ τοῦτο, “have handed down also.” The καὶ occurs
in all the mss. and versions of Eusebius, and
was undoubtedly written by him, but Spitta supposes it an addition of
Eusebius, caused, like the change in the previous sentence, by his
erroneous conception of the nature of Africanus’ interpretation.
The καὶ is certainly troublesome if we suppose that all that
precedes is Africanus’ own interpretation of the Biblical lists,
and not a traditional account handed down by the “relatives of
our Lord”; and this, in spite of Eusebius’ belief, we must
certainly insist upon. We may therefore assume with Spitta that
the καὶ did not stand in the original epistle as Africanus wrote it.
The question arises, if what precedes is not given upon the authority
of the “relatives of our Lord,” why then is this account
introduced upon their testimony, as if confirming the preceding? We may
simply refer again to Africanus’ words at the end of the extract
(§15 below) to prove that his interpretation did not rest upon
testimony, and then we may answer with Spitta that their testimony,
which is appealed to in §14 below, was to the genealogies
themselves, and in this Africanus wishes it to be known that they
confirmed the Gospel lists. | Some Idumean
robbers,123
123 See
above, chap. VI. notes 5 and 6. | having attacked Ascalon, a city of
Palestine, carried away from a temple of Apollo which stood near the
walls, in addition to other booty, Antipater, son of a certain temple
slave named Herod. And since the priest124
124 We
should expect the word “temple-servant” again instead of
“priest”; but, as Valesius remarks, “It was possible
for the same person to be both priest and servant, if for instance it
was a condition of priesthood that only captives should be made
priests.” And this was really the case in many places. | was
not able to pay the ransom for his son, Antipater was brought up in the
customs of the Idumeans, and afterward was befriended by Hyrcanus, the
high priest of the Jews.
12. And having been sent by
Hyrcanus on an embassy to Pompey, and having restored to him the kingdom which
had been invaded by his brother Aristobulus, he had the good fortune to
be named procurator of Palestine.125
125 Appointed by Julius Cæsar in 47 b.c.
(see chap. VI. note 1, above). | But Antipater
having been slain by those who were envious of his great good fortune126
126 He
was poisoned by Malichus in 42 b.c. (see
Josephus, Ant. XIV. 11. 4). | was succeeded by his son Herod, who was
afterward, by a decree of the senate, made King of the Jews127
127 Appointed king in 40 b.c. (see chap. VI.
note 1, above). | under Antony and Augustus. His sons were
Herod and the other tetrarchs.128 These accounts
agree also with those of the Greeks.129
129 Cf.
Dion Cassius, XXXVII. 15 sqq. and Strabo, XVI. 2. 46. |
13. But as there had been kept
in the archives130
130 It was
the custom of the Jews, to whom tribal and family descent meant so
much, to keep copies of the genealogical records of the people in the
public archives. Cf. e.g. Josephus, De Vita, §1, where he
draws his own lineage from the public archives; and cf. Contra
Apion. I. 7. | up to that time the
genealogies of the Hebrews as well as of those who traced their lineage
back to proselytes,131
131 ἄχρι
προσηλύτων. Heinichen and Burton read ἀρχιπροσηλύτων, “ancient proselytes.” The two readings are
about equally supported by ms. authority, but
the same persons are meant here as at the end of the paragraph,
where προσηλύτους, not ἀρχιπροσηλύτους, occurs (cf. Spitta, pp. 97 sq., and Routh’s
Reliquiæ Sacræ II. p. 347 sq., 2d ed.). | such as Achior132
132 Achior was a general of the Ammonites in the army of Holofernes,
who, according to the Book of Judith, was a general of Nebuchadnezzar,
king of the Assyrians, and was slain by the Jewish heroine, Judith.
Achior is reported to have become afterward a Jewish
proselyte. | the Ammonite and Ruth the Moabitess, and
to those who were mingled with the Israelites and came out of Egypt
with them, Herod, inasmuch as the lineage of the Israelites contributed
nothing to his advantage, and since he was goaded with the
consciousness of his own ignoble extraction, burned all the
genealogical records,133
133 The
Greek reads ἐνέπρησεν
αὐτῶν τὰς
ἀναγραφὰς
των γενων, but, with Spitta, I venture, against all the Greek mss. to insert π€σας before τὰς
ἀναγραφὰς upon the authority of Rufinus and the author of the Syriac
version, both of whom reproduce the word (cf. Spitta, p. 99 sq.).
Africanus certainly supposed that Herod destroyed all the
genealogical records, and not simply those of the true Jews.
This account of the burning of
the records given by Africanus is contradicted by history, for we learn
from Josephus, De Vita, §1, that he drew his own lineage
from the public records, which were therefore still in existence more
than half a century after the time at which Herod is said to have
utterly destroyed them. It is significant that Rufinus translates
omnes Hebræorum generationes descriptæ in Archivis templi
secretioribus habebantur.
How old this tradition
was we do not know; Africanus is the sole extant witness of
it. | thinking that he
might appear of noble origin if no one else were able, from the public
registers, to trace back his lineage to the patriarchs or proselytes
and to those mingled with them, who were called Georae.134
134 τοὺς τε
καλουμένους
γειώρας.
The word γειώρας occurs in the LXX. of Ex. xii. 19, where it translates the
Hebrew גֵּר The A.V. reads stranger,
the R.V., sojourner, and Liddell and Scott give the latter
meaning for the Greek word. See Valesius’ note in loco,
and Routh (II. p. 349 sq.), who makes some strictures upon
Valesius’ note. Africanus refers here to all those that came out
from Egypt with the Israelites, whether native Egyptians, or foreigners
resident in Egypt. Ex. xii. 38 tells us that a
“mixed multitude” went out with the children of Israel
(ἐπίμικτος
πόλυς), and Africanus
just above speaks of them in the same way (ἐπιμίκτων). |
14. A few of the careful,
however, having obtained private records of their own, either by
remembering the names or by getting them in some other way from the
registers, pride themselves on preserving the memory of their noble
extraction. Among these are those already mentioned, called
Desposyni,135
135 δεσπόσυνοι: the persons called above (§11) the relatives of the
Saviour according to the flesh (οἱ κατὰ
σ€ρκα
συγγενεις). The Greek word signifies “belonging to a
master.” | on account of their connection with
the family of the Saviour. Coming from Nazara and Cochaba,136
136 Cochaba, according to Epiphanius (Hær. XXX. 2 and 16),
was a village in Basanitide near Decapolis. It is noticeable that this
region was the seat of Ebionism. There may therefore be significance in
the care with which these Desposyni preserved the genealogy of
Joseph, for the Ebionites believed that Christ was the real son of
Joseph, and therefore Joseph’s lineage was his. | villages of Judea,137
137 “Judea” is here used in the wider sense of Palestine
as a whole, including the country both east and west of the Jordan. The
word is occasionally used in this sense in Josephus; and so in
Matt. xix. 1, and Mark x.
1, we
read of “the coasts of Judea beyond Jordan.” Ptolemy, Dion
Cassius, and Strabo habitually employ the word in the wide
sense. |
into other parts of the world, they drew the aforesaid genealogy from
memory138
138 ἐκ
μνήμης. These
words are not found in any extant mss., but I
have followed Stroth and others in supplying them for the following
reasons. The Greek, as we have it, runs: καὶ τὴν
προκειμένην
γενεαλογίαν
žκ τε τῆς
βίβλου τῶν
ἡμερῶν κ.τ.λ. The particle τε indicates plainly that some
phrase has fallen out. Rufinus translates ordinem supra dictæ
generationis partim memoriter partim etiam ex dierum libris in quantum
erat perdocebant. The words partim memoriter find no
equivalent in the Greek as we have it, but the particle τε, which still
remains, shows that words which Rufinus translated thus must have stood
originally in the Greek. The Syriac version also confirms the
conclusion that something stood in the original which has since
disappeared, though the rendering which it gives rests evidently upon a
corrupt text (cf. Spitta, p. 101). Valesius suggests the insertion
of ἀπὸ
μνήμης, though
he does not place the phrase in his text. Heinichen supplies
μνημονεύσαντες, and is followed by Closs in his translation. Stroth,
Migne, Routh, and Spitta read ἐκ
μνήμης. The
sense is essentially the same in each case. | and from the book of daily records139
139 It
has been the custom since Valesius, to consider this “Book of
daily records” (βίβλος τῶν
ἡμερῶν) the
same as the “private records” (ἰδιωτικὰς
ἀπογραφ€ς) mentioned just above. But this opinion has been combated
by Spitta, and that with perfect right. The sentence is, in fact, an
exact parallel to the sentence just above, where it is said that a few
of the careful, either by means of their memory or by means of copies,
were able to have “private records of their own.” In the
present sentence it is said that “they drew the aforesaid
genealogy (viz., ‘the private records of their own’)
from memory, or from the Book of daily records” (which
corresponds to the copies referred to above). This book of daily
records is clearly, therefore, something other than the ἰδιωτικὰς
ἀπογραφὰς, but exactly what we are to understand by it is not so easy
to say. It cannot denote the regular public records (called the
archives above), for these were completed, and would not need to be
supplemented by memory; and apparently, according to Africanus’
opinion, these private records were made after the destruction of the
regular public ones. The “Book of daily records” referred
to must have been at any rate an incomplete genealogical source needing
to be supplemented by the memory. Private family record books, if such
existed previous to the supposed destruction of the public records, of
which we have no evidence, would in all probability have been complete
for each family. Spitta maintains (p. 101 sq.) that the Book of
Chronicles is meant: the Hebrew דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים
, words or records of the days. This is a very attractive
suggestion, as the book exactly corresponds to the book described: the
genealogies which it gives are incomplete and require supplementing,
and it is a book which was accessible to all; public, therefore, and
yet not involved in the supposed destruction. The difficulty lies in
the name given. It is true that Jerome calls the Books of Chronicles
Verba Dierum and Hilary Sermones Dierum, &c.; but we
should expect Africanus to use here the technical LXX.
designation, Παραλειπομένων. But whatever this “Book of daily records”
was, it cannot have been the “private records” which were
formed “from memory and from copies,” but was one of the
sources from which those “private records” were
drawn. | as faithfully as possible.
15. Whether then the case stand
thus or not no one could find a clearer explanation, according to my
own opinion and that of every candid person. And let this suffice
us, for,
although we can urge no testimony in its support,140
140 Compare
note 3, above. Africanus’ direct statement shows clearly enough
that he does not rest his interpretation of the genealogies (an
interpretation which is purely a result of Biblical study) upon the
testimony of the relatives of the Saviour. Their testimony is invoked
with quite a different purpose, namely, in confirmation of the
genealogies themselves, and the long story (upon the supposition that
their testimony is invoked in support of Africanus’
interpretation, introduced absolutely without sense and reason)
thus has its proper place, in showing how the “relatives of the
Saviour” were in a position to be competent witnesses upon this
question of fact (not interpretation), in spite of the burning
of the public records by Herod. |
we have nothing better or truer to offer. In any case the Gospel states
the truth.” And at the end of the same epistle he adds these
words: “Matthan, who was descended from Solomon, begat Jacob. And
when Matthan was dead, Melchi, who was descended from Nathan begat Eli
by the same woman. Eli and Jacob were thus uterine brothers. Eli having
died childless, Jacob raised up seed to him, begetting Joseph, his own
son by nature, but by law the son of Eli. Thus Joseph was the son of
both.”
17. Thus far Africanus. And the
lineage of Joseph being thus traced, Mary also is virtually shown to be
of the same tribe with him, since, according to the law of Moses,
intermarriages between different tribes were not permitted.141
141 The
law to which Eusebius refers is recorded in Num. xxxvi. 6,
7.
But the prohibition given there was not an absolute and universal one,
but a prohibition which concerned only heiresses, who were not to marry
out of their own tribe upon penalty of forfeiting their inheritance
(cf. Josephus, Ant. IV. 7. 5). It is an instance of the limited
nature of the law that Mary and Elizabeth were relatives, although
Joseph and Mary belonged to the tribe of Judah, and Zacharias, at
least, was a Levite. This example lay so near at hand that Eusebius
should not have overlooked it in making his assertion. His argument,
therefore in proof of the fact that Mary belonged to the tribe of Judah
has no force, but the fact itself is abundantly established both by the
unanimous tradition of antiquity (independent of Luke’s
genealogy, which was universally supposed to be that of Joseph), and by
such passages as Ps. cxxxii. 11, Acts ii. 30, xiii. 23, Rom. i. 3. | For the command is to marry one of the same
family142 and lineage,143 so
that the inheritance may not pass from tribe to tribe. This may suffice
here.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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