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103-534: The best known Biblical figure bearing the name Zephaniah is the son of Cushi, and great-great grandson of King Hezekiah , ninth in the literary order of the Twelve Minor Prophets . He prophesied in the days of Josiah , ruler of the Kingdom of Judah (640–609 BCE), but before Josiah's reform in 621 BCE, and was contemporary with Jeremiah , with whom he had much in common. The unique source containing

206-469: A "pious deduction"; and Joachim Gnilka "the desperation of embarrassment". D. A. Carson calls this reading "painfully artificial" and would not be apparent to Luke's audience. Likewise R. P. Nettelhorst calls this reading "unnatural and forced". Jewish law is relevant to these matters. It differs radically on such issues from Roman law, but is what applied within Jewish society and the state of Judea, and

309-409: A bulla that bears an inscription in ancient Hebrew script that translates as: "Belonging to Hezekiah [son of] Ahaz king of Judah." This is the first seal impression of an Israelite or Judean king to come to light in a scientific archaeological excavation. While another, unprovenanced bulla of King Hezekiah was known, this was the first time a seal impression of Hezekiah had been discovered in situ in

412-570: A capitulation to end the siege. However, inscriptions have been discovered describing Sennacherib's defeat of the Ethiopian forces. These say: "As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke, I laid siege to 46 of his strong cities ... and conquered (them). ... Himself I made a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage." He does not claim to have captured the city. This

515-434: A child to a certain soldier named Panthera." Epiphanius , in refutation of Celsus, writes that Joseph and Cleopas were sons of "Jacob, surnamed Panther." Two Talmudic-era texts referring to a "Jesus, son of Pantera (Pandera)" are Tosefta Hullin 2:22f: "Jacob… came to heal him in the name of Jesus son of Pantera" and Qohelet Rabbah 1:8(3): "Jacob… came to heal him in the name of Jesus son of Pandera" and some editions of

618-499: A large influx of Israelites fleeing from the Assyrian destruction of the northern state . It is "[t]he only reasonable way to explain this unprecedented demographic development" (154). This, according to Finkelstein, set the stage for motivations to compile and reconcile Hebrew history into a text at that time (157). Mazar questions this explanation, since, she argues, it is "no more than an educated guess" (167). The Siloam Tunnel

721-406: A man must marry his brother's childless widow); Joseph, therefore, is by nature the son of Jacob, of the line of Solomon, but by law he is the son of Heli of the line of Nathan. Modern scholarship tends to see the genealogies of Jesus as theological constructs rather than factual history: family pedigrees would not usually have been available for non-priestly families, and the contradictions between

824-586: A metaphor for God's relationship with humankind, in the sense that God "adopted" human beings as his children. One common explanation for the divergence is that Matthew is recording the actual legal genealogy of Jesus through Joseph, according to Jewish custom, whereas Luke, writing for a Gentile audience, gives the actual biological genealogy of Jesus through Mary, in recognition of the virgin birth. Some view this argument as problematic since both trace their genealogy through Joseph, but Luke may have replaced Mary with Joseph (Heli’s son-in-law) in order to conform with

927-425: A mistake, others argue that the omission was once again deliberate, ensuring that the kings after David spanned exactly fourteen generations. The final group also contains fourteen generations. If Josiah's son was intended as Jehoiakim, then Jeconiah could be counted separately after the exile. Some authors proposed that Matthew's original text had one Joseph as the father of Mary, who then married another man of

1030-472: A misunderstood Aramaic source). A certain prince Andronicus later found the same polemic in a book belonging to a rabbi named Elijah. The claim that Luke gives Mary's genealogy is mentioned in a single extant 5th century text, in which pseudo-Hilary cites it as an opinion held by many, though not himself. This claim was revived by Annius of Viterbo in 1498 and quickly grew in popularity. Modern scholars discount this approach: Raymond E. Brown called it

1133-469: A number symbolizing the forgiveness of all sins. This count also agrees with the seventy generations from Enoch set forth in the Book of Enoch , which Luke probably knew. Though Luke never counts the generations as Matthew does, it appears he also followed hebdomadic principle of working in sevens. However, Irenaeus counts only 72 generations from Adam. The reading "son of Aminadab, son of Aram", from

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1236-436: A ramp and Judahites pierced through on mounted stakes. "The reliefs on these slabs" discovered in the Assyrian palace at Nineveh "originally formed a single, continuous work, measuring 8 feet ... tall by 80 feet ... long, which wrapped around the room" (559). Visitors "would have been impressed not only by the magnitude of the artwork itself but also by the magnificent strength of the Assyrian war machine." Sennacherib's Prism

1339-425: A royal Judean fortress, was deliberately and carefully dismantled, "with the altars and massebot" concealed "beneath a Str. 8 plaster floor". This stratum correlates with the late 8th century; Dever concludes that "the deliberate dismantling of the temple and its replacement by another structure in the days of Hezekiah is an archeological fact. I see no reason for skepticism here." Under Rehoboam , Lachish became

1442-429: A second set of fourteen. Another omitted king is Jehoiakim , the father of Jeconiah , also known as Jehoiachin. In Greek the names are even more similar, both being sometimes called Joachim . When Matthew says, "Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile," he appears to conflate the two, because Jehoiakim, not Jeconiah, had brothers, but the exile was in the time of Jeconiah. While some see this as

1545-635: Is an otherwise little-known son of David, mentioned briefly in the Old Testament. In the ancestry of David, Luke agrees completely with the Old Testament. Cainan is included between Arphaxad and Shelah , following the Septuagint text (though not included in the Masoretic Text followed by most modern Bibles). Augustine notes that the count of generations in the Book of Luke is 77,

1648-419: Is commemorated on December 3. His book is an inspiration for the hymn, Dies irae . Other individuals named Zephaniah include: Attribution Hezekiah Hezekiah ( / ˌ h ɛ z ɪ ˈ k aɪ . ə / ; Biblical Hebrew : חִזְקִיָּהוּ ‎ , romanized:  Ḥizqiyyāhu ), or Ezekias (born c.  741 BCE , sole ruler c.  716/15–687/86 ), was the son of Ahaz and

1751-456: Is consistent with the Bible account of Hezekiah's revolt against Assyria in the sense that neither account seems to indicate that Sennacherib ever entered or formally captured the city. Sennacherib in this inscription claims that Hezekiah paid for tribute 800 talents of silver, in contrast with the Bible's 300, however this could be due to boastful exaggeration which was not uncommon amongst kings of

1854-558: Is dated by Albright as 715–687 BCE, and by Thiele as 716–687 BCE (the last ten years being a co-regency with his son Manasseh). According to the Bible, Hezekiah purified and repaired the Temple , purged its idols, and reformed the priesthood . In an effort to abolish idolatry from his kingdom, he destroyed the high places (or bamot ) and the "bronze serpent" (or Nehushtan ), recorded as being made by Moses , which had become objects of idolatrous worship. In place of this, he centralized

1957-512: Is my strength". The main biblical accounts of Hezekiah's reign are found in 2 Kings, Isaiah, and 2 Chronicles. Proverbs 25:1 commences a collection of Solomon 's proverbs which were "copied by the officials of King Hezekiah of Judah". His reign is also referred to in the books of the prophets Jeremiah , Hosea , Micah , and Isaiah . The books of Hosea and Micah record that their prophecies were made during Hezekiah's reign. The book of Isaiah records when Hezekiah sought Isaiah's help when Judah

2060-417: Is not known elsewhere. Assyriologists posit the murder was motivated because Esarhaddon was chosen as heir to the throne instead of Arda-Mulissu, the next eldest son. Assyrian and Hebrew biblical history corroborate that Esarhaddon ultimately succeeded the throne. Other Assyriologists assert that Sennacherib was murdered in revenge for his destruction of Babylon, a city sacred to all Mesopotamians, including

2163-538: Is noteworthy for the convergence of a variety of biblical sources and diverse extrabiblical evidence often bearing on the same events. Significant data concerning Hezekiah appear in the Deuteronomistic History, the Chronicler, Isaiah, Assyrian annals and reliefs, Israelite epigraphy, and, increasingly, stratigraphy". Archaeologist Amihai Mazar calls the tensions between Assyria and Judah "one of

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2266-466: Is quite close to the Biblical account. Of Sennacherib's death, 2 Kings records: "It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him [Sennacherib] with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place." According to Assyrian records, Sennacherib was assassinated in 681 BCE, twenty years after

2369-585: Is so, Mattatha is the son of Solomon according to the flesh and the son of Nathan according to the Law. In light of the above-mentioned circumstances, the differences between the two genealogies no longer present a problem. It has been questioned, however, whether levirate marriages actually occurred among uterine brothers; they are expressly excluded in the Halakhah Beth Hillel but permitted by Shammai . According to Jesuit theologian Anthony Maas ,

2472-618: Is the primary burden of this figure's preaching (1:7). The Book of Zephaniah contains the fundamental ideas of the preaching of Zephaniah. The scheme of the book in its present form is as follows: He is commemorated with the other minor prophets in the calendar of saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church on July 31. On the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar and in the Roman Martyrology , he

2575-480: Is twice seven , symbolizing perfection and covenant, and is also the gematria (numerical value) of the name David . The rendering into Greek of Hebrew names in this genealogy is mostly in accord with the Septuagint, but there are a few peculiarities. The form Asaph seems to identify King Asa with the psalmist Asaph . Likewise, some see the form Amos for King Amon as suggesting the prophet Amos , though

2678-507: The Aramaic original of Matthew used the word gowra (which could mean father ), which, in the absence of vowel markings, was read by the Greek translator as gura ( husband ). In any case, an early understanding that Matthew traced Mary's genealogy would explain why the contradiction between Matthew and Luke apparently escaped notice until the 3rd century. Although most accounts ascribing

2781-504: The Jerusalem Talmud also specifically name Jesus as the son of Pandera: Jerusalem Abodah Zarah 2:2/7: "someone… whispered to him in the name of Jesus son of Pandera"; Jerusalem Shabboth 14:4/8: "someone… whispered to him in the name of Jesus son of Pandera"; Jerusalem Abodah Zarah 2:2/12: "Jacob… came to heal him. He said to him: we will speak to you in the name of Jesus son of Pandera"; Jerusalem Shabboth 14:4/13: "Jacob… came in

2884-599: The Manichaeans in his day were using the differences to attack Christianity, but also because he himself had seen them in his youth as cause for doubting the veracity of the Gospels. His explanation for the different names given for Joseph's father is that Joseph had a biological father and an adoptive father, and that one of the gospels traces the genealogy through the adoptive father in order to draw parallels between Joseph and Jesus (both having an adoptive father) and as

2987-530: The Messianic claim into conformity with Jewish criteria. Matthew 1:1 – 17 begins the Gospel with "A record of the origin of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac,   ..." and continues on until "... Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to

3090-580: The exile to Babylon , and fourteen from the exile to the Christ." Matthew emphasizes, right from the beginning, Jesus' title Christ —the Greek rendering of the Hebrew title Messiah —meaning anointed , in the sense of an anointed king. Jesus is presented as the long-awaited Messiah, who was expected to be a descendant of King David. Matthew begins by calling Jesus the son of David , indicating his royal origin, and also son of Abraham , indicating that he

3193-503: The 26th regnal year. Hezekiah was the son of king Ahaz and Abijah (also called Abi), daughter of the high priest Zechariah. Hezekiah married Hephzibah and died from natural causes at the age of 54 around 687 BCE and was succeeded by his son Manasseh . According to the biblical narrative, Hezekiah assumed the throne of Judah at the age of 25 and reigned for 29 years. Some writers have proposed that Hezekiah served as coregent with his father Ahaz for about 14 years. His sole reign

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3296-479: The 701 BCE invasion of Judah. A Neo-Babylonian letter corroborates with the biblical account, a sentiment from Sennacherib's sons to assassinate him, an event Assyriologists have reconstructed as historical. The son Arda-Mulissu , who is mentioned in the letter as killing anyone who would reveal his conspiracy, murdered his father in c. 681 BCE, and was most likely the Adrammelech in 2 Kings , though Sharezer

3399-528: The 7th chapter of the first book to that issue, arguing that the divergences are based on whether one is considered as being father by nature or by law. Similarly, in his book An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith , John Damascene argues that Heli of the tribe of Nathan died childless, and Jacob of the tribe of Solomon took his wife and raised up seed to his brother and begat Joseph, in accordance with scripture, namely, yibbum (the mitzvah that

3502-548: The Assyrians. Later in his life, Hezekiah was ill with a boil or an inflammation. Isaiah told him that the Lord said he should put his house in order because he would die. But Hezekiah prayed, and Isaiah returned saying that the Lord had heard his prayer and he would recover. Hezekiah asked for a sign, and Isaiah asked him whether the shadow should go forward ten degrees or go back ten degrees. Hezekiah said it should go back, and

3605-551: The Bible state that Sennacherib's army besieged Jerusalem . According to the biblical record, Sennacherib sent threatening letters warning Hezekiah that he had not desisted from his determination to take the Judean capital. Although they besieged Jerusalem, the biblical accounts state that the Assyrians did not so much as "shoot an arrow there, ... nor cast up a siege rampart against it", and that God sent out an angel who, in one night, struck down "a hundred and eighty-five thousand in

3708-635: The Cherubim, incomparably greater than the Seraphim, raised above the heavens, purer than the very rays of the sun? For she was a woman, of the race of David, born to Anne her mother and Joachim her father, who was son of Panther. Panther and Melchi were brothers, sons of Levi, of the stock of Nathan, whose father was David of the tribe of Judah. A century later, John of Damascus and others report similar information, only inserting an extra generation, Barpanther (Aramaic for son of Panther , thus indicating

3811-503: The Greek text as it stands is plainly against it, it has been proposed that in the original text Matthew had one Joseph as Mary's father and another as her husband. This neatly explains not only why Matthew's genealogy differs from Luke's, but also why Matthew counts fourteen generations rather than thirteen. Blair sees the various extant versions as the predictable result of copyists repeatedly attempting to correct an apparent mistake. Others, including Victor Paul Wierwille , argue that here

3914-905: The Law should be struck with the weapon and as a result there was no boy or girl in the entire kingdom of Judah who was not familiar with the laws of impurity and purity.(ib. 94b). Genealogy of Jesus The New Testament provides two accounts of the genealogy of Jesus , one in the Gospel of Matthew and another in the Gospel of Luke . Matthew starts with Abraham and works forwards, while Luke works back in time from Jesus to Adam . The lists of names are identical between Abraham and David (whose royal ancestry affirms Jesus' Messianic title Son of David ), but differ radically from that point. Matthew has twenty-seven generations from David to Joseph , whereas Luke has forty-two, with almost no overlap between them or with other known genealogies .⁠ They also disagree on who Joseph's father was: Matthew says he

4017-653: The Luke genealogy to Mary's line do not include a levirate marriage this is added by the above sources. Each of these texts then goes on to describe, just as in Julius Africanus (but omitting the name of Estha), how Melchi was related to Joseph through a levirate marriage. Bede assumed that Julius Africanus was mistaken and corrected Melchi to Matthat . Since papponymics were common in this period, however, it would not be surprising if Matthat were also named Melchi after his grandfather. Controversy has surrounded

4120-402: The Old Testament is well attested. The Nestle-Aland critical edition, considered the best authority by most modern scholars, accepts the variant "son of Aminadab, son of Admin, son of Arni", counting the 76 generations from Adam rather than God. Luke's qualification "as was supposed" ( ἐνομίζετο ) avoids stating that Jesus was actually a son of Joseph, since his virgin birth is affirmed in

4223-406: The Old Testament use of such an expression is Jair, who is called "Jair son of Manasseh" but was actually son of Manasseh's granddaughter. In any case, the argument goes, it is natural for the evangelist , acknowledging the unique case of the virgin birth, to give the maternal genealogy of Jesus, while expressing it a bit awkwardly in the traditional patrilinear style. According to R. A. Torrey ,

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4326-473: The Septuagint does have this form. Both may simply be assimilations to more familiar names. More interesting, though, are the unique forms Boes (Boaz, LXX Boos ) and Rachab (Rahab, LXX Raab ). Three consecutive kings of Judah are omitted: Ahaziah , Jehoash , and Amaziah . These kings are seen as especially wicked, from the cursed line of Ahab through his daughter Athaliah to the third and fourth generation. The author could have omitted them to create

4429-524: The account states, "Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz ." The narrative of his sickness and miraculous recovery is found in 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles and Isaiah. Various ambassadors came to congratulate him on his recovery, among them from Merodach-baladan , son of the king of Babylon , "for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick". Hezekiah, his vanity flattered by

4532-907: The best-documented events of the Iron Age" (172). Hezekiah's story is one of the best to cross-reference with the rest of the Mid Eastern world's historical documents. A lintel inscription , found over the doorway of a tomb, has been ascribed to his secretary, Shebnah. Storage jars with the so-called " LMLK seal " may "demonstrate careful preparations to counter Sennacherib's likely route of invasion" and show "a notable degree of royal control of towns and cities which would facilitate Hezekiah's destruction of rural sacrificial sites and his centralization of worship in Jerusalem". Evidence suggests they were used throughout his 29-year reign. There are some bullae from sealed documents that may have belonged to Hezekiah himself. In 2015, Eilat Mazar discovered

4635-476: The biblical record and shows that Sennacherib made no claim that he captured Jerusalem. However, Sennacherib presents the matter of Hezekiah's paying tribute as having come after the Assyrian threat of a siege against Jerusalem, whereas the Bible states it was paid before. Herodotus mentions the Assyrian army of Sennacherib being overrun by mice when attacking Egypt. Josephus gives a quote of Berossus that

4738-486: The biblical view posits that a defeat was caused by "possibly an outbreak of the bubonic plague". Another that this is a composite text which makes use of a 'legendary motif' analogous to that of the Exodus story. The Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484 BCE – c. 425 BCE) wrote of the invasion and acknowledges many Assyrian deaths, which he claims were the result of a plague of mice. The Jewish historian Josephus followed

4841-409: The camp of the Assyrians," sending Sennacherib back "with shame of face to his own land". Sennacherib's inscriptions make no mention of the disaster suffered by his forces. But, as Professor Jack Finegan comments: "In view of the general note of boasting which pervades the inscriptions of the Assyrian kings, ... it is hardly to be expected that Sennacherib would record such a defeat." The version of

4944-512: The celebration of the Passover. The messengers were scorned, although a few men of the tribes of Asher , Manasseh and Zebulun "were humble enough to come" to the city. According to the biblical account, the Passover was celebrated with great solemnity and such rejoicing as had not been seen in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon . The celebration took place during the second month, Iyar , because not enough priests had consecrated themselves in

5047-647: The city from a spring outside its walls. He made at least two major preparations that would help Jerusalem to resist conquest: the construction of the Siloam Tunnel , and construction of the Broad Wall . Sennacherib was intent on making war against Jerusalem. Therefore, Hezekiah consulted with his officers about stopping the flow of the springs outside the city. Otherwise, they thought, the King of Assyria would come and find water in abundance. The narratives of

5150-477: The course of actual excavations. Archaeological findings like the Hezekiah seal led scholars to surmise that the ancient Judahite kingdom had a highly developed administrative system. In 2018 Mazar published a report discussing the discovery of a bulla which she says may have to have belonged to Isaiah. She believes the fragment to have been part of a seal whose complete text might have read "Belonging to Isaiah

5253-434: The cult of other deities, especially Baal and Astarte , had developed in Jerusalem, bringing with it elements of alien culture and morals. Josiah, a dedicated reformer, wished to put an end to perceived misuse of the holy places. One of the most zealous champions and advisers of this reform was Zephaniah, and his writing remains one of the most important documents for the understanding of the era of Josiah. Boldly predicting

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5356-402: The destruction of Judah for the evil committed by its occupants, the prophet spoke against the religious and moral corruption, when, in view of the idolatry which had penetrated even into the sanctuary, he warned that God would "destroy out of this place the remnant of Baal, and the names of the idolatrous priests" (Zeph 1:4), and pleaded for a return to the simplicity of their fathers instead of

5459-452: The doors of the Temple in Jerusalem to produce the promised amount, but, even after the payment was made, Sennacherib renewed his assault on Jerusalem. Sennacherib surrounded the city and sent his Rabshakeh to the walls as a messenger. The Rabshakeh addressed the soldiers manning the city wall, asking them to distrust Yahweh and Hezekiah, claiming that Hezekiah's righteous reforms (destroying

5562-528: The fall of Samaria happened in Hezekiah's 6th year of reign, implying that he would have become king in ca. 727 BCE. Nadav Na'aman argues that several late 8th century BCE seal impressions from the Kaufman collection, which mention some places later detroyed during Sennacherib's invasion and thus predate this event, corroborate this date as the inscriptions in the seal impressions include dates that go up to

5665-425: The first month. Biblical writer H. P. Mathys suggests that Hezekiah, being unable to restore the union of Judah and Israel by political means, used the invitation to the northern tribes as a final religious "attempt to restore the unity of the cult". He notes that this account "is often considered to contain historically reliable elements, especially since negative aspects are also reported on", although he questions

5768-414: The full extent to which it may be considered historically reliable. After the death of Assyrian king Sargon II in 705 BCE, Sargon's son Sennacherib became king of Assyria. In 703 BCE, Sennacherib began a series of major campaigns to quash opposition to Assyrian rule, starting with cities in the eastern part of the realm. In 701 BCE, Sennacherib turned toward cities in the west. Hezekiah then had to face

5871-462: The gospels' simultaneous account of Jesus' virgin birth of Mary alone, with Joseph being merely his legal adoptive father; both Joseph and Mary are taken to be David's descendants. Levirate marriage , through which an individual (such as Joseph) may have two legal fathers, can also serve these explanations. However, some modern critical scholars like Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan state that both genealogies are inventions, constructed to bring

5974-400: The idols and high places ) were a sign that the people should not trust their god to be favorably disposed. 2 Kings records that Hezekiah went to the Temple and there he prayed to God. Knowing that Jerusalem would eventually be subject to siege, Hezekiah had been preparing for some time by fortifying the walls of the capital, building towers, and constructing a tunnel to bring fresh water to

6077-406: The invasion of Judah. According to the Bible, Hezekiah did not rely on Egypt for support, but relied on God and prayed to Him for deliverance of his capital city Jerusalem. The Assyrians recorded that Sennacherib lifted his siege of Jerusalem after Hezekiah paid Sennacherib tribute. The Bible records that Hezekiah paid him three hundred talents of silver and thirty of gold as tribute, even sending

6180-412: The life of her son Hezekiah, whom her godless husband, Ahaz, had designed as an offering to Moloch . By anointing him with the blood of the salamander , she enabled him to pass through the fire of Moloch unscathed (Sanh. 63b). Hezekiah is considered as the model of those who put their trust in the Lord. Only during his sickness did he waver in his hitherto unshaken trust and require a sign, for which he

6283-486: The luxurious foreign clothing which was worn especially in aristocratic circles (1:8). The age of Zephaniah was also a key historical period, because the lands of Western Asia were overrun by foreigners due to the migration of the Scythians in the last decades of the seventh century BC, and because Jerusalem was only a few decades before its downfall in 586 BC . In light of these events, a message of impending judgment

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6386-596: The matter that Sennacherib presents, as found inscribed on what is known as the Sennacherib Prism preserved in the University of Chicago Oriental Institute , in part says: "As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke ... Hezekiah himself ... did send me, later, to Nineveh, my lordly city, together with 30 talents of gold, 800 talents of silver, ..." This version inflates the number of silver talents sent from 300 to 800. In other regards, it confirms

6489-407: The minimal knowledge of his personality and rhetorical and literary qualities is the short, three chapter book of the Old Testament which bears his name. The scene of his activity was the city of Jerusalem , which he seems to know well. The existence of two Zephaniahs linked to the book is considered purely hypothetical. Under the two preceding kings of Judah, Amon of Judah and Manasseh of Judah ,

6592-487: The name Mattathias and its variants begin at least three suspiciously similar segments. Kuhn likewise suggests that the two series Jesus–Mattathias (77–63) and Jesus–Mattatha (49–37) are duplicates. The contradictions between the lists have been used to question the accuracy of the gospel accounts since ancient times, and several early Christian authors responded to this. Augustine , for example, attempted on several occasions to refute every criticism, not only because

6695-464: The name Panther , mentioned above, because of a charge that Jesus' father was a soldier named Pantera . Celsus mentions this in his writing, The True Word , where he is quoted by Origen in Book 1:32. "But let us now return to where the Jew is introduced, speaking of the mother of Jesus, and saying that "when she was pregnant she was turned out of doors by the carpenter to whom she had been betrothed, as having been guilty of adultery, and that she bore

6798-476: The name of Jesus Pandera to heal him". Because some editions of the Jerusalem Talmud do not contain the name Jesus in these passages the association is disputed. One of the traditional explanations is that Matthew traces not a genealogy in the modern biological sense, but a record of legal inheritance showing the succession of Jesus in the royal line. According to this theory, Matthew's immediate goal

6901-399: The night, the angel of YHWH (Hebrew: יהוה) brought death to 185,000 Assyrians troops, forcing the army to abandon the siege, yet it also records a tribute paid to Sennacherib of 300 silver talents following the siege. There is no account of the supernatural event in the prism. Sennacherib's account records his levying of a tribute from Hezekiah, a payment of 800 silver talents, which suggests

7004-638: The other hand, there is no explicit indication whatsoever, either in the Gospel or in any early tradition, that the genealogy is Mary's. A Jewish tradition ascribing a Davidic ancestry to Mary is recorded in the Doctrina Jacobi (written in 634), in which a Tiberian rabbi mocks the Christian veneration of Mary by recounting her genealogy according to the tradition of the Jews of Tiberias : Why do Christians extol Mary so highly, calling her nobler than

7107-429: The patriarchal genealogical structure. Eusebius of Caesarea , on the other hand, affirmed the interpretation of Africanus that Luke's genealogy is of Joseph (not of Mary), who was the natural son of Jacob, though legally of Eli who was the uterine brother of Jacob. The earliest tradition that explains the divergence of Joseph's lineages involves the law of levirate marriage . A woman whose husband died without issue

7210-430: The period. The annals record a list of booty sent from Jerusalem to Nineveh. In the inscription, Sennacherib claims that Hezekiah accepted servitude, and some theorize that Hezekiah remained on his throne as a vassal ruler. The campaign is recorded with differences in the Assyrian records and in the biblical Books of Kings ; there is agreement that the Assyrian have a propensity for exaggeration. One theory that takes

7313-404: The prophet." Several other biblical archaeologists, including George Washington University's Christopher Rollston have pointed to the bulla being incomplete, and the present inscription not enough to necessarily refer to the biblical figure. According to the work of archaeologists and philologists, the reign of Hezekiah saw a notable increase in the power of the Judean state. At this time Judah

7416-591: The question proposed to Jesus by the Sadducees in all three Synoptic Gospels regarding a woman with seven levirate husbands suggests that this law was observed at the time of Christ. A common explanation among theologians is that Luke's genealogy is of Mary , with Eli being her father, while Matthew's describes the genealogy of Joseph. Luke's text says that Jesus was "a son, as was supposed, of Joseph, of Eli" (υἱός, ὡς ἐνομίζετο, Ἰωσὴφ, τοῦ Ἠλὶ.) The qualification has traditionally been understood as acknowledgment of

7519-464: The reading are doubtful. Patristic tradition , on the contrary, consistently identifies Mary's father as Joachim . It has been suggested that Eli is short for Eliakim , which in the Old Testament is an alternate name of Jehoiakim, for whom Joachim is named. The theory is consistent with early traditions ascribing a Davidic ancestry to Mary. It also aligns with Luke's greater focus on Mary, in contrast to Matthew's focus on Joseph 's perspective. On

7622-466: The reason Mary is not implicitly mentioned by name is because the ancient Hebrews never permitted the name of a woman to enter the genealogical tables, but inserted her husband as the son of him who was, in reality, but his father-in-law. Lightfoot sees confirmation in an obscure passage of the Talmud , which, as he reads it, refers to "Mary daughter of Eli"; however, both the identity of this Mary and

7725-502: The rest of the genealogy. Some see the remainder as the true genealogy of Joseph, despite the different genealogy given in Matthew. The following table is a side-by-side comparison of Matthew's and Luke's genealogies. Converging sections are shown with a green background, and diverging sections shown with a yellow background. The Church Fathers held that both accounts are true. Eusebius of Cesarea, in his Church history , dedicates

7828-620: The same gospel. Some view that "as was supposed of Joseph" regards Luke as calling Jesus a son of Eli—meaning that Heli ( Ἠλί , Heli) was the maternal grandfather of Jesus, with Luke tracing the ancestry of Jesus through Mary, his nearest blood relative, while listing Heli’s son-in-law Joseph rather than Mary in order to maintain the patriarchal structure of the genealogy. D. A. Carson calls this reading "painfully artificial" and would not likely be deduced by readers. Likewise R. P. Nettelhorst calls this reading "unnatural and forced. There are other interpretations of how this qualification relates to

7931-471: The same name. Fourteen generations span the time from Jeconiah , born c.  616 BC , to Jesus, born c.  4 BC . The average generation gap would be around forty-four years. However, in the Old Testament , there are even wider gaps between generations. Also, we do not see any instances of papponymic naming patterns, where children are named after their grandparents, which

8034-459: The same phrase for genealogies. Abraham to David David to Babylonian Exile Babylonian Exile to Jesus Matthew's genealogy is considerably more complex than Luke's. It is overtly schematic , organized into three sets of fourteen , each of a distinct character: The total of 42 generations is achieved only by omitting several names, so the choice of three sets of fourteen seems deliberate. Various explanations have been suggested: fourteen

8137-469: The second-most important city of the kingdom of Judah . During the revolt of king Hezekiah against Assyria , it was captured by Sennacherib despite determined resistance (see Siege of Lachish ). As the Lachish relief attests, Sennacherib began his siege of the city of Lachish in 701 BCE. The Lachish Relief graphically depicts the battle, and the defeat of the city, including Assyrian archers marching up

8240-413: The series of unknown names in Matthew connecting Joseph's grandfather to Zerubbabel as an outright fabrication, produced by collecting and then modifying various names from 1 Chronicles. Sivertsen sees Luke's as artificially pieced together out of oral traditions. The pre-exilic series Levi, Simeon, Judah, Joseph consists of the names of tribal patriarchs, far more common after the exile than before, while

8343-838: The sole worship of Yahweh and a prohibition on venerating other deities within the First Temple . He is considered a very righteous king in both the Second Book of Kings and the Second Book of Chronicles . He is also one of the more prominent kings of Judah mentioned in the Bible and is one of the kings mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew . "No king of Judah, among either his predecessors or his successors, could [...] be compared to him", according to 2 Kings 18:5 . Isaiah and Micah prophesied during his reign. The name Hezekiah means "Yahweh strengthens" in Hebrew. Alternately it may be translated as "Yahweh

8446-538: The thirteenth king of Judah according to the Hebrew Bible . In the Biblical narrative, Hezekiah witnessed the destruction of the northern Kingdom of Israel by the Neo-Assyrian Empire under Sargon II in c.  722 BCE . He was king of Judah during the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib in 701 BCE. Hezekiah enacted sweeping religious reforms, including a strict mandate for

8549-416: The tunnel, met each other" (564). It is "[o]ne of the most important ancient Hebrew inscriptions ever discovered." Finkelstein and Mazar cite this tunnel as an example of Jerusalem's impressive state-level power at the time. Archaeologists like William G. Dever have pointed at archaeological evidence for the iconoclasm during the period of Hezekiah's reign. The central cult room of the temple at Arad ,

8652-498: The two lists are seen as clear evidence that these were not based on genealogical records. Additionally, the use of titles such as 'Son of God' and 'Son of David' are seen as evidence that they do not come from the earliest Gospel traditions. Raymond E. Brown says the genealogies "tell us nothing certain about his grandparents or his great-grand-parents". Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan contend that both genealogies are inventions to support Messianic claims. Gundry suggests

8755-405: The virgin birth, but some instead see a parenthetical expression : "a son (as was supposed of Joseph) of Eli." In this interpretation, Jesus is called a son of Eli because Eli was his maternal grandfather, his nearest male ancestor. A variation on this idea is to explain "Joseph son of Eli" as meaning a son-in-law, perhaps even an adoptive heir to Eli through his only daughter Mary. An example of

8858-569: The visit, showed the Babylonian embassy all the wealth, arms and stores of Jerusalem, revealing too much information to Baladan , king of Babylon, or perhaps boasting about his wealth. He was then confronted by Isaiah, who foretold that a future generation of the people of Judah would be taken as captives to Babylon . Hezekiah was reassured that his own lifetime would see peace and security. According to Isaiah, Hezekiah lived another 15 years after praying to God. His son and successor, Manasseh,

8961-534: The worship of God at the Temple in Jerusalem. Hezekiah also defeated the Philistines , "as far as Gaza and its territory", and resumed the Passover pilgrimage and the tradition of inviting the scattered tribes of Israel to take part in a Passover festival. 2 Chronicles 30, but not the parallel account in 2 Kings, records that Hezekiah sent messengers to Ephraim and Manasseh inviting them to Jerusalem for

9064-428: The writings of Herodotus. These historians record Sennacherib's failure to take Jerusalem as "uncontested". The Talmud (Bava Batra 15a) credits Hezekiah with overseeing the compilation of the biblical books of Isaiah, Proverbs, Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes. According to Jewish tradition, the victory over the Assyrians and Hezekiah's return to health happened at the same time, the first night of Passover. Abi saved

9167-437: Was Jacob , while Luke says he was Heli . Early Christian scholars (starting with Africanus and Eusebius ) take both lineages to be true, offering various explanations for their divergence. For instance, one (usually Matthew's) may be taken to be the lineage of Joseph and the other (usually Luke's) of Mary , or one may be Jesus' customary legal lineage and the other his biological blood lineage. These versions can also fit

9270-408: Was Eli son of Melchi ( sic ), as given in Luke. Commenting on Africanus's explanation, Christian author Valeriy Sterkh writes: It must be added that the levirate links between the two genealogies are found not only at the end, but also in the beginning. This conclusion is obvious because both genealogies intersect in the middle at Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel (see Mt 1:12 – 13 ; Lk 3 :27). Nathan

9373-411: Was a common custom throughout this period. This may indicate that Matthew has telescoped this segment by collapsing such repetitions. In the Gospel of Luke, the genealogy appears at the beginning of the public life of Jesus. This version is in ascending order from Joseph to Adam. After telling of the baptism of Jesus, Luke 3 :23–38 states, "Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as

9476-424: Was a virtual city-state where the majority of the state's population was concentrated," in comparison to the rest of Judah's cities (167). Archaeologist Israel Finkelstein says, "The key phenomenon—which cannot be explained solely against the background of economic prosperity—was the sudden growth of the population of Jerusalem in particular, and of Judah in general" (153). He says the cause of this growth must be

9579-414: Was an Israelite; both are stock phrases, in which son means descendant , calling to mind the promises God made to David and to Abraham. Matthew's introductory title ([βίβλος γενέσεως ] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |translit= ( help ) , book of generations ) has been interpreted in various ways, but most likely is simply a title for the genealogy that follows, echoing the Septuagint use of

9682-623: Was blamed by Isaiah (Lam. R. i.). The Hebrew name "Ḥizḳiyyah" is considered by the Talmudists to be a surname, meaning either "strengthened by Yhwh" or "he who made a firm alliance between the Israelites and Yhwh"; his eight other names are enumerated in Isa. ix. 5 (Sanh. 94a). He is called the restorer of the study of the Law in the schools, and is said to have planted a sword at the door of the bet ha-midrash , declaring that he who would not study

9785-592: Was born during this time: he was 12 years of age when he succeeded Hezekiah. According to the Talmud , the disease came about because of a dispute between him and Isaiah over who should pay whom a visit and over Hezekiah's refusal to marry and have children, although in the end he married Isaiah's daughter. Some Talmudists also considered that it might have come about as a way for Hezekiah to purge his sins or due to his arrogance in assuming his righteousness. Extra-biblical sources specify Hezekiah by name, along with his reign and influence. "Historiographically, his reign

9888-451: Was bound by law to be married to her husband's brother, and the first-born son of a Yibbum was reckoned and registered as the son of the deceased brother (Deuteronomy 25:5 sqq.). Sextus Julius Africanus , in his 3rd-century Epistle to Aristides , reports a tradition that Joseph was born from just such a levirate marriage. According to this report, Joseph's natural father was Jacob son of Matthan, as given in Matthew, while his legal father

9991-608: Was chiseled through 533 meters (1,750 feet) of solid rock in order to provide Jerusalem underground access to the waters of the Gihon Spring or Siloam Pool , which lay outside the city. The Siloam Inscription from the Siloam Tunnel is now in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum . It "commemorates the dramatic moment when the two original teams of tunnelers, digging with picks from opposite ends of

10094-530: Was found buried in the foundations of the Nineveh palace. It was written in cuneiform , the Mesopotamian form of writing of the day. The prism records the conquest of 46 strong towns and "uncountable smaller places," along with the siege of Jerusalem where Sennacherib says he just "shut him up ... like a bird in a cage," subsequently enforcing a larger tribute upon him. The Hebrew Bible states that during

10197-480: Was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was [the son] of Heli, ..." (3:23) and continues on until "Adam, which was [the son] of God." (3:38) The Greek text of Luke's Gospel does not use the word "son" in the genealogy after "son of Joseph". Robertson notes that, in the Greek, "Luke has the article tou repeating uiou (Son) except before Joseph". This genealogy descends from the Davidic line through Nathan , who

10300-510: Was the older brother; Solomon was younger, next in line after him (see 2 Sam 5:14 –16; 1 Chron 3 :5), therefore he was the first candidate to a levirate marriage (compare Ruth 3 – 4 ; Lk 20 :27–33). The Old Testament is silent on whether Nathan had children, so we may very well conclude that he had none. Solomon, however, had much capacity for love: «And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines» ( 1 Kings 11 :3). So, in theory, he could have married Nathan's widow. If this

10403-452: Was the only one that Jesus himself explicitly acknowledged as binding and authoritative, as recorded in Matt. 23:1-3. It does not accept maternal ancestry as applying to lineage claims, which go through the father alone. A minority view holds that while Luke gives the genealogy of Joseph, Matthew gives the genealogy of Mary. A few ancient authorities seem to offer this interpretation. Although

10506-522: Was the strongest nation on the Assyrian–Egyptian frontier. There were increases in literacy and in the production of literary works. The massive construction of the Broad Wall was made during his reign, the city was enlarged to accommodate a large influx, and population increased in Jerusalem up to 25,000, "five times the population under Solomon." Archaeologist Amihai Mazar explains, "Jerusalem

10609-488: Was under siege by Sennacherib of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Based on Edwin R. Thiele 's dating, Hezekiah was born in c. 741 BCE and died in c. 687 BCE at age 54. Thiele and William F. Albright calculated his regnal years arriving at figures very close to each other, c. 715/16 and 686/87 BCE . However, Robb Andrew Young dates his reign to 725–696 BCE and Gershon Galil to 726–697/6. The Bible states that

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