Luke 3:21 ¶ Now when all
the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and
praying, the heaven was opened, 22 And
the Holy Ghost descended
in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from
heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. 23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty
years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son
of Heli, 24 Which was the son of
Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Melchi,
which was the son of Janna, which was the son of Joseph, 25 Which was the son of Mattathias, which
was the son of Amos, which was the son of Naum, which was the
son of Esli, which was the son of Nagge, 26 Which was the son of Maath, which was the
son of Mattathias, which was the son of Semei, which was the son
of Joseph, which was the son of Juda, 27
Which was the son of Joanna, which was the son of Rhesa, which
was the son of Zorobabel, which was the son of Salathiel, which was
the son of Neri, 28 Which was the
son of Melchi, which was the son of Addi, which was the son
of Cosam, which was the son of Elmodam, which was the son of Er,
29 Which was the son of Jose,
which was the son of Eliezer, which was the son of Jorim, which
was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, 30 Which was the son of Simeon, which was
the son of Juda, which was the son of Joseph, which was the
son of Jonan, which was the son of Eliakim, 31 Which was the son of Melea, which was the
son of Menan, which was the son of Mattatha, which was the son
of Nathan, which was the son of David, 32 Which was the son of Jesse, which was the
son of Obed, which was the son of Booz, which was the son of
Salmon, which was the son of Naasson, 33
Which was the son of Aminadab, which was the son of Aram,
which was the son of Esrom, which was the son of Phares, which
was the son of Juda, 34 Which was
the son of Jacob, which was the son of Isaac, which was the
son of Abraham, which was the
son of
Thara, which was the son of Nachor, 35
Which was the son of Saruch, which was the son of Ragau,
which was the son of Phalec, which was the son of Heber, which was
the son of Sala, 36 Which was the
son of Cainan, which was the son of Arphaxad, which was the son
of Sem, which was the son of Noe, which was the son of Lamech, 37 Which was the son of Mathusala, which
was the son of Enoch, which was the son of Jared, which was the
son of Maleleel, which was the son of Cainan, 38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the
son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of
God.
The baptism of John the
Baptist was one of national repentance for the Jews. Note the parallel when
Peter called the Jews to regret what they had done to their Messiah in Acts,
chapter 2. So, why was Jesus baptized?
Matthew 3:13 ¶ Then cometh
Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. 14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to
be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15
And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all
righteousness. Then he suffered him.
Jesus is the Lamb of
God, the ultimate sacrifice for sin.
John 1:29 The next day John
seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world.
He is our High Priest
as spoken of throughout Hebrews and the Aaronic priesthood was washed in Exodus
29 as a part of their consecration. Also, by submitting to John’s baptism He
was identifying Himself with the Jewish people as their Messiah. Although He needed
no repentance from sin He suffered the ritual to fulfill righteousness, setting
in motion His ministry as part of God’s plan of reconciling mankind to Himself
becoming not only our High Priest but our sacrifice for sin.
Here we have the three
parts of God in one text with the Holy Ghost descending on Christ like a dove
(it doesn’t say it was a dove) and then God the Father speaking. Jesus was
about 30 years old as mentioned in Numbers 4, the age of service to God.
It is commonly noted
that Luke’s genealogy starts with Mary and Joseph, as the text says, was
presumed to be Jesus father in the sense of the world. Her genealogy goes
backwards all the way to Adam connecting Christ with Adam as the Saviour of all
mankind. Matthew’s genealogy would then be Joseph’s genealogy, from Abraham,
the first Hebrew, to Joseph connecting Jesus under the Law as the Saviour of
the Jewish people specifically. Joseph adopting Jesus as his son would with
full rights of being a legal heir would give this perfect meaning. Both Joseph
and Mary come from the line of David but through a different son of David; Mary
through Nathan and Joseph through Solomon. Paul said to his young proteges,
Timothy and Titus.
1Timothy 1:4 Neither give
heed to fables and endless genealogies,
which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.
Titus 3:9 But avoid foolish
questions, and genealogies, and
contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.
So, I will leave
discussions about seeming conflicts in the genealogies in Matthew and Luke to
expert commentators and Bible students like Matthew Henry and Peter Ruckman as
we could endlessly discuss possibilities for things like why Cainan is inserted
where he is here. I’m not saying that any Bible study is not important. This
would be a fascinating study all by itself worthy of a book long dissertation,
but I don’t feel it has a place here other than to say that we must ask two
questions; why was it written and why was it preserved?
The argument that Luke
got his genealogy from the mythological Septuagint,
supernaturally translated from Hebrew into Greek at the behest of an Egyptian
king is absurd. The only physical evidence for any BC Septuagint is a
fraudulent “Letter of Aristeas”, a mention by a Jew steeped in Greek philosophy
named Philo, and Origen’s Hexapla in
the early third century. The name Septuagint
wasn’t given to it until the fifth century and it is often conflated by most
people with other Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible with which it has no
connection. There is no real evidence
for this Septuagint to exist until
the after the Bible was published in the Old Latin in the second century,
translated from various common, called Vulgate meaning the vernacular language
of the people, Greek versions and the Hebrew. H.C. Hoskier, early twentieth
century Bible scholar, pointed out how the Bible was translated back and forth
between Latin, Greek, and other languages in the era of Christ and the Apostles
and their disciples.
The Bible is not only
given by inspiration, which does not mean word-for-word dictation but wisdom
and understanding…
Job 32:8 But there is a spirit in man: and the
inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
2Timothy 3:16a All scripture is given
by inspiration of God…
2Peter 3:15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved
brother Paul also according to the wisdom
given unto him hath
written unto you;
…but it was preserved
through the centuries of usage.
Psalm 12:6 The words of the
LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of
earth, purified seven times. 7 Thou
shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for
ever.
So, were there two
Cainans with one omitted in the Old Testament genealogy of Genesis? I don’t
know and neither does anyone else on earth. But while this genealogical issue
is very intriguing I intend to move on. We have issues like this because modern
man wants to read the Bible like a textbook or the instructions for his or her
computer rather than a conversation with God. For those of us, like myself, who
believe in Biblical inspiration, not just in the original autographs but in
copies and translations if God’s hand was on them…
Jeremiah 36:32 Then took Jeremiah
another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote
therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim
king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.
…I realize there must
be a reason for the insertion of this Cainan here as well as other minor issues,
worthy of discussion in another venue.
One thing to note is the reference here to
Adam as the son, small ‘s’, of God. It is important to note the different
meaning of the phrases Son, large ‘S’, of God and son, small ‘s’, of God. Son of God refers to God in the flesh,
walking on the earth, the Lord Jesus Christ. But son of God refers to those beings both spiritual and human who are
directly created by God either here as in the first creation or in the
following regarding the new birth, being born again.
John 1:12 But as many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his
name: 13 Which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
This act of God is
referenced in the Psalm that Jesus quoted part of the first verse of from the
Cross to direct us to it.
Psalm 22: 1 ¶ « To the
chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. » My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? why art
thou so far from helping me, and
from the words of my roaring?...30 A
seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted
to the Lord for a generation.
Matthew 27:46 And about the
ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?
that is to say, My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me?
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