One thing that has caused an apparent difficulty touching the genealogy
of Christ, is, that inquirers are not aware of the fact, that Matthew
traces the genealogy of Joseph, from Abraham down, and that Luke
traces the genealogy of Mary up to Adam. Matt. i.; Luke iii. This
will account, in some degree, for the disagreement in names. They are
evidently two distinct lines of genealogy, and the best authorities we
can appeal to at present, give Matthew’s to Joseph and the other to
Mary, and it is clear to any one, that one descends and that the other
ascends.
The best evidence we can command, sustains the idea that Matthew wrote
at an earlier date than Luke, and that he took his genealogy from the
Jewish records, from Abraham to Joseph, as the Jews would be willing
to believe their own records; and, that when Luke wrote, Joseph
had been adopted into the family of Heli, (Eli, the same) Joseph’s
father-in-law, some years, and, consequently, Luke copied the genealogy
of Joseph through Heli, which was properly Mary’s genealogy, up to Adam.
There are, however, difficulties in these genealogies, which, we
presume, no one can reconcile; but Matthew and Luke are not accountable
for them, as they simply give these as the commonly received
genealogies, which those in the day when they had the records to appeal
to, never disputed. Had the Jews been able to involve the Apostle and
Luke in a contradiction, they, no doubt, would willingly have done it,
but this they could not do, without disputing their own records.