Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was (so it was thought) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,
the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph,
the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai,
the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda,
the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri,
the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er,
the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi,
the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim,
the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Matattha, the son of Nathan, the son of David,
the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon,
the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah,
the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,
the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah,
the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,
the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan,
the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
Luke 3:23-28
Now is the time to pull all the pieces together. The meanings of names, the various theories that we have on Joseph’s real father, if this is Mary’s genealogy or Joseph’s, as to whether there is something Midrashic going on behind the text or not. Yes it is time for that but don’t be sitting around waiting for me to do it for you. It’s not going to happen. We will look at Matthew and Luke’s gospel together, you and me. I intend to look at the meanings of the names and see if there is anything significant there like the Genesis 5 genealogy or the list of the tribes in Revelation 7. I don’t know if there is or not. I have not yet examined it. I’m deliberately giving you the opportunity to check it out for yourself. I do these Gems for two reasons. Firstly because I want to do it for myself. I would do them even if I wasn’t doing them for you. But my second reason is to show others the depth that is in the Word of God and give you some tools for finding the depth of detail for yourself. I know the excitement that comes with finding things in the Word of God that you never imagined were there. Now you know how Libby feels about what she has found. I hope each one of you will be turned on to God’s Word in ways you have not imagined before. Remember Libby’s comment, “My excitement is my reward . . . Big time.”
I don’t envisage having the time to do this study in the next week or two but some time in the next month I will do it. I am hoping you will try it too. See what you find out for yourself. The easiest way to go about researching the meanings of the names is to load the programme E-Sword on your computer. You will find that on http://www.e-sword.net/. Download the latest version of E-Sword and along with the programme download the versions you desire and make sure you include the KJV+. Among the dictionaries available for downloading make sure you choose Brown, Driver, Briggs as well as Thayers. Strong’s dictionary is automatically available after downloading E-Sword. These files are all free to download on E-Sword. It is a free Bible software programme which is the most useful I have come across. Be warned there are some Bible versions which cost but only because the copyright holders will not grant Rick Meyers free use of the software for his free programme. Choose the KJV+ and work your way through the Luke and/or Matthew genealogy by clicking on the green numbers with each name while you have each one of the various dictionaries open.
In the next Gem I will move on to the next section of Luke but won’t forget this study in the genealogies. I figure at this stage we have spent long enough on the genealogy in Luke. We have used 11 Gems to focus on the genealogy. Oh admittedly not all solely on Luke’s genealogy but all with Luke’s genealogy in mind. I will return to the study of the names in a month’s time when the time seems right in the context of future gems. I trust in the mean time you will be inspired enough to spend some time digging for yourself. Happy hunting. I would love to hear from any of you who are digging for yourselves. If you come up with something that may inspire others, tell me and I will happily share your findings and your enthusiasm with the Gem readers as I did Libby’s. If you have a question about procedure or something else then feel free to ask me that too. Enjoy yourself in the Word of God. I hope this becomes a catalyst for giving you a passion for the Word and results in you falling in love with the Word over and over. That is my prayer for you all.
You may wonder why Libby’s name is coloured purple. It’s because she has agreed to share her side of the story if you would like to talk with her. She is one of many who have agreed to their names being used in a friend link. Their names will appear bold and purpled as well as having a tag friend link which tells you they are open to you emailing them, or connecting with them to talk about their experience that I have shared in the Gem where their name appears. But you will have to ask me for their email address in order to give them a measure of screening. However all people tagged with the friend link tag will freely talk with you about the experience in focus.
When we get away from the Word, we get away from God.
A R Bernard
God can’t speak THROUGH you til you give Him the time to speak TO you,
Rick Warren
There is a big difference between knowing about God and really knowing God.
Joyce Meyer
A real man always finds excuses for others, but NEVER excuses himself!
Rick Godwin
The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.
C.S. Lewis