Plasma Productions

The following is an excerpt from the book Does the Bible Have Contradictions? by Matthew Elton, copyright 2009 Matthew Elton.

Question:

Was Jechoniah (Matthew 1:12) or Neri (Luke 3:27) the father of Shealtiel?

Answer:

Matthew gives the genealogy of Joseph and Luke gives that of Mary. In Mary?s genealogy, Mary is referred through her husband Joseph, because it was Hebrew tradition to list only males in genealogical records. Both Mary and Joseph had an ancestor named Shealtiel. However, these are two different people named Shealtiel, a common Hebrew name. Because these are two different people, they had different fathers. One had a father named Neri. The other had a father named Jechoniah.