August 22, 2011 – Luke 3

Tiberius began his reign as emperor in 14 AD That puts the beginning of John’s preaching at 29 AD. While I was looking at this date I found that Pontius Pilate was governor from 26-36. The Herod that was reigning (son of Herod the Great) ruled from 4 BC until 39 AD. This makes him fairly old when Christ comes before him. He is always pictured younger in the movies I remember, and in a drunken partying stupor with young people. But he was closer to 50 then 30, which would have been very old back then.

John does not condemn tax collectors or soldiers for being what they are. He tells them to do their job and not take advantage or steal more than they are suppose to take. I think sometimes we look upon jobs that may not look very “Christian” on the outside and look down upon them. But many jobs are necessary to make the world spin around and it appears that God understands this. He does not condemn the person with the difficult job, He condemns the actions of a person that steps outside the duties of that job to gain wealth or power inappropriately.

The footnotes say Matthew’s genealogy starts with Abraham to show Jesus bond with Israel, Luke traces it back to Adam and God to show Christ divinity. But they are very different and I really don’t think this is a satisfactory answer. Not just the names, but the numbers. Matthew goes from Abraham to Jesus in 42 (14/14/14) whereas Luke has 57 names between Abraham and Jesus.   Here is a list below. 

Jesus	Jesus
Joseph	Joseph
Heli	Jacob
Matthat	Matthan
Levi
Melchi
Jannai
Joseph
Mattathias
Amos	Eleazar
Nahum	Eliud
Esli	Achim
Naggai	Zadok
Maath	Azor
Mattathias	Eliakim
Semein	Abiud
Josech
Joda
Joanan
Rhesa
Zerubbabel	Zerubbabel
Shealtiel	Shealtiel
Neri	Jechoniah
Melchi	Josiah
Addi	Amos
Cosam	Manasseh
Elmadam	Hezekiah
Er	Ahaz
Joshua	Jotham
Eliezer	Uzziah
Jorim	Joram
Matthat	Jehoshaphat
Levi	Asaph
Simeon	Abijah
Judah	Rehoboam
Joseph
Jonam
Eliakim
Meleaof
Menna
Mattatha
Nathan	Solomon
David	David
Jesse	Jesse
Obed	Obed
Boaz	Boaz
Sala	Salmon
Nahshon	Nahshon
Amminadab	Amminadab
Admin	Ram
Arni
Hezron	Hezron
Perez	Perez
Judah	Judah
Jacob	Jacob
Isaac	Isaac
Abraham	Abraham
Terah
Nahor
Serug
Reu
Peleg
Eber
Eber
Shelah
Cainan
Arphaxad
Shem
Noah
Lamech
Methuselah
Enoch
Jared
Mahalaleel
Cainan
Enos
Seth
Adam