Who was Mary a descendant of?

Answer 1

The answer to this question comes down to Jewish family genealogies and their accuracy. In his "Daily Bible Illustrations" Dr Kitto writes:"The fact that the descent of Jesus from David could be established by registers , and the presence of two such minute pedigrees as those of Matthew and Luke, evince that the Jews were, up to this time, still careful in the registration of family descents....The rabbins [sic] assure us that [after the captivity] they became still more careful in registering their genealogies; with immediate reference, doubtless, to the expectation of the Messiah; but with the ulterior object ...of preserving means for establishing the exact fulfillment of the predictions respecting his parentage. That such existed to even a later date is shown by Josephus, who declares that he traced his own descent in the trie of Levi by public registers; and he expressly informs us that, however dispersed and dispossessed his nation were, they never failed to have exact genealogical tables prepared from the authentic documents which were kept at Jerusalem; and that in all their sufferings they were particularly careful to preserve these tables, which were renewed from time to time."

(From page 76 of "Daily Bible Illustrations - The Life and Death of Our Lord " section "29th Week, Third Day" by Dr Kitto, exact date unknown but possibly 1871.)

The Bible tells us David's wife Bathsheba had 4 sons, 2 of whom were Nathan and Solomon:-

1Ch 3:5 ...[David's]wife Bathsheba, daughter of Ammiel, bore him four sons: Shimea, Shobab,Nathan, and Solomon.

Solomon became king, and among his descendants was Joseph, (the husband of Mary the mother of Jesus, and Jesus' stepfather); his genealogy is given in Matthew chapter 1:-

Mat 1:7 [Good News Bible] From David to the time when the people of Israel were taken into exile in Babylon, the following ancestors are listed: David, Solomon (his mother was the woman who had been Uriah's wife [ie Bathsheba]), Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, and Jehoiachin and his brothers.Mat 1:12 From the time after the exile in Babylon to the birth of Jesus, the following ancestors are listed: Jehoiachin, Shealtiel, Zerubbabel, Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, Achim, Eliud, Eleazar, Matthan, Jacob, and Joseph, who married Mary, the mother of Jesus, who was called the Messiah.

However, his wife Mary traced her lineage back to Solomon's brother Nathan:-

Luk 3:23-31 CEV When Jesus began to preach, he was about thirty years old. Everyone thought he was the son of Joseph. But his family went back through Heli, [v. 24] Matthat, Levi, Melchi, Jannai, Joseph, [v. 25] Mattathias, Amos, Nahum, Esli, Naggai, [v. 26] Maath, Mattathias, Semein, Josech, Joda; [v. 27] Joanan, Rhesa, Zerubbabel, Shealtiel, Neri, [v. 28] Melchi, Addi, Cosam, Elmadam, Er, [v. 29] Joshua, Eliezer, Jorim, Matthat, Levi; [v. 30] Simeon, Judah, Joseph, Jonam, Eliakim, [v. 31] Melea, Menna, Mattatha, Nathan, David,

Regarding these genealogies in Matthew and Luke, Dr William Smith says in 'Smith's Bible Dictionary' (1884) in the article 'Genealogy of Jesus Christ', that:-.1. They are both the genealogies of Joseph, that is, of Jesus Christas the reputed and legal son of Joseph and Mary.2. The genealogy of St. Matthew is Joseph's genealogy as legal successor to the throne of David. St. Luke's is Joseph's private Genealogy, exhibiting his real birth as David's son, and thus, showing why he was heir to Solomon's crown. The simple principle that one evangelist exhibits that genealogy which contained the successive heir to David's and Solomon's throne, while the other exhibits the paternal stem of him who was the heir, explains all the anomalies of the two pedigrees, their agreements as well as their discrepancies, and the circumstance of there being two at all.3. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was in all probability the daughter of Jacob, and first cousin to Joseph, her husband. ...(Godet, Lange and many others take the ground that St. Luke gives the genealogy of Mary, rendering Luk_3:23thus: Jesus"being (as was suppposed), the son of Joseph, (but, in reality), the son of Heli." In this case, Mary, as declared in the Targums, was the daughter of Heli, and Heli was the grandfather of Jesus.Mary's name was omitted because "ancient sentiment did not comport with the mention of the mother as the genealogical link." So we often find in the Old Testament, the grandson called the son. This ... shows that Jesuswas not merely the legal but the actual descendant of David; and it would be very strange that in the gospel accounts, where so much is made of Jesusbeing the son and heir of David and of his kingdom [that] his real descent from David should not be given. )

In his "Daily Bible Illustrations" Dr Kitto says:-"... But the two genealoogies are materially different. They coincide until David, when Matthew takes the ruling line [ie of Solomon]; whereas Luke takes the ...line by David's son Nathan....Matthew makes Joseph the son of Jacob,whereas Luke represents him as Heli, or Eli. He could not naturally have been the son of both these persons [thus] Jacob and Heli are different names for the same person. They are obviously two different genealogies from the common ancestor David.....[T]he genealogy in Matthew is that of Joseph, and the one in Luke that of Mary - the former being the legal, and the latter the real genealogy of Jesus.....

Furthermore, Mary is always called by the Jews 'the daughter of Heli' and by the early Christian writers 'the daughter of Joakim and Anna'. Now, Joakim and Eliakim (as different names in Hebrew for God) are sometimes interchanged; so that Heli or Eli is an abridged form of Eliakim interchanged for Joakim."

(From page 77 of "Daily Bible Illustrations - The Life and Death of Our Lord " section "29th Week, Third Day" by Dr Kitto, exact date unknown but possibly 1871.)

The Bible says in Luke 3:23 that Mary's father was Heli, and he was the "father of Mary and father-in-law of Joseph in the line Jesus Christ's royal ancestry " (From

It is known from other sources that her father was also called Joachim, and her mother was Anna:-Little is known of Mary's personal history from the New Testament. Her parents are not named in the canonical texts, but in apocryphal sources, widely accepted by later tradition, were Joachim and Anne. She was a relative of Elizabeth, wife of the priest Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah, who herself was of the lineage of Aaron and so of the tribe of Levi. In spite of this, some speculate that Mary, like Joseph, to whom she was betrothed, was of the House of David and so of the tribe of Judah, and that the genealogy presented in Luke was hers, while Joseph's is given in Matthew."

Saint Joachim ... was the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and therefore is ascribed the title of "forebearer of God", in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican traditions. The canonical Gospel accounts in the New Testament do not explicitly name either of Mary's parents, but some argue that the genealogy in Luke 3 is that of Mary rather than Joseph, thereby naming her father as Eli. ... The story of Sts Joachim and Anne appears in the apocryphal Gospel of James.

To summarize, the Bible tells us Mary's father was Heli (aka Eli, Eliakim, Joakim, Joachim) and both an apocryphal gospel and Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican church tradition tell us her parents were Joachim and Anne.

Answer 2

A:We have two separate genealogies for Joseph, one in Matthewand one in Luke. Both say that Joseph was descended from the great Zorobabel, son of Salathiel, and from King David. Matthew's Gospel says that Joseph's father was called Jacob, reflecting the Old Testament story of Joseph and Jacob, and that Salathiel was the son of Jechonias, before following the royal line back to David. On the other hand, Luke's Gospel says that Joseph's father was called Heli, and that Salathiel was the son of Neri, before following a line of commoners back to David. Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) explains this contradiction, saying there is little likelihood that either is strictly historical. Others try to harmonise the two by suggesting that the genealogy in Luke is that of Mary, in spite of Luke 3:23.

We are told nothing in the New Testament about the ancestors of Mary, although an early Christian tradition is that her father was called Joachim and her mother was Anne. The Churches recognise that there is no good reason to accept this tradition as correct.

Answer 3

There is some uncertainty whether Mary is of the lineage of Aaron and so of the priestly Tribe of Levi or if like Joseph, to whom she was betrothed, is of the House of Davidand so of the Tribe of Judah.

Answer 4

The gospels tell us nothing about Mary's parents, and there is no contemporary material outside The Bible, about Mary, her life or her family. We can not say who her parents or grandparents were.

Some believe that, because Matthew and Luke provide quite different genealogies, the genealogy in Matthew must be that of Joseph and the genealogy in Luke must be that of Mary. However, Luke 3:23 is quite clear in saying that that Heli was the father of Joseph. Other traditions about the supposed parents of Mary have grown up in the post-apostolic era, but there has been no credible evidence for those traditions.

Answer 5

The Catholic Church has always taught that Our Blessed Lady was a descendant of King David.