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											2022-10-28 09:44:03 -04:00
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							|  |  |  |  | title = "Luke 3:23–38" | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | date = "2022-10-28" | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | ### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Lk3.23-38)
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							|  |  |  |  | A lot of people skip over the "boring" parts, like genealogies. But we're not! | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | God's truth is in the lists and tables as well as the prose and poetry. | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | The first thing we learn is that Jesus was about 30 years old when he began His | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | ministry. For a public teacher, this is a good age to begin because people | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | won't reject you out of hand because you're too young. It also means we have no | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | idea what Jesus's life was like since His parents found Him at the temple when | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | he was twelve. Most likely, He took up carpentry alongside Joseph. | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | The genealogy itself is interesting because it anchors Jesus firmly in history, | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | with a human lineage that is traced back all the way to the very first man. | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | This is no fairy tale, where a mysterious person arrives from some unknown | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | place, does amazing things, and vanishes. No, this is real history. It is also | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | interesting because it is different from the genealogy given in Matthew 1. Luke | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | fits more generations in between Jesus and Abraham, and has several names | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | different, especially the ones closer to Jesus. The discrepencies could be | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | explained in a few ways: Luke and Matthew may be using "son" and "father" to | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | mean "descended from" and each skips some generations; Matthew especially may | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | be describing legal inheritance, particularly for the Davidic kingship, rather | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | than biological descent; transliterating Hebrew names into Greek might have | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | been done differently; and it's possible Luke is describing Mary's family tree, | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | though, if true, it is very strange he doesn't mention her name. (I find "as | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | was supposed" (_v. 23_) to be pretty compelling, however.) | 
					
						
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											2022-11-05 14:53:20 -04:00
										 |  |  |  | You are eternal, while we are mere dust. Our lives are like grass while You | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | remain forever. |