III.

But in order that what I have said may be made evident, I shall explain the interchange10    The reading of the Codex Regius is ἀκολουθίαν , i.e., succession; the other leading mss. give ἐπολλαγήν, i.e. interchange or confusion. of the generations. If we reckon the generations from David through Solomon, Matthan is found to be the third from the end, who begat Jacob the father of Joseph. But if, with Luke, we reckon them from Nathan the son of David, in like manner the third from the end is Melchi, whose son was Heli the father of Joseph. For Joseph was the son of Heli, the son of Melchi.11    But in our text in Luke iii. 23, 24, and so, too, in the Vulgate, Matthat and Levi are inserted between Heli and Melchi. It may be that these two names were not found in the copy used by Africanus. As Joseph, therefore, is the object proposed to us, we have to show how it is that each is represented as his father, both Jacob as descending from Solomon, and Heli as descending from Nathan: first, how these two, Jacob and Heli, were brothers; and then also how the fathers of these, Matthan and Melchi, being of different families, are shown to be the grandfathers of Joseph. Well, then, Matthan and Melchi, having taken the same woman to wife in succession, begat children who were uterine brothers, as the law did not prevent a widow,12    Here Africanus applies the term “widow” (χηρεύουσαν) to one divorced an well as to one bereaved. whether such by divorce or by the death of her husband, from marrying another. By Estha, then—for such is her name according to tradition—Matthan first, the descendant of Solomon, begets Jacob; and on Matthan’s death, Melchi, who traces his descent back to Nathan, being of the same tribe but of another family, having married her, as has been already said, had a son Heli. Thus, then, we shall find Jacob and Heli uterine brothers, though of different families. And of these, the one Jacob having taken the wife of his brother Heli, who died childless, begat by her the third, Joseph—his son by nature and by account.13    κατὰ λόγον. Whence also it is written, “And Jacob begat Joseph.” But according to law he was the son of Heli, for Jacob his brother raised up seed to him. Wherefore also the genealogy deduced through him will not be made void, which the Evangelist Matthew in his enumeration gives thus: “And Jacob begat Joseph.” But Luke, on the other hand, says, “Who was the son, as was supposed14    Two things may be remarked here: first, that Africanus refers the phrase “as was supposed” not only to the words “son of Joseph,” but also to those that follow, “the son of Heli;” so that Christ would be the son of Joseph by legal adoption, just in the same way as Joseph was the son of Heli, which would lead to the absurd and impious conclusion that Christ was the son of Mary and a brother of Joseph married by her after the death of the latter. And second, that in the genealogy here assigned to Luke, Melchi holds the third place; whence it would seem either that Africanus’s memory had failed him, or that as Bede conjectures in his copy of the Gospel Melchi stood in place of Matthat (Migne). [A probable solution.] (for this, too, he adds), of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Melchi.” For it was not possible more distinctly to state the generation according to law; and thus in this mode of generation he has entirely omitted the word “begat” to the very end, carrying back the genealogy by way of conclusion to Adam and to God.15    Other mss. read, “Adam the son of God.”

Ἵνα δὲ σαφὲς ᾖ τὸ λεγόμενον, τὴν ἐπαλλαγὴν τῶν γενῶν διηγήσομαι. ἀπὸ τοῦ Δαβὶδ διὰ Σολομῶνος τὰς γενεὰς καταριθμουμένοις τρίτος ἀπὸ τέλους εὑρίσκεται Ματθάν, ὃς ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἰακὼβ τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ τὸν πατέρα: ἀπὸ δὲ Νάθαν τοῦ Δαβὶδ κατὰ Λουκᾶν ὁμοίως τρίτος ἀπὸ τέλους Μελχί: [οὗ υἱὸς ὁ Ἡλὶ ὁ τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ πατήρ] Ἰωσὴφ γὰρ υἱὸς Ἡλὶ τοῦ Μελχί. σκοποῦ τοίνυν ἡμῖν κειμένου τοῦ Ἰωσήφ, ἀποδεικτέον, πῶς ἑκάτερος αὐτοῦ πατὴρ ἱστορεῖται ὅ τε Ἰακὼβ ὁ ἀπὸ Σολομῶνος καὶ Ἡλὶ ὁ ἀπὸ τοῦ Νάθαν, [ἑκάτερος κατάγοντες γένος] ὅπως τε [πρότερον οὗτοι δή, ὅ τε Ἰακὼβ καὶ ὁ Ἡλί, δύο ἀδελφοί, καὶ πρό γε, πῶς] οἱ τούτων πατέρες Ματθὰν καὶ Μελχὶ διαφόρων ὄντες γενῶν τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ ἀναφαίνονται πάπποι. Καὶ δὴ οὖν ὅ τε Ματθὰν καὶ ὁ Μελχὶ ἐν μέρει τὴν αὐτὴν ἀγαγόμενοι γυναῖκα ὁμομητρίους ἀδελφοὺς ἐπαιδοποιήσαντο, τοῦ νόμου μὴ κωλύοντος χηρεύουσαν ἤτοι ἀπολελυμένην ἢ καὶ τελευτήσαντος τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἄλλῳ γαμεῖσθαι. ἐκ δὴ τῆς Ἐσθᾶ, τοῦτο γὰρ καλεῖσθαι τὴν γυναῖκα παραδέδοται, πρῶτος Ματθὰν ὁ ἀπὸ τοῦ Σολομῶνος τὸ γένος κατάγων τὸν Ἰακὼβ γεννᾷ καὶ τελευτήσαντος τοῦ Ματθὰν Μελχὶ ὁ ἐπὶ τὸν Νάθαν κατὰ γένος ἀναφερόμενος χηρεύουσαν ἐκ μὲν τῆς αὐτῆς φυλῆς, ἐξ ἄλλου δὲ γένους ὤν, ὡς προεῖπον, ἀγαγόμενος αὐτὴν ἔσχεν υἱὸν τὸν Ἡλί. οὕτω δὴ διαφόρων δύο γενῶν εὑρήσομεν τόν τε Ἰακὼβ καὶ τὸν Ἡλὶ ὁμομητρίους ἀδελφούς. ὧν ὁ ἕτερος Ἰακώβ, ἀτέκνου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τελευτήσαντος Ἡλί, τὴν γυναῖκα παραλαβὼν ἐγέννησεν ἐξ αὐτῆς τὸν Ἰωσήφ, κατὰ φύσιν μὲν ἑαυτῷ καὶ κατὰ λόγον, διὸ γέγραπται: Ἰακὼβ δὲ ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἰωσήφ: κατὰ νόμον δὲ τοῦ Ἡλὶ υἱὸς ἦν: ἐκείνῳ γὰρ ὁ Ἰακὼβ ἀδελφὸς ὢν ἀνέστησε σπέρμα. διόπερ οὐκ ἀκυρωθήσεται καὶ ἡ κατ' αὐτὸν γενεαλογία, ἣν Ματθαῖος μὲν ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς ἐξαριθμούμενος: Ἰακὼβ δέ, φησίν, ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἰωσήφ: ὁ δὲ Λουκᾶς ἀνάπαλιν: ὃς ἦν, ὡς ἐνομίζετο_καὶ γὰρ τοῦτο προστίθησι_τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ τοῦ Ἡλὶ τοῦ Μελχί: τὴν γὰρ κατὰ νόμον γένεσιν ἐπισημότερον οὐκ ἦν ἐξειπεῖν, καὶ τὸ ‘ἐγέννησεν’ ἐπὶ τῆς τοιᾶσδε παιδοποιΐας ἄχρι τέλους ἐσιώπησεν, τὴν ἀναφορὰν ποιησάμενος ἕως τοῦ Ἀδὰμ τοῦ θεοῦ κατ' ἀνάλυσιν.