Sources
The Gospels do not indicate a source for the two genealogies. The ancestries of Zerubbabel in Matthew and David in Luke are presumably based upon the Old Testament, especially the Book of Chronicles. The Septuagint text was apparently consulted, as Luke includes a second Cainan, omitted in other recensions, and both Gospels mostly follow Septuagint spellings in translating names into Greek. The generations bridging the gap between Joseph and the Old Testament record are more interesting, as no other independent record of them is known.
Temple records of priestly genealogies were certainly kept in written form, since lineage was an essential qualification for priestly status. Josephus, a younger contemporary of the evangelists, speaks of such written records repeatedly and cites them as evidence of his own ancestry. It is therefore often suggested that the Gospel genealogies derive from such temple records.
It is less clear, though, whether and to what extent the genealogies of non-priestly families were recorded. Africanus reports that the genealogies of the Jews were kept in public archives, until their destruction by Herod. A few, he says, managed to preserve their genealogies by either copying or memorizing them before their destruction, including the desposyni, the relatives of Jesus. [1]
Others doubt that the Gospel genealogies derive from written records and instead suggest an origin in oral tradition. A minority view is that they derive directly from divine revelation.
Sources
The Gospels do not indicate a source for the two genealogies. The ancestries of Zerubbabel in Matthew and David in Luke are presumably based upon the Old Testament, especially the Book of Chronicles. The Septuagint text was apparently consulted, as Luke includes a second Cainan, omitted in other recensions, and both Gospels mostly follow Septuagint spellings in translating names into Greek. The generations bridging the gap between Joseph and the Old Testament record are more interesting, as no other independent record of them is known.
Temple records of priestly genealogies were certainly kept in written form, since lineage was an essential qualification for priestly status. Josephus, a younger contemporary of the evangelists, speaks of such written records repeatedly and cites them as evidence of his own ancestry. It is therefore often suggested that the Gospel genealogies derive from such temple records.
It is less clear, though, whether and to what extent the genealogies of non-priestly families were recorded. Africanus reports that the genealogies of the Jews were kept in public archives, until their destruction by Herod. A few, he says, managed to preserve their genealogies by either copying or memorizing them before their destruction, including the desposyni, the relatives of Jesus. [1]
Others doubt that the Gospel genealogies derive from written records and instead suggest an origin in oral tradition. A minority view is that they derive directly from divine revelation.