An examination of the Genealogy reveals the fact that it is artificially constructed, it is an arrangement of names in multiples of seven (cf. Sanday, Outlines, p. 202). The whole list contains seventy-seven names. From Adam to Abraham there are twenty-one names (7 x 3); from Isaac to David fourteen names (7 x 2), if we include, as we probably should, the name Admin, as in the RV. margin; from Nathan to Shealtiel twenty-one names; and from Zerubbabel to Christ twenty-one names. Not only is this so, but in order to preserve the symbolic arrangement, names are repeated and omitted. Thus in verse 36, the compiler has preferred the LXX to the Hebrew. This permits the name Cainan to be introduced into the Genealogy twice, as the son of Arphaxad in verse 36, and again as the son of Enos in verse 37. No Hebrew MS. mentions Cainan as the son of Arphaxad. Again, in the list from Isaac to David, the name Ram (cf. 1 Chron. ii. 10 and Ruth iv. 19) is omitted, and in its [pg 027] place the two names Admin and Arni appear. Whatever be the explanation of these facts, it is significant that in this way the symmetrical arrangement is preserved.
It is not probable that a Genealogy of such an artificial character was constructed by St. Luke himself. He shows no predilection for symbolic numbers in his writings, and does not indeed appear to observe this feature in the list. (Cf. Sanday, op. cit., p. 202, and contrast Mt. i. 17.) Probably he found the Genealogy ready to hand. The fact that it traces the descent to Adam may have appealed to him, in view of his own bent of mind, and it may have been this feature in the list which led him to incorporate it in his Gospel. The words “the son of God” with which the list ends, may be due to St. Luke himself, “added for the sake of Gentile readers, to remind them of the Divine origin of the human race” (Plummer, ICC., St. Luke, p. 105)·
It does not seem likely that the Genealogy in its original form, in the form, that is to say, in which St. Luke found it, contained the words which now stand in iii. 23, “as was supposed”. It is generally allowed at the present day that the Genealogies, both in the First Gospel and in the Third, trace the ancestry of Jesus through Joseph. But unlike the Matthaean Genealogy, that in Lk. gives us no reason to suppose that legal descent only is traced in it. It is therefore difficult to believe that its author intended to construct a chain of descent in which the vital link should contain the words, “as was supposed”. These words more naturally give the impression of being a later insertion intended to adapt the Genealogy to a new situation. For our present purpose the important question is, Are these words the words of St. Luke?, and what is still more vital, At what point, if Lukan, were they inserted in the Genealogy,—when it was first incorporated in the Gospel, or at some subsequent time? If from the first they stood where they now stand, it is obvious that the Third Gospel taught the Virgin Birth from the beginning. If, on the other hand, they were added after the Gospel was written (or its earlier chapters), this supports the view that the doctrine is a later element.
The data at present at our disposal do not enable us to decide between these alternatives. We may argue a priori that it is [pg 028] unlikely that St. Luke would have thought it worth while to introduce the Genealogy at all, if at the time when he wove it into his Gospel he had realized the necessity of interpolating the words “as was supposed”. In other words, we may say that had he known of the Virgin Birth from the first he would never have made use of the Genealogy. And further, we may argue that we best conserve St. Luke's reputation as a skilful writer by supposing the phrase “as was supposed” to be a correction, introduced to make the best of a Genealogy, used in the first place under presuppositions which new information had now led him to discard. Short of excising the Genealogy altogether—we may say—he did the best he could. But such speculations, however attractive, do not lead to a conclusion which we can regard with confidence. It is better to leave iii. 23 to depend upon the conclusion to which we come with regard to i. 34 f. This is the crucial passage, and if this should prove to be a later insertion, then iii. 23 must also be regarded as such, introduced by the same hand at the same time and for the same reasons.
(c) The Narratives of Lk. ii
We have now to examine the narratives of Lk. ii, and to ask, Under what presuppositions were they shaped? The incidents which call for special notice are the Purifying, the meeting with Simeon in the Temple, and the visit of Jesus to Jerusalem at the age of twelve. The five passages which speak of “the parents” of Jesus will be considered separately. There is no need to dwell on the story of the visit of the shepherds. It goes without saying that it nowhere presupposes the Virgin Birth. On the other hand, there is nothing in the presentation of the story which is alien to the doctrine.
Turning to the story of the Purifying in Lk. ii. 22-4, we are met by the question, What are we to understand by the phrase “their purification” (ii. 22)? Attempts have been made to take the pronoun as referring to the mother and the child, but, in view of the construction of the passage, this exegesis is impossible. Joseph and Mary are clearly the unexpressed subject of the verb in the sentence in which the pronoun “their” occurs (“And when the days of their purification ... were fulfilled, they brought him up to Jerusalem”). Schmiedel holds that the word “their” refers [pg 029] to Joseph and Mary,[30] and without doubt this opinion is correct. But if this is so, is it probable that St. Luke had the thought of a virgin birth in the background of his mind when he first penned the phrase? Is not the pronoun one which we may think he would have been anxious to avoid? Nor was there any need for him to introduce it, since, according to the Levitical law, it was only the mother who was made unclean by a birth (cf. Lev. xii). Schmiedel, who calls attention to this fact, thinks that the writer has made “an archaeological error”. “This error serves to show that the writer regarded Joseph as the actual father of Jesus; otherwise he could not have thought of him at all as unclean” (EB., col. 2955). Even if we think that Schmiedel's remorseless logic is too confidently applied, the fact remains that St. Luke's pronoun is as unnecessary as it is ambiguous. The difficulty of the expression is not felt by the modern mind alone. It is reflected in two subsequent textual alterations. Instead of “their purification”, the Codex Bezae reads “his purification”, and the Sin. Syr. MS., together with the cursive 76, has the pronoun “her”. The textual evidence forbids us to accept the reading “her purification”, but this is assuredly the phrase we should expect a writer to use who has just told the story of a virgin birth.
In the two remaining stories, that of the meeting with Simeon, and that of the visit of Jesus to Jerusalem, there is a common element which provokes reflection in the surprise of Joseph and Mary. In reference to the prophecy of Simeon concerning Jesus, we are told that they “were marvelling at” the things that were said (ii. 33). We can readily account for this remark, if St. Luke had no knowledge of the Virgin Birth at the time of writing, for the prophecy of Simeon transcends that of the angelic announcement of i. 31-3. Whereas the latter does not leave the soil of Israel, the former speaks of a revelation to the Gentiles. We could say, then, that the wider scope of the prophecy of Simeon provides room for wonder. But can we say this if St. Luke believed Mary to have received the announcement of a virgin birth, which, moreover, had been fulfilled? Would he have thought any prophecy called for wonder after such facts as [pg 030] these? The same difficulty arises in the story of the visit to the Temple. After St. Luke has recorded the pregnant words of Jesus, “Wist ye not that I must be in my Father's house?”, he writes: “And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them” (ii. 50). If, in this case, as distinguished from ii. 33, the Evangelist had said that they marvelled, the difficulty would be less great. It might then have been argued that, inasmuch as the facts of His birth had not been made known to the boy Jesus, there was room for wonder that already He should have attained to such a consciousness of filial relationship to God. But to say that they did not understand His words is an astonishing statement on the part of a writer who believes the Virgin Birth. On the other hand, it is a perfectly natural remark, if we can presume the Evangelist to have written in the absence of such a belief.[31]
Speaking of the narratives of Lk. ii, as a whole, we may say that, apart from the references to “the parents”, which remain to be considered, distinct difficulties are raised if we must believe that St. Luke knew of the Virgin Birth at the time when he first wrote the chapter, and that greater justice can be done to the narratives if we can presume him to have written them without that knowledge. How far this view is supported by the five passages which speak of Joseph and Mary, we have now to consider.