Note 3 — Part I
Reading edition
It is somewhat curious that Matthew and Luke, who are the only two evangelists to attribute a divine ancestry to Jesus (see heading "Conception"), are the only two to give a genealogy of Joseph. From their point of view, it was entirely immaterial whether Joseph was a descendant of David or not. An attempt to trace Mary's lineage back to David would have had some materiality.
On the other hand, it would seem that Mark and John, who ignore the paternity of the Holy Ghost, would have deemed it of high importance to establish, if possible, one of these genealogies. All Jewry at this time was teeming with expectation of the coming of a Messiah, and their prophets had marked Him out as one of the lineage of David (Psalms CXXXII:2; Jer. XXIII:4; John VII:42). No stronger argument could have been found to win the favor of the Jews to Jesus than the linking of His name with David.
In Cadman's "Harmony of the Gospels," page 39, the author makes an ingenious attempt to "harmonize" these two lines of ancestry—the super-natural and the Davidian. This he does by making Luke's genealogy one of Mary, instead of Joseph. By this means the super-natural fatherhood of Jesus is saved and, at the same time He can claim, through His mother, a descent from David.
The main trouble with this theory is that Cadman is obliged to make Heli the father of Mary, when Luke expressly says that Heli was the father of Joseph (Luke III:23). At another place, Luke speaks of Joseph, not Mary, as being of the house of David (Luke II:4).