Proselyte who worshipped the YHWH of Israel and joined the tribe of Judah. So we have Mered (Caleb), the
son of a Proselyte, marrying Bithiah, who was also a Proselyte.
The genealogy is as follows:
It is difficult to verify whether or not the Talmud has correctly interpreted this passage in 1 Chronicles.
However, the purpose of this study is not to establish a precise genealogy, but to investigate the Jewish
view of adoption. The Talmud is universally accepted as an authentic account of Jewish culture and the
statement that an adopted orphan is considered to be born into the household should be taken as
authoritative.
Here is another example, which is easier to verify: Saul had two daughters, the older one was Merab and the
younger was Michal. (1 Sam 14:49). Merab was promised to David as a wife, but she was given to Adriel the
Meholathite instead. (1 Sam 18:17-19). David married Michal, the younger daughter of Saul (1 Sam 18:20-
30). Michal was given to another man called Phalti after David had fled from Saul (1 Sam 25:44) but David
took her back again when he returned to take the kingdom. (2 Sam 3:13-16)
When David brought the Ark to Jerusalem and danced before YHWH, Michal mocked him, saying he had
exposed himself to the women. She died childless, apparently as a judgment for her mockery.
―Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death‖. (2 Sam 6:23)
In an apparent contradiction to this, the following passage suggests that Michal had five sons from Adriel,
who as we have already seen, was the husband of Merab.
―And the king ... took the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of
Barzillai the Meholathite‖. (2 Sam 21:8. Green's Literal Translation)
The Talmud resolves this as follows: ―Now as to R. Joshua b. Korha, surely it is written, And the five sons of
Michal the daughter of Saul whom she bore to Adriel. - R. Joshua [b. Korha] answers thee: Was it then
Michal who bore them? Surely it was rather Merab who bore them! But Merab bore and Michal brought them
up; therefore they were called by her name. This teaches thee that whoever brings up an orphan in his
home, Scripture ascribes it to him as though he had begotten him‖. (Talmud Mas. Sanhedrin 19b) A similar
passage occurs in the midrash, where the question arises about what Hebrew name to use for a woman
raised by a foster father. The decision is to use the foster father's name, because "he who brings up a child
is to be called its father, not he who gave birth‖. (Exodus Rabbah 46:5)
Clearing the issue of Y‘shua‘s Diety in the Genealogies of Y‘shua in Matthew and LukeAs said earlier, the Gospels of Matthew and Luke give two different genealogies of Y‘shua. Matt 1:1-17 gives
the genealogy from Abraham to David, and then from David to Y‘shua via Solomon. Luke 3:23-38 gives the
genealogy in reverse order, and goes all the way back to Adam. The line of descent from David is through
his son Nathan instead of Solomon. There are many more generations in Luke, and the names are different.
According to Matthew, the father of Yoseph is called Jacob. According to Luke, he is called Heli. It is not
certain whether Matthan and Matthat are the same person, listed in Matthew and Luke, respectively, as the
grandfather of Joseph. The only two names that appear identically in both lists are Zerubbabel and his father
Shealtiel.
One possible explanation for the differing genealogies is that Luke's Gospel gives Miriam's genealogy, with
Yoseph's name used as a covering to avoid the suggestion that Y‘shua was illegitimate.
However, a much more satisfactory explanation is that one or both lists include adopted children, and there
is nothing in either of them to suggest who is an adopted son and who is a genetic son. To illustrate this, we
should look at the two names that appear in both lists, Zerubbabel and Shealtiel. Matthew associates them
with the exile into Babylon as follows:
―And Josiah fathered Jechoiachin and his brothers, at the carrying away of Babylon. And after the carrying
away of Babylon, Jechoiachin fathered Shealtiel; and Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel‖. (Matt 1:11-12.
Green's Literal Translation)
These are undoubtedly the same Shealtiel and Zerubbabel that appear in Ezra as follows:
―Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of
Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon ... Now
in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began