Matthew and Luke in their Gospels have given us the genealogy of Christ differently, and many suppose that they contradict each other. Since as a consequence every believer, in ignorance of the truth, has been zealous to invent some explanation to explain these passages. (Eus. Hist. eccl. 1.7.1)

Early Christian commentators have put forth interpretative strategies to harmonize the two very different accounts of Jesus’ geneal…