MRS. A. S. LEWIS, ON THE GENEALOGIES OP OUR LORD. 11 



records, tliouglit themselves justified in excluding from the 

 genealogy of their kings the names of Ahaziah, Joash, and 

 Amaziah. Wibh Amaziah the curse was extinguished ; and 

 Jehoram was not a descendant of Ahab. 



This explanation seems to me the more convincing, inasmuch 

 as Dr. Heer has found it in Hilary's Commentary on Mattheio, 

 and in Jerome also on Matthew i, 8. 



But it may be asked : Have we any proof that such temple- 

 records existed ? 



i. Dr. Heer tells us that the Hebrews from very early times 

 paid great attention to genealogical tables. In the books of 

 Genesis, Samuel, Chronicles, Euth, and Nehemiah, we find 

 ample confirmation for this statement. The motive for their doing 

 so was naturally the blessings and promises given by Jehovah to 

 the patriarchs, their ancestors ; and the wish to preserve them 

 must assuredly have become more intense in the minds of those 

 who were looking for a Messiah to appear in the line of David. 

 It is possible that during the Babylonian captivity, and after it, 

 many families may have become negligent in the preservation 

 of their genealogical trees. When desolation had passed as a 

 ploughshare over the land ; when the heaven over their heads 

 was as brass and the earth under them as iron, they may well 

 have said, What use is it ? But two family lines, that of David 

 and that of Aaron, had enough of innate vitality to resist all 

 adverse influences. 



ii. The existence of private family registers is proved by the 

 recent discovery of Aramaic documents concerning the Jewish 

 colony at Elephantine, near Syene (Assouan) of the years 

 471-411 B.C. 



iii. Flavins Josephus {Contra Apioneni, i, 7) speaks of the 

 great care which was taken to keep the line of the priests pure. 

 When a priest took a wife, he must not have respect either to 

 money or to honours, but must choose a maiden of ancient line- 

 age, who could bring forward sufficient witnesses for her ancestry. 

 For 1,300 years the names of the High Priests had been written 

 in the lists from father to son. The greatest care was exercised 

 even in those priestly families who lived in exile, for example, in 

 the temple of Leontopolis in Egypt. When a scion of one of these 

 families wished to marry, he had to send a list of his nearer 

 ancestors and of his more remote ones to Jerusalem, and also 

 the names of witnesses who could vouch for their accuracy. 

 Jerusalem thus became naturally the storehouse of all family 

 archives which belonged to the tribe of Levi. 



iv. We learn from Julius Africanus (in Eusebius, H.E. i, 7) 



