<p>1:16 <em>Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ</em>- Lk. 3:27 describes Zerubbabel as the head / chief / leader. The term Rhesa is incorrectly rendered in many versions as a name. Perhaps Luke&rsquo;s point was that the Lord Jesus was the final Messiah, after the failure of so many potential ones beforehand. &lsquo;Zerubbabel the chief&rsquo; would then be a similar rubric to &ldquo;David the king&rdquo; in Matthew&rsquo;s genealogy (:6).&nbsp;</p>
<p>Joseph was actually the rightful king of Israel, according to this genealogy. Yet he was living in poverty and without recognition for who he was- exactly the kind of person God would use for the great task of raising His only begotten Son.</p>