What does Luke 3:29 mean?
Famous people inspire popular names. This is why many people in western culture are given names that are seen in Scripture: Matthew, Mark, Paul, Stephen, Simon, Mary, Martha, and so forth. Other than Zerubbabel (Luke 3:27), all the famous names included so far in Luke's genealogy of Jesus (Luke 3:23) belong to different people than their more well-known Old Testament namesakes.Here, as well, names like Joshua and Eliezer are not references to the contemporaries of Moses (Exodus 17:9; 18:4), nor is the Levi mentioned here the son of Jacob (Genesis 29:34). Matthat, as well, shares a name with one of his descendants (Luke 3:24).