Bible Figure
Heli
grandfather of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke
Heli was Joseph's father according to Luke's genealogy of Jesus.
Biography
Luke 3:23 begins Jesus' genealogy by saying that Jesus was regarded as the son of Joseph, son of Heli, and then traces the line backward through David to Adam. Matthew's genealogy names Jacob as Joseph's father, and Christians have proposed several ways of understanding the differing genealogies, including legal and biological lines or a connection through Mary. Luke itself, however, simply names Heli in the genealogical sequence and gives no independent biography.
Biblical Significance
Heli's significance is genealogical in Luke's presentation of Jesus' human ancestry. The database should state Luke's wording without claiming a particular harmonization of Matthew and Luke as though Scripture explicitly supplied it.