Esthra / Estha

The Gospel of Matthew and Gospel of Luke present an apparent problem by giving two genealogies for Jesus. (Matthew 1:7-16, Luke 3:23-31). Julius Africanus (about 160-about 240) attributed the difference to the custom of levirate marrige, under which a man was obliged to marry his brother's widow if the brother had died without children.

According to Julius Africanius, the apparent problem can be explained in two stages. First, a woman named Estha married Matthan, a descendant of David through Solomon, and became the mother of Jacob. After Mathan's death she married Mathat, a descendant of David through Nathan, and became the mother of Heli. Jacob and Heli were, therefore, uterine brothers.

Secondly, Heli married, but died without offspring. His widow, therefore, became the levirate wife of Jacob, and gave birth to Joseph, who was the carnal son of Jacob, but the legal son of Heli, thus combining in his person two lineages of David's descendants.

This was the solution adopted by Saint Augustine.

David Hughes in Davidic Dynasty gives the name Hazibah to the wife of Matthan, but she seems to be a modern invention.