Joe, I heard that before too so I looked it up on the internet and this is what I found:
Matthew 1 and Luke 3:
The genealogies of Jesus in the New Testament have various purposes:
1. Matthew 1:1-17: Lists the ancestors of Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, and presents the Genealogy of Jesus Christ, who descends directly from Abraham, Judah and David, until Joseph, the adoptive father of Jesus (Matthew 1:1-17)... writing for an audience of Jewish Christians, is eager to identify Jesus as a descendant of David, and thus the Messiah, the true heir of David’s kingdom. He also wants to identify Jesus as a descendant of Abraham, and thus one of the covenant people and heir of the promises... he lists the ancestors of Joseph, from the tribe of Judah, the legal father of Jesus .
Matthew lists 42 ancestors, Thus there were 14 generations in all from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the exile to Babylon, and 14 from the exile to the Christ (Mat.1:17).
There have been many attempts to see in Matthew’s use of three groups of fourteen, a symbolical meaning, some related to Daniel’s seventy weeks’ of years (14x5=70).
Most ancestors were holy and important people... but some of us would have been ashamed of ancestors who were criminals, murderers, prostitutes, adulterous... the gospels are very candid and honest in presenting the true ancestors of Jesus Christ.
He lists 5 women, something very strange in Jewish genealogies. One of them a pagan, Ruth. Another an adulterous, Bathsheba. Two prostitutes, Tamar and Rahah. And finally, the most blessed among women, the Mother of Jesus, Virgin Mary.
Six patriarchs who were promised that Messiah would be their seed: Abraham-Isaac-Jacob-Judah-David-Zerubbabel... but, out of the 6 patriarchs, 3 were definitely not the firstborn of their brothers: Jacob (Gen 25:25-26), Judah (Gen 29:31-35) and David (I Sam 16:11-13).
Rehab and Ruth and Tamar were not Jews, thy were gentile. Christ did have Gentile blood. Jesus was not a 100% Jew.
2. Luke 3:23-38: Lists the ancestors of Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus, also from the tribe of Judah. Jesus is the descendent of Abraham, Judah and David on both His father's line and his mother's line. (Luke 3:23-38).. Luke is writing for an audience that is predominantly Gentile, to the Greeks. So he takes Jesus’ genealogy all the way back to the beginning of Genesis: “the son of Adam, the son of God”.
Luke lists 74 ancestors, up to Adam.
http://biblia.com/jesusbible/genealogy-jesus.htmYou can find more info by googling genealogy of Jesus in bible.
Peace,
Diana