Bible Dictionaries
Heli

Holman Bible Dictionary

(hee' lehz) Hebrew personal name meaning, “high.” The son of Matthat and father of Joseph, Jesus' earthly father (Luke 3:23-24 ). His relationship to Jesus is variously explained by Bible students in light of Matthew 1:16 which makes Joseph's father to be Jacob. He has been seen as the father of Joseph, a more remote ancestor of Joseph, or an ancestor of Mary. Either Jacob and Heli are variant names of the same person, “son of” means “descendant of” as in other genealogies, or Luke preserved the genealogy of Mary rather than of Joseph. A totally satisfactory answer to the question has not been found. The name probably represents a Greek form of the Hebrew Eli (NAS).