The Problem.
And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ [In Greek ‘Christ’ but in Hebrew ‘Messiah’].
Luke 3:23
And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,
So there’s the problem…. Is Joseph the son of Jacob as says Matthew 1:16 or the son of Heli as recorded in Luke 3:23? I mean... come on, it’s either one or the other… Isn’t it? The genealogy of the Messiah is important for he who would claim such a title would have to be able to prove that he was a descendant of King David, even the unbelieving Jews knew that much…
42 - Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”
43 - So there was a division among the people over him.
Not only did all Israel know that their scriptures said that their Messiah was to spring from the line of David, but they also knew that when He did come… He would sit as a Jewish King on the throne of King David. Jesus’ apostles knew this too…
So when they had come together [The Apostles], they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?
This had been prophesied of the Messiah in the Book of Isaiah…
6 - For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 - Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
The above text saves me from having to quote numerous individual scriptural references from all over the Bible, for within it we see many confirmations, such as…
- Their Messiah is God.
- Their Messiah is eternal.
- Their Messiah will sit on the throne of King David.
- Their Messiah’s Kingdom will be an eternal Kingdom.
That King David’s throne would be established forever was promised to David by God through the prophet Nathan, this way back in the days David reigned in Israel.
12 - When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers [when David dies], I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. [That’ll be King David’s Son, Solomon]
13 - He shall build a house [Solomon’s Temple] for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. [Meaning David’s… Forever!!]
14 - I will be to him [King Solomon] a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, [God will not take away his Kingdom as it was eternal but, would punish him when he rebelled]
15 - but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul [King Saul before him God deposed], whom I put away from before you. [He died]
16 - And your house [The line of King David] and your kingdom [His throne and authority] shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.”
And God keeps His Word.
“My covenant I will not break nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me; It shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky”
OK, so the good news is that even though when Jesus came as prophesied the Jews rejected Him… His promises still stand. For we can say with confidence that Jesus has become ‘The King of the Jews’ just as Scripture foretold…
37 - As he was drawing near, already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen,
38 - saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 - And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”
40 - He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
Though Christ be King, He is still yet to reign as King on Earth, yet when He does return soon, He will set up a Kingdom that shall never end… With Him seated on the throne of David.
The cursed line.
But why the discrepancy between the two genealogies? Both of which set out to authenticate Jesus as Messiah. The reason for apparent contradiction is because of a curse God spoke over one of the Kings of Israel! A direct descendant of David and more importantly, an ancestor King David and Jesus!
Thus says the Lord, Write this man down as childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; for none of his descendants shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah”
The King that received this curse was King Coniah/Jechonias mentioned in Matthew’s genealogy (verses 11-12), and be careful to note the exact phrase of the curse… ‘for none of his descendants shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David’. Not ‘none of his descendants shall prosper but rather ‘none who sit on the throne of David’! What a disaster, for if Jesus should inherit that bloodline… begin a direct descendant of Coniah/Jechonias Him and the throne being eternal He should inherit an eternally cursed Kingdom!
But don’t panic! God had a plan from the beginning, that is why He alone can say…
21 - Declare and present your case;
let them take counsel together!
Who told this long ago?
Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the Lord?
And there is no other god besides me,
a righteous God and a Saviour;
there is none besides me.
22 - “Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
The Kingship was only passed down the male line as was the inheritance, sorry ladies but that may possibly be because when Adam, who once incorporated all of Mankind… had made from his own flesh Eve, though much of the qualities of the original Adam was shared between them both he retained the authority, whilst she gained many other of Adam’s original which he now lacked. Thus when a man and women are married they are again united as one flesh, as was Adam from the beginning, though let the God fearing husband love his wife but be allowed to exercise his God given authority.
So Matthew who ministered mainly to the Jews gave them a genealogy directly from David’s first son Solomon straight to Joseph, this to persuade them that Jesus could legally qualify as a contender for the Messiahship. However, we now know that lineage had been cursed and God forbid that Jesus should claim His Messiahship via that cursed lineage.
But God hinted at something very different regarding the lineage I Christ, when spoke of Christ’s being the seed, not of a male but of a women!
And I will put enmity between thee [Satan] and the woman [Mary],
and between thy seed and her seed;
it shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his heel.
And if we didn’t quite get that, God made it very clear that the Messiah would have no Earthly father to pass on his seed when He said…
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Matthew 1:22-23
22 - All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: [Isaiah 7:14]
23 - “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel” which means, God with us.
Though some of the Jews hinted at Jesus being the illegitimate son of Joseph, suggesting she had previously had sex with another man whilst engaged to Joseph, knowing full well that Mary had been pregnant before she and Joseph had consummated their marriage…
…They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.”
However, Jesus knew full well who His Father when rebuked for lingering behind in the Temple said to His Mother and Step Father…
48 - When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
49 - “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?
50 - But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
The Cure.
So how was God going to get around this curse He had placed on the male line of David? Well if Jesus hadn’t received His inheritance via the cursed line recorded in Matthew ending in Joseph He must have received via His Mother Mary, but how is this possible for women did not nor could not hold such an inheritance… Could they?
However we read that way back in the days of Moses God made an exception for any family that for whatever reason had no male heir, else their family name would perish. For when the children of Israel were allotting the land for an inheritance to the tribes of Israel one family having lost all their male heirs brought their complaint before Moses. These were the children of Zelophehad all daughters. Seeing that they had suffered with the children of Israel to gain such an inheritance they saw that their family name would perish having no male descendants. Moses who brought their case before the Lord.
5 - And Moses brought their cause before the LORD.
6 - AND THE LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
7 - The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’ brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.
However they could only carry the inheritance for scripture informs us that it couldn’t be enjoyed until they were married.
6 - This is what the Lord commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, ‘Let them marry whom they think best, only they shall marry within the clan of the tribe of their father.
7 - The inheritance of the people of Israel shall not be transferred from one tribe to another, for every one of the people of Israel shall hold on to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.
If they should have married outside of their tribe the inheritance would have left the tribe with the daughters because it would have found it’s fulfilment in the husband and not the wife, thus the inheritance was carried by the women but only became effectual in the man who took on the family name of the women. God didn’t want the inheritance to leave the tribe of Judah therefore He commanded that any women who carried such an inheritance, marry only within the tribe from where they belonged.
So… there we have it, if we should follow Luke’s genealogy from King David to Jesus, the line doesn’t pass through David’s first surviving son Solomon, whose line God had cursed from King Coniah/Jeconiah onwards, but through King David’s second son Nathan. In doing so it bypassed the curse. For following Nathan’s blood avoiding cursed Conian we come to Heli, Mary’s Father, of who Scripture says nothing of him having any sons. Thus as the daughters of Zelophehad before Mary, she could qualify to carry the inheritance and pass onto her son when married. For Joseph be came Heli’s ‘Son… IN Law’.
And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,
Joseph was also of the tribe of Judah, as was Mary which enabling her to pass on the ‘un-cursed’ inheritance to her Husband who now in turn passed on to her son Jesus, not the cursed inheritance recorded in Matthew but the blessed found in Luke.
Now, if we should read again the two seemingly conflicting verses, they should make complete sense…
And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. [The cursed line through the male]
And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,
[The blessed line through the ‘seed of the Women.]