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Genealogy Of Jesus

In Matthew 1:1-15, the genealogy of Jesus is given. This is to fulfill the prophecy that the Messiah would come from the house of David. If Jesus was born of a virgin, that would mean that Joseph was not his biological father. How is it possible that Jesus could be both born of a virgin, and born of the house of David at the same time? The idea of the post is to take suggestions, I'm not in this for argument sake, but for biblical knowledge sake. Any and all of your input is highly regarded!

Jesus Genealogy

I think that there are two aspects to Jesus' genealogy. One, Mary was a descendent of David, so Jesus was a blood descendent. In fact, if I am right, Mary was of the "royal" family.

Secondly, the genealogy in Matthew outlines the "official" genealogy - the one that all the people at that time would have been aware of. Therefore, the people would recognize his relationship to the "royal" family through Joseph.

Genealogy Of Jesus Revealed Bible The

The number of generations is significant in Hebrew numerology. As modern readers, we don't get a lot of the allusions and associations in the Biblical style of writing, but to a Jew at that time, Matthew's summation would be perfectly obvious:

"So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen agenerations."

Seven is a number symbolizing perfection, and doubling it makes it more powerful. Three is a number symbolizing God or the Godhead, or Trintity if you prefer. Therefore, the numerology in Christ's genealogy indicated to anybody on the street in those days that Jesus Christ was in fact the Messiah. This fits with the entire book of Matthew, because he was specifically addressing the Jews.

Jesus Genealogy

Very good input so far. I do have one question, where do we read that Mary was of the line of David? Second, this numerology of the Bible interests me greatly, is there some place you would recommend that I could learn about this?

Jesus Genealogy

It could be possible that Matthew is recounting the Genealogy of Jesus through Joseph and Luke is recounting it through Mary. Just some thoughts. The Bible says that Mary was Elizabeth's cousin and Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron according to Luke and Aaron was from the tribe of Levi...therefore does it mean that Mary was also from the tribe of Levi?. I would like some insights on this. By the other hand, I know that there was a jewish custom (correct me if I am wrong) that a man who was going to get married would choose someone from his own tribe...in this case David's lineage. Any thoughts?.

Genealogy Of Jesus

Actually, I believe that arranged marriages were generally more customary, although I am not sure that they were required. Of course, if parents are getting together to make matches for their children, they would naturally trust and associate most closely with those of their own tribe - the extended family. Therefore, most marriages would happen within the tribe. It may also be that LDS is spot on - I'm just not sure how common it was or how strictly it was enforced.

Konquererz, I don't actually have a good, concise book on the significance of numbers in the Hebrew culture. I will do some research and get back to you.

One more point regarding the importance of scriptural genealogy, including this example in Matthew, is that the authority of priesthood and patriarchy has always been passed down from father to son. At the point of Moses' Sinai experience, the higher priesthood authority and the laws associated therewith were taken from the people by the Lord, and that authority was subsequently given only to those few chosen by the Lord as spiritual leaders among the people. However, the priesthood of Aaron continued, conferred upon the posterity of Levi. The other tribes had received specific blessings and prophecies pertaining to them from the Lord through Jacob (Israel), so tribal individuality would be important to these people - family is a big part of identity.

Since Christ was not a Levite, his lineage does not necessarily indicate priesthood so much as family position. I have heard (but have no convenient confirming resource to corroborate) that Joseph (who took the role of father, although he was not in the biological sense) would have been the rightful king over all Israel if they had not been in bondage. Therefore, were it not for the Romans, Jesus would have been a rightful heir to the political throne as the apparent firstborn son of Joseph. Since Joseph most likely died before Jesus (hence the exchange at Golgotha involving Peter caring for Mary), he would actually have inherited the right to the throne of Israel before his mortal death. He was king of kings, not only in the sense that he is a spiritual ruler over all the royalty of the earth, but also in the sense that he was literally a rightful heir to an earthly throne, and he came from a lineage of kings.

Genealogy Jesus

Thats where I get really confused. If Jesus was indeed of virgin birth, then he was not a direct descendant of King David. Whether he was an adopted heir of Joseph or not, he still would not be of Davids bloodline. If he was not born of virgin birth, then he would have been of Davids bloodline, and would have full filled the prophecy of Messiah. But taking the scripture as it is, you cannot have both a virgin birth and descendant of David. In order to accept that, I must reason with information that is not in the scriptures themselves. In Matthew and John, there are sections in which it says that the oldest and most reliable manuscripts do not have `listed section` in the book. This being known that some books have indeed been added to, I think it is not out of the realm of possibility to say that someone added either a virgin birth or the geneology of Jesus to the Bible. Two scenarios would fit.

The church, realizing that they worship Jesus as God, find that something else is needed to solidify this claim, and add the virgin birth to re-enforce the claim of Jesus Godhood.

Scenario two. While Jesus was born of a virgin birth and is considered God, something else is needed to get the Jews to believe. This is an easy task, simply add Jesus into the geneology of King David, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Messiah, thus proving to the Jews that he was indeed Messiah as prophesied and God in the Flesh through virgin birth.

While these may not be true, I cant prove or disprove them. As with all theories, they are just that, theories. I began studying the geneology of Jesus from a not biased prospective. I made no assumptions about his being God or a virgin birth, I simply wanted to know. I don't think that it is possible that Jesus was both born of a virgin and of the line of David, the concept doesn't fit together to make a logical conceptual picture. In other words, I cant fit a square block into a round hole no matter how hard I try. And I cant reason through this no matter how hard I try.

Genealogy Jesus The Bible Revealed

Some scholars believe (and the assumption is not unreasonable) that Joseph and Mary were possibly cousins or other fairly close relatives. Thus they would have shared most of their genealogy. Although Jesus was not the literal son of Joseph, he was essentially adopted as his firstborn son, and therefore would still have claim to Joseph's birthright. The record of the genealogy of Jesus does not necessarily preclude the idea that Joseph was not his literal father. The tradition of passing authority from father to son was a stronger cultural and spiritual necessity to the ancient Jews than we fully comprehend in our society of casual fatherlessness. Therefore, since Matthew was writing to convince the Jews of the divinity of Christ, he knew that the lineage of family authority was a significant factor in demonstrating who he is.