Of The House and Line of David

No. 108 by Tim Wildeboer

This is the first article in the series by a guest writer. Tim Wildeboer, who holds a Masters in Divinity, presented this article to me, which I thought fit well alongside some of the ideas I’ve written about in my “A Changing Frame of Reference” series.

When the genealogies of Jesus found in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 are studied and compared there appears to be discrepancies in who the ancestors actually are. However, through the careful study of a couple of obscure Old Testament passages, the issues disappear, and God’s perfect plan of redemption is found.

What careful study of the Old Testament with the New Testament reveals is that Matthew’s genealogy is of Joseph while the genealogy in Luke is actually that of Mary. This understanding of these genealogies is God’s proof that Jesus has every right— legally and genealogically (bloodline)—to one day sit forever on the Throne of David as King David’s rightful heir.

In order to understand this and see how God’s design for redemption spans through the pages of history requires a look at two arcane, but incredibly significant Old Testament stories.

The Daughters of Zelophehad

The first of these is commonly known as the Daughters of Zelophehad found in Numbers 27:1-11 and expanded upon in Numbers 36. Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah, the five daughters of Zelophehad, approach Moses and Eleazer with a problem. Their father, who was a faithful follower of God, had died and left only daughters. There were no male heirs to carry on his name. These five daughters were saddened that their father, whom they obviously must have loved, would not have his name carry on into the promised land.

Moses and Eleazer did not consider this to be a trivial problem since Moses brought this very issue before the Lord (Num 27:5). Even the Lord did not consider this to be a small affair for the Lord responded to Moses and affirmed that the five daughters of Zelophehad would have their father’s inheritance transferred to them. In fact, the Lord even made a general rule for the burgeoning nation of Israel, “If a man dies and has no son, then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter” (v8).

This issue is expanded upon in Numbers 36 where once again the Lord commands the people in connection to this new rule. It was decreed by the Lord that the Daughters had to marry within the tribe as a condition for receiving their inheritance so that the inheritance would not be transferred outside of the tribe. This was commanded not just for this specific situation, but for all who would, in their present or their future, take advantage of this amendment to the patriarchal inheritance laws.

In Joshua 17 we read about how these loving Daughters do inherit just as the Lord commanded through Moses. The Israelites, in the dividing of their newly conquered land, obeyed God’s commands when it came to giving land to women; something unheard of in those patriarchal times. These incidents with the Daughters of Zelophehad are an enigmatic story that appears to only present background for a uniquely progressively woman’s rights law for the new nation of Israel. But actually, it is so much more and key to who Jesus truly is.

The Cutting Off of Jeconiah

The second Old Testament story that factors in here is found in Jeremiah 22:28-30—three short verses that surely created celebration in the ranks of Satan. It was here that God Himself declared a punishment—in fact, what would almost read as a curse —on the king named Jeconiah (Coniah). God declared of Jeconiah, “Write this man childless, a man shall not succeed his days” (v30a). In other words, Jeconiah would not have children, especially male children.

Though this declaration would be devastating for any man and/or woman, it was especially impactful for Jeconiah when the rest of the verse is considered: “For none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah” (v30b). God was putting an end to an evil king’s line, but in so doing He also put an end to the royal line of succession for the King of Israel. The royal line that began with King David and, as God promised to him (2 Samuel 7:13), was to eventually have an heir that would have the throne established forever. But here, at the putting to death of Jeconiah that all came to an earth-shattering halt. God Himself called what appeared to be an end to this promise with His own words to Jeconiah, “None of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah” (v30). It would appear to be impossible to have an heir from the royal bloodline ruling forever if, according to God’s declaration, no male offspring will ever sit on the throne.

Surely Satan and all those he commands celebrated at that moment! God declared the royal line at an end. There would assuredly be no heir who would have a throne established forever! Did God make a mistake? Did God not realize what He had done? Had Satan just won the war even though there were battles yet to come? Had God doomed Himself to fail to keep His own promise and prophecy?

God’s Masterful Long Game

No. In fact, from a human standpoint it is possible to see God turn to the angels at His side and wink and say, “Now watch this!” For God had a plan; a perfect design! He always has a design and it is always good and always right. God plays the long game because He knows the stakes and He wants all that is His. He laid the groundwork long before while Israel was wandering in the wilderness in Numbers 27 and again in the lifetime of King David. Two lifetimes that factor into Luke’s genealogy of Jesus.

Consider this: the Bible doesn’t clearly say in the New Testament, but in light of the five daughters’ story out of Numbers it can be confidently stated that Heli, the father of Mary had no sons. It is also most likely that Heli had passed away, leaving his family without male heirs. If Heli had passed away, without having had sons, then that would make Mary, and any sisters she might have, his heirs. The inheritance would have passed to her by the power of the law of the Torah.

This is possibly borne out by the very fact that in Luke 3:23 we read that Joseph was the son (translate: as was supposed) of Heli. The very word used here to describe Joseph’s relationship to Heli can be translated “to regard or acknowledge as custom, to have and hold as customary, hence, generally, to assume, to suppose.” Essentially it was an “adoption” of sorts of Joseph as a son because he married Heli’s daughter.¹ This then resolves the controversy about how Joseph’s father here is named Heli, but in Matthew is named Jacob (Matthew 1:16). They were two distinct men, fathers of two distinct families. Joseph was the son of both; one by marriage and one by birth. We still use this convention today. When a man and woman marry, the parents of each become the “father-in-law” and the “mother-in-law” of the child that has married into the family. The children are “acknowledged” as children of both families and the parents of both families are “acknowledged” as parents of both children.

Now, of itself this would not have been significant, but Mary was not just another young woman of Israel. Luke gives us this clue in verse 31 of his genealogy of Jesus (Luke 3:31). It is here that he states “… the son of Nathan, the son of David.” This David is King David, the very one to whom God promised there would be an heir on the throne forever. This is the same ancestral lineage, the same bloodline that flowed through the veins of Jeconiah in the time of the Babylonian captivity when God cursed him and ensured that no male heir of Jeconiah would sit on the throne of David.

But notice that Luke does not mention Solomon as the son of David that Mary’s line ultimately stemmed from, but another son; Nathan. This is not a mistake, but a salvation! For though God cursed the royal line, He did not curse all the lines of David. Mary surely was an heir of David, just not through the royal line, but an heir nonetheless, a child of David, a blood carrier of the privileged ancestral line of King David. She was one of the line of David.²

And who did she marry? Because of the law in the Torah regarding the Daughters of Zelophehad, Mary has to marry within the tribe to ensure her inheritance. She married Joseph, a royal heir of David. A man whose ancestors had a valid claim to the throne of David because he descended from Solomon – the royal heir.³ We see this claim validated in Matthew’s genealogy. This is the royal genealogy, the line of Joseph the father. This genealogy would have been well documented in that day since the Jews were still expecting an heir of David to sit on the throne in Jerusalem, despite the events of Jeremiah 22. It was their future hope! However, because of the word of God to Jeconiah, there would NEVER be another from this royal bloodline, the bloodline of Joseph, to sit on that throne. When God says never, He means never! But when God says there will be an heir who sits on the throne forever, He also means there will be an heir who sits on the throne forever!!

We know from the Gospels that Joseph and Mary were betrothed to be married when the angel came to give the announcement to Mary about being chosen to give birth to the Messiah—the forever King of Israel. We know that, although she was betrothed, Mary was still a virgin when she became pregnant with her Son. She was still a virgin when she gave birth to her Son because the Bible tells us this (Matthew 1:25). Joseph, though claiming the child as his own (Matthew 1:24-25), was never the father of that Child. The Child was both God and man, whose mother, Mary, was of the line of David, but not of the royal house. Yet, by Joseph’s obedience to God’s command to “…take Mary as your wife…” (Matthew 1:20) he made the boy Jesus an heir to the royal house.

It is here that it is possible to see the look of defeat on Satan’s face. What appeared to be a victory became a defeat because God plays the long game with the design of the redemption story. Jesus, born of God and born of man, was of the line of David in blood but never condemned by the curse (Mary’s genealogy). Yet, through the faithful actions of His earthly father, Joseph, He became a child of the royal house of David (Joseph’s genealogy) and will one day take the throne of His father David and sit on it forever.

Two obscure stories in the Old Testament combined with the first two genealogies in the New Testament that trace the humanity of Jesus, stitch together to make an eternal difference.⁴ God’s hand directs the entire story of the Bible and discovering this interwovenness of God’s perfect design is an opportunity to grow in faith.

1 - There is a link here to the Kinsmen Redeemer. Just as the son of Ruth and Boaz “becomes” the son of Naomi so too Joseph, through marriage becomes, or is acknowledged as is customary, to be the son of Heli. This is also much like Joseph himself claiming that Jesus was his son, even though he was not the father. This would have been acceptable to him since he had experienced the same with the house of Heli.

2 - The reason for the importance that Israel placed on genealogies becomes evident when the nuances of this connection are realized.

3 - This distinction that Luke’s genealogy is that of Mary and Matthew’s is Joseph’s removes the confusion that Joseph’s line stemmed from both Solomon and Nathan, or that maybe there was a typo or copyist’s mistake. Two separate genealogies of two separate family lines, not one. Part of God’s plan all along.

4 - The third genealogy, that of John, is not of Jesus’ humanity, but of His divinity.