Prophecies of Messiah:
in Joseph and Mary
The Ancestries of Joseph and Mary
When looking at the ancestry of Messiah, there are many important aspects that we are able to examine. I would like to examine the details of His fulfilling the prophecy of being a descendant of King David. This is a surprisingly complicated matter and much confusion occurs because of not understanding the purpose of the two lineages of Messiah given in the books of Matthew and Luke. When we see the picture of what is happening with Yahshuah's parents, Yosef and Miriam, and from whom they descend, a lot of themes come together which will help us better understand all of the prophecies, promises, and types that contribute to this part of His ancestry.
The text source for this message comes primarily from Matthew chapter 1 and also Luke chapter 3. Besides working with a standard english translation, I will also be cross-referencing the Aramaic Peshitta, the Shem-Tov Hebrew Matthew, and the Greek Septuagint. For this portion of the message, you should have a handout listing the geneologies from Matthew and Luke side by side.
Comparing Matthew and Luke
The two lineages given in Matthew and Luke were each with a different purpose. It is generally regarded that Matthew was writing to the Jewish people, especially to those in or near Jerusalem. Because of this, Matthew's lineage focuses on showing how Yahshuah would fulfill the promises of being a King of Israel through the royal lineage of King David. This would come to Him through his adoptive father Joseph. Matthew continues the lineage back to Abraham which would also show how Yahshuah would answer the covenant promises and prophecies of being the Chosen One that was promised to all of Israel.
On the other hand, Luke was writing to the Hellenists which were the Greek Jews and the Gentiles that were becoming believers. For this reason, he took the ancestry not just to David or to Abraham, but all the way back to Adam to show that Messiah would fulfill all the prophecies given throughout all the history of mankind and for mankind. This shows the actual blood lineage that one can trace from Mary to King David, on back to Abraham, and on back to Adam.
On the surface. by just that information, we can see that by both parents, Yahshuah is considered David's son either by birth or by adoption. But there is much more going on in the background of His ancestry that shows why the ancestries of these two individuals are so important.
The Kingly Inheritance
The first thing I would like to look at is slightly theoretical because of limited source information, but it may provide an understanding of why Joseph and Mary were getting married. If we look at Mat 1:16 in the Aramaic Peshitta, it says "And Jacob begat Joseph the protectorate of Mary,". Instead of simply saying husband, the word used to describe Joseph is 'protectorate'. This has a meaning much more like that of a 'kinsman redeemer' than it does simply a husband or a man. One can think back to the example of Boaz and Ruth to get one example of a kinsman redeemer relationship. We do not know the exact circumstances of this couple but, by all accounts, it appears that Yosef was probably an older man and Miriam was a young virgin. If there was a reason that Miriam had to marry within her own tribe, such as with the inheritance laws, or had need of being redeemed by a close family member
then that brings an interesting point to the adoption of Yahshuah. A Kinsman redeemer had the responsiblity of raising up the first child for another person even including the rights of the firstborn. Yosef was in the position of raising a firstborn son who was genetically not his own but who would receive the firstborn right of the inheritance to the throne.
Now there is an important reason that the royal lineage had to go to Messiah by a means other than genetically having a birth mother come from Solomon's line. In the chart listing the geneology of Matthew, we see that the individuals under king David is a list of the Kings of Judah. In this list I want to focus on number ?? which is Jeconiah. It was under Jeconiah that the Nation of Judah want into the captivity of Babylon. In Jer 22:24-30 we read of how displeased the Almighty is with Jeconiah and in Jer 22:30 we read "Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah." This is a curse from the Almighty stating that none of Jeconiah's children will succeed on the throne of David. This further means that if the Messiah were to be born in Jeconiah's line with a geneological
right to the throne He would not succeed. This is why Joseph could not be the physical father of Yahshuah. Yet it was important for Messiah to be the son of someone who had the right to the throne. In being adopted by Yosef, Yahshuah was able to receive the kingly inheritance without having the curse that came from Jeconiah.
Building a House
In Luke's ancestry of Miriam we find that her geneology goes back to David through his son Nathan rather than through Solomon. As we can see in 1 Chr 3:5, Nathan is also a Child of David and Bathsheba and is therefore a brother to King Solomon. There is an interesting double meaning and prophecy to be found regarding Nathan's line. In 1 Ki 5:5 we read "And, behold, I purpose to build an house unto the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son, whom I give upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name." King Solomon did accomplish this act in building of the physical Temple.
However, a 'house' can also be representative of all that belongs to person including both property and descendants. This is the larger meaning hidden in this passage when we look at the Hebrew wording. The verb commonly translated as "give", "set upon" or "appoint" is Natan in the Hebrew and comes from the same word which we translate as Nathan. The meaning of Nathan's name is 'gift'. If we read this word as a noun instead of a verb we would ready ' ... they son, Nathan, thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto My name". It would not be through his son Solomon, but through his son Nathan that the Messiah would come and build up the spiritual house.
Question and Answer
Whose Ancestry Many have been confused by the two seperate ancestral lists of Messiah given in the Books of Matthew and Luke. Both ancestries seem to suggest that they are of Joseph, but they list different sets of names. It has been asked which ancestry belongs to Joseph and further it has sometimes been asked if one of these geneologies are wrong. It can be shown that Joseph's ancestry is given in Matthew, Mary's ancestry is shown to be in Luke, and Messiah Yahshuah's ancestry is indeed given in both.
The central point of the confusion stems from the fact that in traditional Jewish geneologies, the ancestry is given through the man's name, even if it is for the woman's ancestry. Let us read Mat 1:16 "And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ." In Matthew's geneology we continuously have the term 'begat' in relation the child of the next generation. This means this is the literal child of the person. Thus we can state that Joseph was the physical son of Jacob. We do not have this same strength of wording in the passage from Luke. In Luk 3:23 we read "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,". We have further evidence from Talmudic sources. It is written in both the Jerusalem Talmud, in Hagai 2:4 and Sanhedrin 23:3, and the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 44:2, that Eli is the father of Mary.
We also have a record of the virgin birth found in both of these passages. In Mat 1:16 the phrase 'of whom' is found to be written in the feminine singular form in Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. All three agree that the child was of Mary but not of Joseph. In Luke 3:23 we have the phrase '(as was supposed)' to suggest what was commonly thought but misunderstood. It continues then to show that he was not Joseph's son by the exclusion of the prefix 'ha' in the aramaic. This prefis shows ownership and is on every one of the generations except of Messiah to Joseph.
Luke's Extra Generation Within Luke's geneology, there is an extra 'Cainan' added to the list after number 12 Arpachshad and before 13 Shelach. This name and person is not found anywhere in the Hebrew Scriptures. The source of this is the Greek Septuagint translation. Throughout his book, Luke seems to quote from the Septuagint and within the Septuagint we do see this 'extra' generation listed and it is most likely an error in the translation.
Matthew's 14 Generations In Matthew 1:17 we read about there being 14 generations from Abraham to David, from David to Babylon, and from Babylon to Messiah. However, the counting of the names given do not add up to three sets of 14. Furthermore, in Matthews geneological list there are names that are omitted. Three of these are the Kings of Judah Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah. It also seems likely other names were omitted as each of the 14 generations had to cover 1000 years, 400 years, and 600 years respectively all in 15 generations less than what is found in Mary's lineage in the book of Luke.
Several attempts have been made to reconcile this information, but none have been clear or successful. At this time, what Matthew was trying to do seems unclear. Some suggest that a scribal error in copying may exist in that passage of the text.
Todd Elder is a believer in Messiah who wants to help people understand Scripture and know the message of Salvation. For more information from the Prophecy of the Messiah series, please visit my website http://www.exploringsalvation.info and look under 'Messiah'.
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