Advent Foretold Day 14: The Geneology of Jesus Through His Legal Father

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.[Gal 4:4 NASB] 

In order to fulfill the promise for Jesus to redeem us, He had to enter His own creation having been born under the Law. Being born under the Law would encompass both the spiritual and physical fulfillment.  Today we will look at a part of the physical fulfillment.

Prophecy foretold that the Redeemer would come in the flesh. He would be born of a virgin. He would have a human mother, Mary, and God was His Father. And yet, He was promised to be a Son of David. He was to fulfill the everlasting covenant God made with David about his descendant who would come after him and sit on the throne forever. Jesus would need to be of the bloodline of David, and have a legal, human father from the line of David.... 


God chose Joseph to be this man. Think about what a special guy he must have been. And yet, here is a man who was born with such a special purpose, but he is not even mentioned until it is time for him to take his active role in the most AMAZING event in history: the entrance of the LIVING GOD coming as a helpless baby!! The reality of Joseph's role is special in so many ways. Joseph was going to be by Mary's side all those months as she carried the Messiah of the world. He would be Mary’s birthing coach, for goodness sake! And he wasn’t surprised when it was a boy!! We are so impressed with sonograms and technology today! Mary and Joseph didn’t need it! They had each received a SON-o-gram from the angel Gabriel!!  I am really looking forward to meeting Joseph when I get to heaven. I want to know what it was like to tell the Son of God to go and get His sandals on for synagogue, or to chew with His mouth closed! Talk about intimidating! 

The records for the genealogies of Israel and the line of David were kept in the Temple until they were destroyed along with the Temple in 70 AD (another detail pointing to the fact the Messiah had to have come before that time - but, we will save that conversation for another time). The Jews were anxiously waiting for the fulfillment of God's promise to send the Messiah through the line of David.

In the Gospels, you read of people referring to Jesus as "son of David." This is because they all knew Him to be Joseph's legal son, and they knew Joseph was of the royal line of David. Don't miss this when you spend time in the Gospels. The people of Israel may have been under the oppression of different kingdoms for hundreds of years by this time, but they always knew exactly who the next person sitting on King David's throne should be. The title Son of David was their way of giving a nod to the rightful heir to the throne without getting in trouble with their Roman occupiers.

Joseph was descended from King David, but when you look at the genealogies given in Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38 something does not add up. They are the same up to a point, but then each one goes through a different son of David. Matthew goes through David’s son, Solomon. Luke goes through David’s son, Nathan. The problem with these lists is both genealogies have Joseph listed. Don't worry, this is NOT an error or contradiction in the Word of God. This is PERFECT planning by our God. Are you ready?!

The Matthew account is presenting Jesus’ claim to the throne of David through Joseph as His legal father. But here we hit a bit of a snag with regards to Joseph’s bloodline. In the Old Testamant, there is a wicked descendant of King David’s by the name of King Jeconiah, also known in the Bible as Coniah or Jehoiakhin. He was so evil and idolatrous God had this to say:

  “Thus says the LORD, 'Write this man down childless, A man who will not prosper in his days; For no man of his descendants will prosper sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah.'"” Jeremiah 22:30 NASB

In other words, God has just put a blood curse on the royal blood line that comes down from King Jeconiah to Joseph. He promised no one of Jechoniah's bloodline would sit on David's throne. You might think God shot Himself in the foot with this one, but wait, there’s more. Are you surprised? Of course not! It’s God! He loves to keep things interesting!

  Hundreds of years before the blood curse being put on King Jeconiah, there is an obscure event recorded in the book of Numbers. This event took place in the time of Moses, after the Exodus from Egypt. You can read the account of the daughters of Zelophehad in Numbers 26:33, 27:7, but I will try my best to summarize it here. There was a man named Zelophehad. He had five daughters, but he had no sons to inherit. The daughters of Zelophehad came before Moses, the priest, the princes, and the entire congregation to state their case. Their father had died in the wilderness, but having no sons, his name would die with him. The girls asked Moses to give them a hereditary possession among their father’s brothers. Moses inquires of God, and God tells him the daughters were correct to request this. In order to inherit, they would marry within their own tribe. This would ensure the inheritance was kept within their family. The daughter would then be entitled to inherit as if she were a son of her father. 

With that in mind, let’s get back to the genealogy of Jesus. The genealogy in the Gospel of Luke shows Jesus has a claim to the throne of David both legally and by bloodline. 

 “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….” Luke 3:23 

The actual rendering of the original text is “reckoned as by law”. In other words, Joseph was the son by law of Heli. This would be done because Heli had no sons, only daughters. Joseph was his son "by law," so he could inherit from Heli by law, thus keeping Heli's inheritance for Mary and her descendants. The genealogy given in Luke is actually Mary's line, but with Joseph being legally adopted by her father according to the law of the Daughters of Zelophehad. 

Jesus was descended from King David and heir to the throne by law and by blood. According to the law, Jesus had a legal right to the throne of David through His adopted father Joseph. According to the law, He was Joseph's son. Jesus had the legal right to the throne as Joseph's son, but without the blood curse of Jeconiah.  Jesus was the legal heir to the throne of David because of Joseph being reckoned by law to be Heli's son. Jesus had the bloodline to the throne of David through His mother Mary who was descended from King David. The Messiah was of the line of King David, just as prophecy had foretold. The Messiah was the rightful heir to the throne of David, just as God had promised. How awesome is our God?! There is not one single detail He does not take care of! 


There is another beautiful picture for us in this genealogy of the Messiah. It is of us, unable to inherit or be considered sons and daughters because of the curse of sin. It is the picture of a Father being willing to adopt us in order that we might be considered his children and joint heirs with His Son. We only need to ask. This is the ultimate gift!!

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" [Rom 8:15 NASB]


 I think about the planning that goes on at my house for Christmas. I think of the looks I will see on the faces of my kids when they open the gifts we have so lovingly chosen for them. Then I stop and think of the enormity of God’s love for us and the planning He did with regards to every single detail of sending His gift to us on that first CHRIST-mas. I stop and think of how He so lovingly sent HIS precious, beloved, only begotten Son into this world to become a sin offering for us, so that we might have eternal life and be in fellowship with Him for eternity. He waits to see the look on our faces when we choose to accept the GIFT. He is heartbroken when it is rejected by anyone. I am so completely humbled and in love with our Lord!!! Merry CHRIST-mas!! I pray the Lord blesses each of you reading this.