Hello all,

I have been somewhat puzzled by Christ's genealogy as it appears in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus is said generally said to be a descendant of the House of David. Yet, in Matthew I: 1-17, the generation begins with Abram to David to Joseph, the husband of Mary. If Jesus was born from the Virgin through the Holy Ghost, how, then, can He be the heir of David? Is Mary also affiliated with David?

Thank you for your answers!

Laellius.

In Jewish history ancenstors do not have to be blood relatives. Even an adopted son belonged to the genealogical house of the foster father.

Both Joseph and Mary are associated with the the house of David through two sides from Zerubabbel' Joseph's from Abiud, as recorded in your Matthew passage, and Mary through Rhesa as recorded in Luke chapter 3. The indication that Luke's record is according to nature, thus giving Mary's line, is that that the word for "begot" is not given in the genealogy he records, but only the genitive is used, leaving in a couple of salient cases an opening for the term to not mean necessarily direct lineal descent. Thus in Luke, Joseph can be "of Eli" and at the same time "begotten of Jacob" as in Matthew by being son-in-law of Eli.

Of course this leaves the possibility open that Rhesa is son-in-law of Zerubabbel, and it certainly is not the case that Nathan )per Luke) is anything but a lawful as well as natural son begotten of David as was Solomon (per Matthew), but certainly, Adam is not begotten of God (Luke).

richard