Why do they say Jesus was from the line of David when Joseph wasn't his father?

Question

Are they counting his lineage on the part of Mary?

Answer 1

The legal title to David's throne comes from his stepfather, Joseph, and his physical lineage to David comes from his mother Mary.

If Jesus had been a biological descendent of Israel's last king, then he would, ironically, be unable to sit on David's throne, because God put a curse on King Jeconiah, saying that none of his "seed' (biological descendents) would sit on David's throne (Jeconiah was in Joseph's bloodline, but not in Mary's). So Jesus can inheret the title to the throne as his stepfather's heir, but Jesus avoids inherenting the curse by what some would consider to be a technicality (you know that Jesus was born of a virgin for a reason).

Answer 2

Jesus’ lineage is the first evidence the Christian Greek Scriptures give in support of his Messiahship. The Bible foretold that the Messiah would come from the family line of King David. (Psalm 132:11, 12; Isaiah 11:1, 10) Matthew’s Gospel begins: “The book of the history of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham.” Matthew backs up this bold claim by tracing Jesus’ descent through the line of his adoptive father, Joseph. (Matthew 1:1-16) Luke’s Gospel traces Jesus’ lineage through his natural mother, Mary, back through David and Abraham to Adam. (Luke 3:23-38) Thus the Gospel writers thoroughly document their claim that Jesus was an heir of David, both in a legal and in a natural sense.

Even the most skeptical opponent of Jesus’ Messiahship cannot deny Jesus’ claim to be a son of David. Why? There are two reasons. One, that claim was widely repeated in Jerusalem for decades before the city was destroyed in 70 C.E. (Compare Matthew 21:9; Acts 4:27; 5:27, 28.) If the claim was false, any of Jesus’ opponents—and he had many—could have proved Jesus a fraud simply by checking his lineage in the genealogies in the public archives. But history has no record of anyone challenging Jesus’ descent from King David. Evidently, the claim was unassailable. No doubt Matthew and Luke copied the salient names for their accounts directly from the public records.

Second, sources outside the Bible confirm the general acceptance of Jesus’ lineage. For instance, the Talmud records a fourth-century rabbi as making a scurrilous attack on Mary, the mother of Jesus, for ‘playing the harlot with carpenters’; but the same passage concedes that “she was the descendant of princes and rulers.” An earlier example is the second-century historian Hegesippus. He related that when the Roman Caesar Domitian wanted to exterminate any descendants of David, some enemies of the early Christians denounced the grandsons of Jude, Jesus’ half brother, “as being of the family of David.” If Jude was a known descendant of David, was not Jesus as well? Undeniably!—Galatians 1:19; Jude 1.

Answer 3

The lineage can be traced from both parents.

The genealogy in Luke chapter 3 gives Jesus' lineage through His mother, Mary. Jesus is a descendant of David, by adoption through Joseph, and by blood through Mary. Primarily though, when Christ was referred to as the Son of David, it was meant to refer to His Messianic title as the Old Testament prophesied concerning Him.

I hope this helps.
God bless

Answer 4

Yes, because Mary was the mother of Jesus, and Joseph was married to her, I believe God did that intentionally so Jesus would be a part of the lineage of David.

Answer 5

They count lineage from both Joseph and Mary. Matthew records Joseph's and Luke traced through Mary's.

Answer 6

Joseph was his lawful father and of the house of David. Mary also was of the lineage of David.

Answer 7

Well, I'm not sure about Jews and maternity, but in the Bible, it's paternity that has been recorded and has decided the genealogy, not maternity.

Simply, Jesus was counted as the son of Joseph. When Joseph married Mary, her son became his son, legally. He was born into Joseph's family as the firstborn. So he belonged to the house of Joseph, the line of David.

Answer 8

Joseph was of the linage of King David, and at the time of the engagement, Mary had been found that she was pregnant with a child conceived of the Holy Spirit, Joseph filled the roll of Earthly Father, And despite some of the answers of it being made up, they just don't know. It is the way it is!

Answer 9

Our preacher just talked about Jesus' lineage today and I asked the same question to my husband. He said that traditionally, the mother's lineage wasn't recorded by Jews, and the only way to show how Jesus fulfilled the prophesy was to show he was related to Abraham and David geneologically, but not necessarily by blood.

My question is this, since Jesus is God and God is Jesus, then Jesus wouldn't have any of her genes either, true?

Answer 10

Yes they are BUT there is also the issue of the spiritual lineage just as all priests are "descended" from Peter through apostolic succession which is not a blood line but laying on of hands.