Birthed and Adopted Part 2

In my last blog, we looked at the history of the Daughters of Zelophehad, God's promise to David, and God's curse on Jeconiah.  It seemed that God may have changed His mind about the Messiah coming from David's seed and royal line.  How can the promise and the curse be reconciled?  How can they both be true?  Did God break His Word?  (If you need to catch up, check out Part 1)

So, IS God's Word broken?

We know that Jesus was born.  He lived, ministered, was cut off, was raised from the dead as First Fruits, ascended into heaven, and is now our high priest.

The bigger question, however, is of His legitimacy.  In order for Jesus to have been legitimate...for God's promise to David to hold true, some conditions had to be met.

1) Was Jesus of the seed of David?

2) Was Jesus of the royal line of Solomon?

Let's take a closer look at the genealogy of Jesus.  You may have noticed that there are actually 2 passages within the gospels that give His genealogy...and that they are different.

Matthew takes us through the family tree of Joseph (Matthew 1:16) where we see Joseph, son of Jacob and husband of Mary is listed as the father of Jesus.

Luke takes us through the family tree of Mary (Luke 3:23) where we see Joseph, son of Heli listed as the father of Jesus.

So, was Joseph's father Jacob or Heli?  The short answer is YES!

Will Joseph's real father please stand up?     

When we take a deeper look into the dual genealogies, we see that they contain the same people up until David.  After David something interesting happens...

Matthew's genealogy goes through Solomon...the royal line...the blood cursed line...and ends with Joseph.

Luke's genealogy goes through Nathan (David's second surviving son by Bathsheba)...and ends with Joseph, son of Heli.

How can Joseph come from Solomon AND Nathan?

Insert the law created by the problems of Zelophehad's daughters...

If a man had only daughters, he would adopt the husband of his daughter in order for her to be able to inherit.  Heli was Mary's father.  He adopted Joseph, and that is why Joseph is listed as Heli's son (Luke 3:23).  This means that through the genealogy of Mary, Jesus indeed was from the seed of David by way of the second son Nathan.  This was true physically because Mary was the physical mother of Jesus, and it was true through adoption, as Joseph was the legally adopted son of Mary's father.  That is a lot to digest, but it gets even better...

So what about the promise of the royal line?  Nathan was of David, but he was not the carrier of the royal line.

Recall that Solomon was the son of the royal line, and that his seed (by way of his offspring Jeconiah) had been cursed.  No man of Jeconiah's seed would ever sit on the throne again (Jeremiah 22:30).

Ever wonder why Jesus HAD to be born of a virgin?  This. Is. It.

Joseph was from the royal line of David through Solomon.  Joseph carried the blood curse, therefore he could not become Jesus' physical father.  If he had, God's Word would have been broken.

However, according to the custom of the day, a baby was considered legally adopted by the husband of the woman giving birth...whether or not he was the physical father.  Are you seeing it?

Joseph was from the royal line of David through Solomon, and he legally adopted Jesus.     

So, you may be asking...what's the big deal?

Well, there are a few big deals here:

1) God kept His promise to David while upholding the curse on the royal line.
2) Jesus was born of both the seed of David and adopted into the royal line of David...and get this...both are equally permanent.
3 God's Word says that those of us who come to Him are born again and legally adopted in the courts of heaven (John 3:5 / Ephesians 1:5).

This concept of birth and adoption is woven throughout the scriptures.  It was not invented by Paul in Romans (Romans 11:11-24) although he did a great job of explaining it.

For example, a mixed multitude went up from Egypt at the time of the Exodus.  They were grafted into Israel at its very inception (Exodus 12:38).

So, here is the bottom line:  God is an amazing teacher who gives us concrete examples from His Word to help us understand His plans.  He even created the circumstances for His Son, Jesus, to be born of the seed and of adoption in order to show us that He can save both the seed of Israel and the gentiles of the nations.

5 "This one will say, 'I am the LORD'S'; And that one will call on the name of Jacob; And another will write [on] his hand, 'Belonging to the LORD,' And will name Israel's name with honor. [Isa 44:5 NASB]

Shalom Friends!