The Seed of David

.... God’s covenant with David concerned both his seed and his throne: a covenant of two parts (Psalm 89:3,4). The monarchy followed the lineage of the kings of Judah, but in the end the Messiah could not have come from this lineage because of God’s judgment on the seed of Coniah. Indeed, God never promised that the Messiah would descend from this lineage; only that He would come from the house of David.

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.... At last the mystery unravels as we return to the question of David’s seed. For when the covenant was established, God spoke to David in this way:

.... " . . . Also the Lord tells you that He will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish His kingdom . . .’

.... "Then King David went in and sat before the Lord: and he said . . . 'You have also spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come. Is this the manner of man, O Lord God?’"

(2 Samuel 7:11-19)

.... To fully understand the question of David’s seed, we must blend this prophecy with another that is more familiar:

.... "Hear now, O house of David... the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."

(Isaiah 7:13,14)

.... Blending these prophecies brings some exacting requirements. The Christ would be born to the house of David, yet He must also be born of a virgin. Therefore, the virgin herself must descend from David according to the flesh – though not through the lineage of Coniah. She would descend, instead, from another of David’s sons, becoming the true seed of his body in this way. This virgin, highly favored by God, would give birth to Jesus’ humanity, though His Divinity has been from of old, from everlasting (Micah 5:2).

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.... In Luke’s gospel we are seeing the lineage of this virgin, whom we know as Mary, and the genealogy that is needed to authenticate this part of the claim. Luke 3:23 reads:

.... "Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli . . ."

.... At first glance this passage seems to portray Joseph as the son of Heli; but in reality it should be understood to mean:

‘Jesus . . . being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, (was in reality) the son of Heli . . .'

.... . . . Heli being the father of Mary, to whom Jesus was born. In modern times this requires an explanation. Ancient sentiment forbade mentioning a woman as a genealogical link, and in biological terms Jesus had not descended from Joseph. Therefore His descent would have been reckoned from the last male in His lineage (as in the case with an unwed mother). This would have been Heli, Mary’s father and Jesus’ maternal grandfather.

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.... In the days of Jesus, meticulous genealogical records were kept in the temple at Jerusalem. In an ironic twist of fate, a single record has survived, written by one of Jesus’ enemies who had access to those records at the time. In a vicious, personal attack against Mary, in an attempt to slander Jesus Himself, Mary is referred to as ‘the daughter of Heli,’ which unwittingly lends support to this interpretation.

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.... In the Lukan account, the genealogy of Jesus Christ is traced from Heli, back through David and the patriarchs, to Adam himself, and finally to God. Remember that Jesus is called "the Mighty God, Everlasting Father" (Isaiah 9:6); He is Primogenitor and descendant alike, both "the root and offspring of David." (Revelation 22:6).

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.... With all of this evidence in place it is now possible to explain our mystery, reconciling Matthew’s genealogy of Christ to Luke’s. Here we will see the promise of David’s throne and of his seed reunited in one person, Jesus Christ, forever.