http://www.messiahtruth.com/jesusgen.html

Jesus' Genealogy
"And not to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies that
promote speculations rather than the divine training that is known by
faith."
1 Timothy 1:4 (NRS)


Most Christians are not learned in Jewish law, and are thus unaware of
the triune (pardon the expression) nature of the genealogical problem
associated with claiming Jesus as the Messiah. However, since the
Christian claim is that Jesus is the JEWISH Messiah, then we must put
the case under JEWISH scrutiny, and see if it fits under JEWISH law.
The following is an examination of the genealogy of the man whom
Christians call Lord and Savior.

Messiah is an anglicized version of the Hebrew word "Moshiach," which
means "anointed." We call the future king the Messiah because all
kings are anointed.

One of the simplest requirements for being the Messiah is the lineage.
In the Jewish scriptures we see prophecies of a king from David's line
sitting on the throne of Israel once more:

Jeremiah 30:7 Alas! for that day [is] great, so that none [is] like
it: it [is] even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved
out of it. [8] For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD
of hosts, [that] I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will
burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:
[9] But they shall serve the LORD their G-d, and David their king,
whom I will raise up unto them. (KJV)
David had been given an oath from the Almighty that the throne of
Israel would always belong to his line, which we find in the Jewish
Bible repeatedly:

Jeremiah 33:17 For thus said HASHEM: There shall not be cut off from
David a man who sits on the throne of the House of Israel. [18] And
for the Kohanim, the Levites, there will never be cut off a man from
before Me who offers elevation-offerings and burns meal-offerings and
performs feast-offerings all the days. [19] The word of HASHEM came to
Jeremiah, saying: [20] Thus said HASHEM: If you could annul My
covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that day and
night would not come in their proper times, [21] so too could My
covenant be annulled with David, My servant, so that he would not have
a descendant reigning on his throne, or [My covenant] with the Levites
and the Kohanim, My attendants. (Artscroll)

Psalms 89:34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is
gone out of my lips. [35] Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will
not lie unto David. [36] His seed shall endure for ever, and his
throne as the sun before me. [37] It shall be established for ever as
the moon, and [as] a faithful witness in heaven. Selah. (KJV)
So, from here we see that G-d took an oath that the throne would
always belong to David and his descendants. However, the oath was
supplemented by another pledge:

1 Chronicles 22:9 Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a
man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round
about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and
quietness unto Israel in his days. [10] He shall build a house for my
name; and he shall be My son, and I [will be] his Father; and I will
establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever. (KJV)

So we see, any man who would sit on the throne must not only be a
descendant of King David, but specifically a descendant of David's
son, Solomon. This requirement was made even more stringent in the
days prior to the Babylonian exile. Jeconiah, King of Judah, was a
wicked king, and his actions pushed G-d too far. G-d punished
Jeconiah, also known as Jehoiachin or Coniah:

Jeremiah 22:24 [As] I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of
Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would
I pluck thee thence; [25] And I will give thee into the hand of them
that seek thy life, and into the hand [of them] whose face thou
fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and
into the hand of the Chaldeans. [26] And I will cast thee out, and thy
mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born;
and there shall ye die. [27] But to the land whereunto they desire to
return, thither shall they not return. [28] [Is] this man Coniah a
despised broken idol? [is he] a vessel wherein [is] no pleasure?
Wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land
which they know not? [29] O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the
LORD. [30] Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man
[that] shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall
prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in
Judah. (KJV)

This devastating curse effectively removes all descendants of Jeconiah
from the royal line. So from the verses listed above we see that
anyone who would sit as king must be descended from King Solomon but
not descended from King Jeconiah. We see that this curse is binding,
because after Jeconiah was deposed, instead of the throne being handed
to his son, it passed to Zedekiah, his uncle. No descendant of
Jeconiah ever held the throne, or ever can hold the throne. His
grandson, Zerubbabel, held power granted by G-d, but was never king.

The New Testament makes the messianic claim for Jesus, and as such,
the New Testament gives a detailed genealogy in the first chapter of
the very first book, the Gospel of Matthew:

Matthew 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of
David, the son of Abraham. [2] Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat
Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; [3] And Judas begat
Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat
Aram; [4] And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and
Naasson begat Salmon; [5] And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz
begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; [6] And Jesse begat David
the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her [that had been the
wife] of Urias; [7] And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia;
and Abia begat Asa; [8] And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat
Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; [9] And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham
begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; [10] And Ezekias begat Manasses;
and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias; [11] And Josias begat
Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to
Babylon: (KJV)

Matthew defeated his own purpose by including Jeconiah (spelled
Jechonias by the KJV) in his listing. Further complicating this matter
is the virgin birth, which is claimed by Matthew 1:18-23. Because the
virgin birth is substantiated by a misused excerpt of Isaiah (see
related essay) there is no reason to believe that it was actually
prophesied, and even less to believe it to be true. Furthermore, it
defeats the claim that Jesus is the Messiah. In Jewish law, genealogy
is traced specifically through the father, not the mother.

Numbers 1:2 Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of
Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the
number of [their] names, every male by their polls; (KJV)

Numbers 1:18 And they assembled all the congregation together on the
first [day] of the second month, and they declared their pedigrees
after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the
number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, by their polls.
(KJV)
With genealogies in the Bible, we see person A, son of person B, son
of person C, etc. This is because Jewish descent is traced through our
fathers. If a Levitical priest married a woman from the tribe of
Judah, their children would be of the tribe of Levi.

Not having a human father prevents anyone from claiming the throne.

The Christian Rebuttal
Different Christians have shown a great deal of savvy in trying to
deflect attention away from the two gaping problems listed above. None
of their solutions, however, hold water. Here are some samples:

1) The virgin birth prevents Joseph from passing on his cursed lineage
to Jesus, thereby allowing Jesus to sit on the throne. This is the
answer proposed by apologists like Josh McDowell. Because the virgin
birth undermines the notion of Jesus being the Messiah, one is forced
to consider this as if Joseph passed on the genealogy through rights
of adoption, even though such rights do not exist.

2) The claim is made that the curse was not to be taken literally. The
beginning of Jeremiah 22:30 reads "Write ye this man childless, a man
[that] shall not prosper in his days..." From this they point to the
fact that Jeconiah did know prosperity, and that he did indeed have
children, so that means G-d didn't mean the curse to be as devastating
as it actually is. This is pointing away from the end of verse 30.
"For no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of
David, and ruling any more in Judah." This portion of the verse makes
it clear what was meant. Jeconiah did indeed have children, but those
children would be forbidden from sitting on the throne. "Write ye this
man childless" is simply a metaphor here.

3) The claim is made that the curse was annulled by G-d. Christians
refer to the following passage:


Haggai 2:23 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O
Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will
make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of
hosts. (KJV)
G-d used the same term with Zerubbabel, a descendant of Jeconiah, that
He used with Jeconiah, a "signet ring." Christians conclude from this
that the curse was annulled. However, a closer examination will reveal
that this is certainly not the case. The curse begins with an oath.
"As I live, saith the LORD." How does the Lord live? He lives
eternally. G-d did indeed show favor to Zerubbabel, and might even
have instated Zerubbabel as king, if not for the curse the Almighty
placed on Jeconiah. The Almighty took oaths. Are we to believe that
the Almighty would revoke His oaths? The problem with this is twofold.


a. If the virgin birth is true (which is less likely than I can
adequately describe, given that a mistranslated prophecy was taken out
of context to "prove" it) that would mean that G-d took the throne
away from David's house, which would mean G-d violated an oath.

b. The curse of Jeconiah taints Joseph's line, so that if you theorize
adoption (which is without scriptural backing or precedent) you trace
Joseph back to Jeconiah, cursed by G-d under another of G-d's oaths.
4) Another Christian proposed a solution to this problem along the
lines of "Don't you think G-d would have it in His heart to show mercy
to Jeconiah's line?" My answer is two-fold: a) NO, it was a curse, and
we see that it was eternal by the fact that none of Jeconiah's
descendants sat on the throne. b) If you theorize that G-d showed
mercy provide your evidence within the text. The needs of Christian
theology predicate this solution, rather than the facts.

5) Christians believe they have found the answer to this problem with
the following: In chapter three of the Gospel of Luke, we see a
genealogy of Jesus which lacks Jeconiah in the listing. Strangely
enough, this genealogy is attributed to Joseph as well. Apologists
have asserted that this is the genealogy of Mary. They claim that it
is through Mary's line that Jesus is linked to David, and thus the
virgin birth problem and the Jeconiah problem are solved, right?

Wrong. Let us explain why this is not a viable solution:

1) The genealogy in Luke's Gospel specifically says Joseph, not Mary.

2) The genealogy of Mary is completely irrelevant, as lineage is
through the father, not the mother.

3) Luke made a critical gaff in his genealogical listing. The listing
doesn't include King Solomon:
Luke 3:31 Which was [the son] of Melea, which was [the son] of Menan,
which was [the son] of Mattatha, which was [the son] of Nathan, which
was [the son] of David, (KJV)
Luke's listing proclaims Jesus the descendant of Nathan, not Solomon,
making Luke's genealogy a disqualifying factor as well. (See 1
Chronicles 22 excerpt above) BOTH genealogies we find in the New
Testament Jesus from being the Messiah.

1 Timothy 1:4 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies,
which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in
faith: [so do]. (KJV)
Why is this verse here, if not to get people to point away from the
fairly obvious problems the gospels contain?

In Summation:
1) If the virgin birth is true (which is highly unlikely since it goes
against the grain of supporting Jesus' messianic claim) then Jesus
cannot be the Messiah.

2) If you trace Jesus' line through Joseph (by which you claim Jesus
inherits the throne by adoption) in Matthew's genealogy, then you run
into the curse of Jeconiah, and Jesus cannot be the Messiah.

3) If you trace Jesus' line through Luke's genealogy (regardless of
whether you attribute it to Joseph or Mary) Jesus cannot be the
Messiah because it doesn't include King Solomon; it includes his
brother, Nathan, eliminating any legitimate claim to the throne.



Jesus' genealogy, as we have it in the Christian Scriptures, does not
allow him to be the Messiah. This point cannot be stressed strongly
enough. No other "prophecies" one thinks Jesus fulfilled are relevant
without this crucial brick in the wall.



Ask a Question / Post a Response
Copyright © 2001, Michael Levy for http://www.MessiahTruth.com.
All rights reserved.

Messiah Truth HomeCounter-MissionaryKnowing Your OrchardJudaism's
AnswerIntroduction to HebrewThunder from SinaiMake A DonationWho We
AreAdd A Jewish LinkRead / Sign Guest BookJoin E-Mail ListOn-Line
TrainingSite Navigation ToolsMessiah Truth StoreBooks and
JudaicaOn-Line Text ChatDiscussion ForumsInteractive ClassesVirtual
YeshivaSite MapSearch This SiteWhat's NewAmazon.ComAll Things
Jewish.ComMulti-Media TrainingsPDF DownloadsTovia Singer
SimulcastDiscussion ForumsThe ABC of TreacheryPsalmsA Sacrificial
OfferingAtonement of SinsIsaiahA Missionary
DeceptionJeremiahZechariahDeuteronomy 18:9-22Matthew 2 ExposedGenesis
3:15Messiah's Birthplace?Sinless Jesus?Messiah Wanted!Yeshu'a Name
DeceptionGenealogy'The Prince' of EzekielThe Anti-Jewish NTAnointed or
Smeared?'A Week' ProphecyActs FactsPsalm 2: Kiss the 'Son'?Psalm 110:
Two LordsPsalm 22Isaiah and His SonsIsaiah 7:14Isaiah 9:5-6The
Suffering ServantIsaiah 52:13-15Isaiah 53:1-4Isaiah 53:5-8Isaiah
53:9-12Xtian Perspective - Part IXtian Perspective - Part IIThe Real
'New Covenant'Jewish Survival - IJewish Survival - IIZechariah
6Zechariah 12:10Zechariah 13:1-6Scams and FlimflamsCurse of
JeconiahDavid's ThroneMessiah Truth HandoutThe Problem with
MatthewHebrew / Yiddish GlossaryBiblical PassagesEssays on
ChristianityEssays on IslamEssays on JudaismThe Goldman
FilesDiscussion ForumsDeuteronomy 18Zechariah 12:10Isaiah 7:14Isaiah
9Psalms ProoftextsThe Woman's SeedIsaiah 53Part IPart IIPart
IIIAnalysis of ChristianityJesus' GenealogyProphets and
ProphecyWitnesses & TestimonyTrinity in the Torah?Blood
SacrificeLooking for the Messiah?Is Jesus Really G-d?The Eternal
TorahThe Oral LawAtonementLove Your Enemy?The New CovenantGive NT A
Chance?The Christian OnslaughtOrigin of the SeptuagintInfluence of
Holy SpiritNew RevelationsAnalysis of IslamIslam on Deuteronomy
18Mohammed in Solomon?Credibility of ClaimsSettlement in IsraelSong of
Ha'azinuWho is a Jew?Baseless HatredZionism in the Qu'ranA Question of
Free WillBible Code FictionThe Big Bang TheoryA Startling
DiscoveryWhat is a Midrash?Passover CustomsWeights & MeasuresArticles
on Isaiah 53Moshiach ben YosefLies Damned LiesHaftorah and Isaiah
53Targum and the MessiahZohar on Isaiah 53Hebrew Letter ChartsModern
HebrewBiblical HebrewInteractive LessionsHebrew E-Mail
SoftwareDiscussion ForumsAlef to FeyTzadi to Tzadi SofitVowels and
SoundsEnglish EqivalentsVocabulary List 1Vocabulary List 2Vocabulary
List 3Vocabulary List 4Vocabulary List 5Vocabulary List 6Vocabulary
List 7Vocabulary List 8Vocabulary List 9Vocabulary List 10Vocabulary
List 11Vocabulary List 12Vocabulary List 13Vocabulary List
14Vocabulary List 15Vocabulary List 16Vocabulary List 17Vocabulary
List 18Vocabulary List 19Scriptural Hebrew 1Scriptural Hebrew
2Multi-Media Pirkei AvosThe Basis of Our FaithFreedom of
PassoverDiscussion ForumsMishna 1: Essay 1Mishna 1: Essay 2Mishna 1:
Essay 3Mishna 1: Essay 4Mishna 2: Essay 5Mishna 3: Essay 6Mishna 4:
Essay 7Mishna 5: Essay 8Mishna 6: Essay 9Mishna 7: Essay 10Mishna 8:
Essay 11Mishna 9: Essay 12Mishna 10: Essay 13Mishna 10: Essay 14Mishna
10: Essay 15Mishna 11: Essay 16Mishna 12: Essay 17Mishna 13: Essay
18Mishna 13: Essay 19Mishna 13: Essay 20Mishna 14: Essay 21Mishna 15:
Essay 22Mishna 16: Essay 23Mishna 16: Essay 24Mishna 17: Essay
25Mishna 17: Essay 26Mishna 18: Essay 27PrologueExperience: Part
1Experience: Part 2Experience: Part 3Experience: Part 4Experience:
Part 5Experience: Part 6Experience: Part 7Concluding Notes

Archived from group: alt>religion>christian