Could the messiah be adopted into the lineage of David like Jesus and if no why?

Question

I was debating with my Jewish friend on the messiah and one of his objections was that the messiah would be from the direct linage of David and that the messiah could not be adopted into the linage, especially the messianic linage, how would you respond to this?

Answer 1

The genealogy connection of Jesus to David was something that was proved when the records actually existed and mattered more. It was proven two thousand years ago to those that had direct records to prove it. Now its been so long we have different theories about even understanding them fully.

Furthermore after Christ predicted the destruction that would fall on Jerusalem by Rome, for rejecting their own Messiah, the Jews lost all their genealogical records that could ever trace a future Messiah, making it impossible. Therefore your Jewish friend is simply incorrect and not in a position to argue two thousand years later about records he has no access to.

I would say to your friend, ‘As a Jew why do you think you understand Christ's genealogy better than the Jews 2000 years ago? It was good enough for them?’

Answer 2

The key verse in my opinion is 2 Samuel 7:12 which I put below from many English language versions. These conclusively prove that the Messiah had to be a biological descendant of David.

Mary is not mentioned in the genealogy of Luke's Gospel because it is supposed that this was the convention of the legal records for most of the Jewish people: females/mothers were not mentioned. The only exception may/would have been for the descendants of Zelophehad: even here the exception might have been for only one generation.

There would be no reason for Luke to have given another genealogy from David down to Joseph. He starts his genealogy with Adam showing this is nothing to do with the legal Davidic line of descent: this is a line of biological descent, (with few exceptions which are identified below together with an explanation why they do not interfere with the biological descent).

Besides all else, Mary was a descendant of Zerubbabel, who was himself the son of Pedaiah (1 Chron 3:19), brother of Shealtiel, and adoptive son or legal inheritor of Shealtiel's claim to the throne. And Zerubbabel was a descendant of David both via Nathan (Luke 3:27) and via Solomon (Matthew 1:12).

Though the variations of possibility are multiple, the most likely scenario is that both Pedaiah and Shealtiel, sons of Jeconiah/Coniah/Jehoiachin were also descendants of Nathan, David's son, through "Neri" their maternal grandfather. In other words, Jehoiachin/Jeconiah/Coniah married a daughter of "Neri" (Luke 3:27), bringing together the lines of Solomon and Nathan.

According to 1 Chronicles 3:17,18, and assuming "Assir" means "the captive", Jeconiah had seven sons. That he had sons is confirmed archaeologically by the discovery of "Jehoiachin's Ration Tablets" discovered at Babylon, near the Ishtar Gate, at the beginning of the 20th century, and naming rations for Jeconiah and his five sons.

The evidence Mary must have been a descendant of King David is thus she was a descendant of Zerubbabel, a descendant via Solomon and via Nathan.

It is to be noted that the line in Matthew might on more than one occasion list legal inheritance rather than biological descent. Where Luke does not give biological descent such as in the case of Zerubbabel whose father was not Shealtiel but Pedaiah, the biological descent still holds true back to Nathan and David because of the Levirate marriage of Pedaiah or the adoption of the son of a brother (such as Shieltiel's successor being the son of his brother Pedaiah).

It seems to me the genealogy in 1 Chronicles 3:17-24 has no generational gaps, and is a "biological genealogy": this view is because Anani in 1 Chron 3:24 is mentioned in the Elephantine Papyrus B19 (otherwise called "Cowley 30") found at Elephantine in southern Egypt, and is identified as a leader in Judaea in 410 BCE. Seeing as Jeconiah was born in the year starting March 617 BCE there is no room for any additional generations in the list of 1 Chron 3:17-24.

Finally, 2 Samuel 7:12, according to Biblehub.org, is translated thus in these various translations:

New International Version - When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom.

New Living Translation - For when you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, your own offspring, and I will make his kingdom strong.

English Standard Version - When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

Berean Standard Bible - And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.

King James Bible - And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.

New King James Version - “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.

New American Standard Bible - When your days are finished and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from you, and I will establish his kingdom.

NASB 1995 - “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.

NASB 1977 - “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.

Legacy Standard Bible - When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up one of your seed after you, who will come forth from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.

Amplified Bible - When your days are fulfilled and you lie down [in death] with your fathers (ancestors), I will raise up your descendant after you, who shall be born to you, and I will establish his kingdom.

Christian Standard Bible - When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

Holman Christian Standard Bible - When your time comes and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

American Standard Version - When thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, that shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English - And whenever your days are finished and you have slept with your fathers, I shall raise up your seed from after you which came out from your loins, and I shall establish his kingdom

Brenton Septuagint Translation - And it shall come to pass when thy days shall have been fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, even thine own issue, and I will establish his kingdom.

Douay-Rheims Bible - And when thy days shall be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.

English Revised Version - When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.

GOD'S WORD® Translation - " 'When the time comes for you to lie down in death with your ancestors, I will send one of your descendants, [one] who will come from you. I will establish his kingdom.

Good News Translation - When you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will make one of your sons king and will keep his kingdom strong.

International Standard Version - When your life is complete and you go to join your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who will come forth from your body, and I will fortify his kingdom.

JPS Tanakh 1917 - When thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, that shall proceed out of thy body, and I will establish his kingdom.

Literal Standard Version - When your days are full, and you have lain with your fathers, then I have raised up your seed after you which goes out from your bowels, and have established his kingdom;

Majority Standard Bible - And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.

New American Bible - when your days have been completed and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, sprung from your loins, and I will establish his kingdom.

NET Bible - When the time comes for you to die, I will raise up your descendant, one of your own sons, to succeed you, and I will establish his kingdom.

New Revised Standard Version - When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

New Heart English Bible - And it will come about when your days are fulfilled, and you sleep with your fathers, that I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

Webster's Bible Translation - And when thy days shall be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.

World English Bible - When your days are fulfilled and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

Young's Literal Translation - 'When thy days are full, and thou hast lain with thy fathers, then I have raised up thy seed after thee which goeth out from thy bowels, and have established his kingdom..

The genealogy in Luke's Gospel must be giving evidence of the fulfilment of this prophecy. In which case the genealogy is that of Mary, and therefore Mary was a descendant of King David.

In the era of the New Testament the religious leaders would have been very quick to point out that Jesus of Nazareth was not a descendant of David if they could. They would have blasted abroad that he was an imposter. They only had to check the legal, genealogical records, those same records which were checked by Matthew (for Joseph) and Luke. It seems inconceivable that they would have not tried to discredit our Lord in this way. Most likely, they checked the records, and found Jesus of Nazareth was a biological descendant of David, just as 2 Samuel 7:12 predicted... so they kept quiet.

Finally, our Lord repeatedly accepted the designation "Son of David". Especially, to the Pharisees he asked:

“What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” “The son of David,” they replied. He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’ If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” (Matthew 22:41-45)

It was critical to the Pharisees that the coming Messiah would be a descendant of David. Our Lord did not disagree with them: but He also showed from Psalm 110 that the Messiah would be more than just the Son of David. Clearly our Lord saw himself as "the Son of David", a descendant of King David.

If He had not been a fulfilment of 2 Samuel 7:12 don't you think He would have said so?

The One who would fulfil the prophecy of 2 Sam 7:12 would be born before the destruction of the Temple (Daniel 9:27) in the days of the Romans (Daniel 2:31-44). He would be born while the genealogical records still existed to prove his descent. And this One will be "a light to the Gentiles" and be "my salvation unto the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 49:6).

If Jesus of Nazareth does not fulfil 2 Samuel 12:7 then one of God's prophecies will remain unfulfilled forever.

Answer 3

The genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke both show that He was descended from David. The regal line through David's son Solomon led to Joseph (per Matthew's genealogy), but that line was cursed at Jeconiah to not have any more kings on David's throne.

Luke's genealogy (of Mary) shows that Jesus was a blood descendent of David through another son, Nathan. Jesus' adoption by Joseph put Him in the regal line, while avoiding the curse on Jeconiah.

The Torah did allow non-standard and adoptive inheritance as evidenced by Zelophehad's daughters. The inheritance priority per Numbers 27 was sons > daughters > brothers > father's brothers > nearest kin. Boaz followed this order when he went to seek claim to Elimelech's inheritance so he could marry Ruth, as he was the second-nearest kin to Elimelech, so he had to get the nearest kin to give up his claim first.

Answer 4

OP: one of his objections was that the messiah would be from the direct linage of David and that the messiah could not be adopted into the linage, especially the messianic linage, how would you respond to this?

True and correct.

To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. Luke 1:27

Obviously, Joseph was of David, which presumably is to what the OP refers as the adoption. However, what of Mary?

Some think wrongly she was of Levi. More on this falsehood later.

Of this man's seed [King David] hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus: Acts 13:23

Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; Rom 1:3

Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel: 2 Tim 2:8

Mary was of the tribe of Judah, from which came Christ of the seed of David.

What about the connection with Mary's kinsman Elizabeth of the tribe of Levi?

And as John [the baptist] fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose. Acts 13:25

This is a euphemism for redemption. It refers to Ruth 4. The kinsman redeemer who in this case of John a Levitical priest basically is saying, he (the Mosaic Law) can't do it (redeem the people). He can't even untie the Redeemer's shoe. The point is John of the Levitical tribe is acknowledging the superiority of the Melchizedek priesthood traced through Judah's lineage to Christ Jesus, out High Priest for all.

To answer the OP, Yeshua Ha Mashiach is a descendant of the tribe of Judah through David. Of this, there can be no doubt.

Answer 5

One thing to take note of is that in the NT, Jesus' claim to be the Son of David was not objected to. It seems to have become an issue later on, which explains why Matthew and Luke included genealogies to prove it, while Mark (thought by many or most scholars to have been written first) does not.

The problem is that the NT also reports that Jesus was not the physical son of Joseph. The idea that Davidic lineage was conferred on Jesus by adoption is not confirmed by Jewish sources. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia:

Adoption, in the sense of the legal transfer of filial rights from one person to another, seems not to have been known in Israel as it was among the Romans. There are three possible instances of it in the Old Testament: (1) the adoption of Moses by Pharaoh's daughter (Ex. ii. 10), which does not seem to have made the blood-bond to his own people less binding; (2) the adoption of Genubath by the Egyptian queen (I Kings xi. 20), which seems to have been a survival of kinship through the mother; and (3) the adoption of Esther by Mordecai (Esther ii. 7), which was done under foreign influence. Adoption in the modern sense of the word played no important part in Israel's system of relationship.

If this is accurate, then either Christian writers applied a Roman standard in a Jewish context, or the term "son of David" is meant spiritually rather than biologically. Spiritual adoption is indeed affirmed in Jewish tradition.

But was Davidic descent required? This article argues against it. Historically, many Jews accepted messianic claimants without evidence of Davidic descent. Beside Jesus, examples include Bar Kochba (2nd c.) and Shabbatai Tsevi (17th c.), who were both accepted by large numbers of Jews. In addition some Jews of Jesus' time, notably the Essenes, expected a priestly messiah (son of Aaron) as well as a royal messiah (son of David). In that sense, there may be significance to the relationship of Mary to Elizabeth (who came from a priestly lineage) and Mary's visit to the house of the priest Zechariah immediately after the Annunciation. The Dead Sea Scrolls also refer to a Messiah of Israel and possibly a Messiah son of Joseph/Ephraim, a concept admitted by later rabbinic tradition as well.

Conclusion: It is not necessary to argue that Jesus was the physical "Son of David" or even that Jews of the time would recognize his adoption by Joseph to confer that designation. Jewish-Christians of the time accepted him as Son of David because of his teaching and actions, not his lineage, which became an issue later on. For many Jews, accomplishing the messianic task is the key point. The one who fulfills the mission is the messiah, even if he was not physically descended from David.