In last Sunday’s sermon, I noted that Jesus had David’s and Solomon’s blood running through His veins. By implication then, he had not only Hebrew blood, but also Moabite and Ammonite blood. As support, I referenced Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew 1.
The genealogies of Matthew 1 and Luke 3 are different. Matthew’s goes from David (descended from the Moabite Ruth) to Solomon to Rehoboam (whose mother is Naamah, the Ammonite), while Luke’s goes from David to Nathan and doesn’t mention Rehoboam. Previously I was taught that one is the lineage of Mary, the other of Joseph. Tertullian believed Matthew’s to be of Mary and Luke’s to be of Joseph, while Luther believed Matthew’s to be of Joseph and Luke’s of Mary. I asked another pastor about that this week, and his gut instinct was to say the same thing. It is necessary that Jesus is a descendent of both David and Solomon because of the covenant God made with both those kings (2 Sam 7:12-13; 1 Kings 9:5).
That raises a question: “Was Jesus an heir of the covenant promises by natural descent or by adoption?” John 7:4, Acts 13:22-33 (written by Luke!), Romans 1:3, 2 Timothy 2:8, and Revelation 22:16 all indicate that Jesus is the offspring of David, thus placing Him clearly in the royal lineage. The Greek word for offspring is “sperma,” from which we get the English, sperm. Romans 1:3 even adds the phrase, “in the flesh,” to describe Jesus’ descent from David. Was Jesus adopted by Joseph into Joseph’s Davidic ancestry or did Jesus have David’s blood in His veins by Mary’s ancestry? I believe both.
Given that, perhaps there is only little evidence that Jesus had Rehoboam’s blood in his veins, but there is copious evidence that He had David’s. Without a doubt, Jesus was raised in a family with Moabite and Ammonite blood in their veins. In hind sight, I could have added just a little more explanation Sunday and probably not made so much of the bloodlines. Hence this blog post.
I found it interesting that in reading John MacArthur’s commentary on Matthew 1 he noted that Mary was a descendent of David, but he provided no Scriptural evidence. R.T. France, in his commentary on Matthew, says no one knows Mary’s ancestry. If I am wrong, I am happy to be wrong with John MacArthur.
Even if He didn’t have David’s and Rehoboam’s blood in His veins, Jesus, while sinless, is still naturally descended from sinners. He is God in the flesh, fully God and fully man. He loved us enough to become one of us and take on a sinful ancestry, yet without sin.
