Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Matthew

[Skinny]

The Messiah is supposed to be of David's line; but Joseph (descendant of David) did not impregnate Mary--god did; doesn't that mean that Jesus was not the Messiah that was prophesied?

[jimwalton]

In every legal sense of Jewish life, Joseph was Jesus's father. Kiddushin 4.5 (a Mishnaic tractate) states that a man and wife who live together are presumed to produce legitimate children without the necessity of proof of parentage. Since Joseph and Mary were legally married at the time of Jesus's birth, Jesus was considered to be Joseph's legal son and not an adopted one. As Craig Keener writes, "In the rhetoric of honorable descent, Joseph as Mary's husband (rather than as Jesus's biological father) would confer the assigned heritage adequately (1.18-25). Adoption established one in the royal line, and adoptive sons of rulers would be called their sons."

Jesus was the Messiah that was prophesied. He was a legitimate son of David, by all the rules of Jewish culture, genealogy, and royal descent, even though Joseph was not his biological father.