Psalm
89:35 “Once I have sworn by My holiness. I will not lie unto David. His
seed shall endure forever and his throne as the sun before us.”
Psalm
132:11 “The Lord has sworn in truth unto David that He will not turn
from it. ‘Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.”
David
was a man after God’s heart. He understood the grace and the love of
God more than anyone else in the Old Testament. He was the one who
wrote, “Blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven.” (Psalm 32). He was
the one who inspired Proverbs 4. He was the one who first desired to
build a permanent place to worship God – a “house” if you will. God
responded to this desire of David’s by promising an everlasting “house”
for David; a descendant from his own body Who will rule forever – the
Messiah. That promise is what we see in Psalm 89:35 and 132:11; the
Messiah would come from David’s line.
Although
David had many sons (so many that it takes three verses to list them
all! – 2 Samuel 5:14-16), his royal lineage passed through his son
Solomon. Solomon was famous for being the richest king ever. He was also
the wisest, writing the majority of the book of Proverbs, as well as
Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. But he wasn’t completely sold out to
God like his father was – eventually “marrying” a thousand women! His
mistakes split the kingdom during the reign of his son, Rehoboam. But
still God preserved the lineage of David; and his descendant ruled the
tribe of Judah for centuries.
Enter
Jeconiah, king of Judah, and son of the famous King Josiah. Jeconiah
was a desperately wicked king during what could only be considered the
dark ages of the kingdom. He continued in his wickedness despite
repeated warnings from the prophet Jeremiah. His stubbornness and
unrepentant heart led to this judgment from God through Jeremiah.
Is this man Jeconiah a despised broken idol? Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? Why then are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? O earth, earth, earth! Hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the LORD, Write 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. (emphasis added) Jeremiah 22:28-30
Rabbis
today still call this the greatest theological problem in Jewish
history. None of Jeconiah’s descendants could sit on David’s throne! How
can God promise that the Messiah would come from David’s body and sit
on his throne, and then pronounce a curse like this on one of his
descendants? Many orthodox Jews who understand this have simply given
up; stating that the Messiah simply can’t come now. What a tragic way of
reading the Old Testament!
However,
God had an amazing plan to circumnavigate Jeconiah’s curse! His answer?
The virgin birth of Jesus Christ! You see, Jesus’ virgin birth protects
His divinity (He had no natural father) and fulfills scripture (Isaiah
7:14). But this miraculous event also confirmed that the Messiah would
come from David’s family line!
In
Matthew chapter 1 we see that Jesus’ adoptive father, Joseph, is
descended from Solomon. When he adopted Jesus, he gave Him the legal
rights to David’s throne. David’s kingdom was rightfully Jesus’. So
there you have it, Someone who wasn’t in Solomon’s line of kings now had
the right to David’s throne. Problem solved, right?
Let’s read those verses again.
Psalm 89:35 “Once I have sworn by My holiness. I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure forever and his throne as the sun before us.”
Psalm 132:11 “The Lord has sworn in truth unto David that He will not turn from it. ‘Of the fruit of thy body (natural descendants) will I set upon thy throne.”
Do you see it? The promised Messiah had to be David’s physical descendant,
not simply his legal heir. If Jesus was only adopted into David’s legal
line, He would be the fulfillment of David’s promise? So what’s the
answer?
Matthew
and Luke both record Jesus’ genealogy. They both write Joseph as the
Jesus’ adopted father. But Matthew wrote that Joseph’s father was Joseph
- Luke said it was Heli. In fact, the entire list of names is different
from David to Joseph! Surely one of them must be mistaken, right?
Not at all! You see, Heli wasn’t Joseph’s father…he was Mary’s. Heli had two daughters (Matthew 27:56; John 19:25).
Mary, Jesus’ mother was the older. Zebedee’s wife, the mother of James
and John was the younger. According to Numbers 27, when a man had only
daughters, his inheritance and his family line
pass on to the man who marries his oldest daughter. This is why Luke
lists Joseph as the son of Heli (Mary’s father) even though Matthew says
he is the son of Jacob.
Why
does this matter? Follow Luke’s list of Mary’s family back to David -
She came from his son Nathan! So, although Jesus’ only physical relative
(His mother) did come from David, but not from the cursed royal
lineage! Jesus is the physical descendant of David by birth, and the
royal heir to David’s throne by adoption! God, in His mercy, worked
around the curse that Jeconiah brought on his family!
For unto us a child is born (natural birth), unto us a son is given (adoption):
and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6
The Messiah had to be born and adopted!
