Jesus’ divine genealogy was seen in “Godhead in Prehistory” and “Jesus’ Virgin Birth”. Here we’ll look at Jesus’ human genealogy from the Davidic covenant, and study the so-called ‘curse of Jeconiáh’.
God freed ancient Israel from Egypt. He was Israel’s invisible Ruler; later they would have a human king (De.17:14-15, Jg.8:23, 1Sm.8:5-7, 12:12). Ending the period of the judges, the last judge Samuel anointed Saul as the first king of Israel (1Sm.9:15-17). But Saul was disobedient, so the Lord rejected him from being king (1Sm.15:23-28). God replaced Saul with David (1Sm.16:12-13). 2Sm.2:4 at first David was king over the tribe of Judah only (for 7 years). But God had promised David he would be king over all Israel, not just Judah (2Sm.3:9-10). 2Sm.5:12 David became king of Israel (2Sm.12:7). 1Ki.2:11-12 after David died, his son Solomon sat on David’s throne as king over Israel (1Ki.4:1).
Saul, David, Solomon…these three were the only kings who ruled over the 12 tribes of Israel.
After God had rejected Saul, God promised David that his throne and kingdom would last forever. We read of the Davidic covenant and the dynasty God promised him in the following passages: 2Sm.7:12-19 is the initial dynastic promise to David. “Your throne will be established forever.” Matthew Poole Commentary 2Sm.7:13 “This is meant immediately of Solomon.” Benson Commentary “Forever’ is not meant of Solomon, but of David’s posterity in general.” 1Ch.3:1-9 David had many sons besides Solomon, including Nathan. Ps.132:11-12 “The Lord has sworn to David, ‘If your sons keep My covenant, their sons also shall sit upon your throne forever.” If…it’s partly conditional! 1Ki.2:1-4 before he died, David also told Solomon it was conditional to David’s sons. 1Ki.8:22-26 in prayer, Solomon reiterates to God the conditional promise. 1Ki.9:1-7 God heard Solomon’s prayer, and told him the Davidic dynasty on the throne of Israel would continue through Solomon, if Solomon was obedient. (2Ch.6:16 clarifies 1Ch.22:9-10 as to the conditional nature of the covenant through Solomon’s line.)
But Solomon didn’t remain obedient to the Lord, thus breaking the conditional part of the covenant. 1Ki.11:11 “The Lord said to Solomon, ‘Because you have not kept My covenant which I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.” (1Ki.11:26 Jeroboám was one of Solomon’s official servants.) Ne.13:26 Solomon had been king over all Israel.
After Solomon, the monarchy was divided into…the kingdom of Israel in the north (1Ki.11:30-32 under Jeroboam, who wasn’t of the Davidic line)…the kingdom of Judah in the south (under Solomon’s son Rehoboám). None of the kings of Israel in the north were from the house of David! e.g. 2Ki.10:30 the Lord told Jehú his line (non-Davidic) would succeed him on the throne of Israel in the north for four generations. 2Ki.17:1, 6 Hoshéa was the last king of Israel. The kingdom of Judah in the south had Davidic kings (e.g. Aház, Hezekiah, Josiah). But the kings of Judah didn’t rule over Israel. Judah’s last two kings were Jeconiah/Coniah and Zedekiáh. (see “Israelite Deportations by Assyria”.)
Yet part of the Davidic covenant is unconditional. Ps.89:34-37 “My covenant I will not break. I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David. His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me.” Also Je.33:19-26 “Thus says the Lord, ‘If My covenant for day and night stand not, then I would reject the seed of Jacob and David My servant, not taking from his seed rulers.” Unconditional.
1Ch.17:11-15 “I will set up one of your seed after you, who shall be of your sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build for Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his father, and he will be My Son. I will set him in My house and in My kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.” This passage begins with David’s son Solomon in mind. But it ends with God’s eternal Son established on His throne in God’s kingdom forever.
The promise of David’s dynasty is forevermore. It began with a promise that David’s son Solomon would build God’s temple and rule. Yet it’s the Davidic covenant, not the Solomonic covenant. The throne of Israel is referred to prophetically as the “throne of David”, not the ‘throne of Solomon’. It’s not unconditionally through Solomon forever. If David’s descendants sin, they’ll be punished or made captive; the dynastic rule suspended temporarily. The monarchy could be broken, but not the line of descendants from David. Within David’s descendants was the unconditional promise of a restored everlasting kingdom. Another Son of David would rule forever as a lasting house over Israel. Ho.3:5 “The children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king in the latter days.”
That refers to the Messiah, the Son of David. Je.23:5-6 “Declares the Lord, ‘I will raise up for David a righteous Branch. He will reign as King. This is The Name by which He will be called, ‘YHVH our righteousness.” Jeremiah prophesied that the Branch, King Messiah (ref Targum Jonathán), would be a descendant of David…and YHVH/God! David’s line and the official genealogical record wouldn’t end before the Branch/Messiah appeared. He came before the 70 AD destruction of Jerusalem and priesthood.
Is.9:6-7 the Child, the Wonderful, the Mighty God, would sit on the throne of David forever.
Lk.1:30-33 the angel Gabriel told Mary that Jesus, the Son of the Most High, would be given David’s throne. “He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” (Ge.32:28 God had changed Jacob’s name to Israel.) Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the city of David (Lk.2:3-7, 1Sa.20:6). Joseph & Mary must travel to Joseph’s ancestral city to register for the census, because, “he was from the house of David”. Jesus is called the son of David (Lk.18:38, Mt.21:9). Nathanaél said to Jesus in Jn.1:49, “You are the Son of God, the King of Israel”. As the Lord said in Je.23:5-6, King Messiah would be God and a son of David. Jesus is called the King of Israel (Jn.12:12-13, Mk.15:32).
The kings of Israel & Judah had secretaries, recorders, historiographers, who maintained public records and genealogies (e.g. 1Ki.4:3). 1Ch.9:1 “All Israel was reckoned by genealogies; they’re written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah, with the names of those who were carried away to Babylon.” Individuals were registered according to their family and tribe. Ezr.8:1 “These are the heads of their fathers’ households and the genealogical records of those who went up with me from Babylon in the reign of King Artaxérxes.” They’re returning exiles, companions of Ezra. Nehemiah later wrote in the 400s BC in Ne.7:5-7, “God put it into my heart to enroll the people by genealogies. Then I found the book of the genealogy of those who were first to return….who came with Zerubabbél.” Those had returned in an earlier wave (Ezr.2:1-2-ff), prior to Ezra’s group. (see “Temple of Zerubbabel”.)
Genealogical records were necessary! Smith’s Bible Dictionary: “When Zerubbabel brought back the captivity from Babylon, one of his first cares seems to have been to take a census of those that returned, and to settle them according to their genealogies. Passing on to the time of the birth of Christ, we have a striking incidental proof of the continuance of the Jewish genealogical economy, that when Augustus ordered the census of the empire to be taken, the Jews immediately went each one to his own city. The Jewish genealogical records continued to be kept till near the destruction of Jerusalem.”
Now we’ll look at Jesus’ human lineage, through Joseph and Mary. Mt.1:1-18 is Joseph’s lineage; Lk.3:22-38 is considered Mary’s lineage. Possible levirate marriages within their lines, and (Jewish) ancestors who may have been known by two names, won’t be guessed at here.
Lk.3:23 “Jesus being supposedly the son of Joseph, the son of Elí [Helí].” Joseph was Jesus’ legal father (but not His biological father). Jn.1:45 “Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Genealogists indicate Mary was Eli/Heli’s daughter. geni.com Heli ben Matat “Father of Maria.” Mary’s husband Joseph was Eli’s son-in-law. (There was no Greek word for ‘son-in-law’.) Some disbelieving Jews hated the memory of Mary. Did Talmudists think Mary was Heli’s daughter? John Lightfoot (1602-1675) From the Talmud and Hebraica, Luke 3:23 “He saw Mary the daughter of Heli amongst the shades, hanging by the fibers of her breasts; the great bar of hell’s gate hung at her ear.” Lightfoot’s footnoted source was Hieros. Chagigah 77.4. (since expunged, veiled in Sanhedrin 6.6 “Onion-leaf”?)
Many rabbis spoke of two Messiahs. Messiah ben David is the ‘Conquering King’, whereas Messiah ben Joseph is the ‘Suffering Servant’. Interestingly, Jesus is the son (‘ben’ in Hebrew) of both…He’s the son of David via Mary’s ancestry (Lk.1:30-32), and legally the son of Joseph her husband!
David is in the lines of both Joseph (Mt.1:6), and Mary/Miriám (Lk.3:31). But after David, we see that Joseph descended from David’s son Solomon, whereas Mary descended from David’s son Nathan. Both Solomon and Nathan were sons of Bathsheba (1Ch.3:5), David’s best-known wife. Solomon is in Joseph’s line of Jesus’ legal descent, but Solomon isn’t in Mary’s line of Jesus’ physical descent.
Nathan is in Mary’s line. Her line reflects the “seed of the woman”, Ge.3:15. The prophetic passage of Zec.12:10-12 has genealogical significance. “I will pour out on the house of David the Spirit of grace. They will look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only Son. The family of the house of David and their wives; the family of the house of Nathan and their wives.” The wives of the branch of Nathan will mourn. At Jesus’ crucifixion, Mary looked upon Jesus (Jn.19:26), who was pierced with a spear (Jn.19:34). Mary, one of the wives from the house of Nathan.
After David, the lines of Joseph and Mary became separate via Solomon and Nathan. Between David and Jesus, the only names common to the genealogies of both Joseph and Mary are Shealtiel (Salathiel in Greek) and his son Zerubabbel; Mt.1:12, Lk.3:27, Ezr.3:2, 3:8, 5:2, Hag.1:1, 12, 14, 2:2, 23. Ne.12:1 “Zerubabbel the son of Shealtiel.” Seemingly at odds with those 11 verses is 1Ch.3:16-19, which says Zerubabbel was the son of Pedaiáh. However, LXX Nets 1Ch.3:19 Zerubabbel was the son of Salathiel. Perhaps Pedaiah died childless and his brother Shealtiel married Pedaiah’s widow as levirate and had Zerubabbel. Less likely, the Zerubabbel & Shealtiel in Lk.3:27 differ from the pair in Mt.1:12.
Now let’s examine the ‘curse of Jeconiah’, so-called. Preceding the Babylonian captivity, the son of King Josiah of Judah was Jehoaház/Shallúm; he ruled for 3 months. Then Jehoiákim/Eliakím, brother of Jehoahaz, ruled for 11 years (608-597 BC). The son of Jehoiakim was Jehoiachín/Jeconiah/Coniah; he ruled for 100 days. ref 2Ch.36:1-11, 1Ch.3:15-18, 2Ki.24:5-12, Est.2:6. These were all kings of Judah, not Israel. Nebuchadnézzar deported Coniah to Babylon, where he died 37 years later (560 BC), after being given favor & honor, Je.52:30-34! Jeconiah’s uncle Zedekiah/Mattaniah (brother to Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim) became the final king of Judah, ruling 11 years (597-586 BC). Je.52:1-2, 10-11 all Zedekiah’s sons were killed. He died childless in Babylon. Zedekiah’s line was terminated.
Je.21:1-14 Jeremiah told Zedekiah that the Lord would destroy Jerusalem. In Je.22:1-10, Zedekiah is warned to change his ways. v.11-28 Zedekiah is reminded of the fate of his three predecessors, Shallum/Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Jeconiah/Coniah. (Jehoiakim was the worst of Zedekiah’s three predecessors. He burned Jeremiah’s scroll, and his dead body later rotted under the sun without burial, Je.36:22-32.)
Je.22.29-30 has been called the ‘curse of Jeconiah’. But was Jeremiah here still referring to Coniah the preceding king, or now to Zedekiah the current king? KJV Je.22:29-30 “O earth, earth, earth, Hear the word of the Lord! ‘Write you this man childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days; for no man of his seed shall prosper sitting upon the throne of David or ruling any more in Judah.”
LXX Je.22:30 “Write you this man an outcast; for there shall none of his seed at all grow up to sit on the throne of David a prince (Strongs g758, Greek) in Judah.” LXX Nets Je.22:30 “Record this man as a banished person, because none of his offspring shall grow up to sit on the throne of David as ruler again in Judah.” Was Jeconiah/Coniah/Jehoiachin meant…or was Zedekiah?
Coniah wasn’t literally “childless”. He had at least six sons (1Ch.3:17-18). Whereas Zedekiah died childless. His sons were slaughtered (Je.52:10-11). TSK Je.22:30 “Zedekiah was taken prisoner, his sons slain before his eyes; and his eyes being put out, he was carried to Babylon.” Therefore King Zedekiah doesn’t appear in the genealogy of either Joseph or Mary. Jesus isn’t of Zedekiah’s descent.
The Lord declared that no seed of Zedekiah (or Coniah?) would sit on David’s throne or rule Judah. Jeconiah and his children were taken to Babylon and died in captivity. But his grandson Zerubabbel returned in the 530s BC…as governor in Judea, Hag.1:1! In Je.22:24, Jeremiah had said to Zedekiah, “Declares the Lord, ‘Even though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a signet ring (h2368, Hebrew) on My right hand, yet I would pull it off.” A signet ring or seal was held by the sovereign or legal authority. Hag.2:23 “Declares the Lord, ‘I will take you Zerubabbel, son of Shealtiel, and make you like a signet ring (h2368), for I have chosen you.” Barnes Notes Hag.2:23 “Cyrus entrusted him with the return of his people, and made him (who would have been the successor to the throne of Judah, had the throne been re-established) his governor over the people.” Pulpit Commentary “Zerubbabel is set at the head of the nation in the place of his grandfather Jeconiah.” Although Zerubabbel wasn’t made king, he was as a signet ring, as was Coniah. Zerubabbel or Sheshbazzár, as it is thought he was also known, was the ruling “prince of Judah” cf. Ezr.1:8-11 (LXX g758), 2:1-2, 3:8, 5:14-16. It doesn’t seem that Coniah’s grandson Zerubabbel was indicative of, or the recipient of, a curse.
Je.24:1-2, 5 Jeconiah and the other captives in Babylon were portrayed by the good figs. (2Ch.36:9 although he too did evil during his short 100-day reign, he lived for 37 years afterwards.) v.8-10 but Zedekiah was a curse, portrayed by the bad/evil figs. Also Zedekiah and the remaining dwellers in Jerusalem would be a curse in Je.29:1-2, 16-19. “Thus says the Lord to the king who sits on the throne of David and concerning all the people who dwell in this city. I will make them a curse and reproach.” Cambridge Bible Je.29:16 “The king, Zedekiah.” Gill Exposition “That is, King Zedekiah.” So a case can be made that the Je.22:29-30 ‘curse of Jeconiah’ was more aptly the ‘curse of Zedekiah’.
Mt.1:1-18 omits some generations of Joseph’s line, ending with Jesus. But Jeconiah and Zerubabbel are included (v.12). It seems Matthew wasn’t concerned with any ongoing ‘curse of Jeconiah’. Rabbi A. J. Rosenberg on Je.22:24 “In the prophecy Hag.2:23, God says, ‘On that day I will take you, Zerubbabel, and I will make you like a signet,’ for the King Messiah will be like a signet ring on God’s right hand. Coniah will be the signet on My right hand, for the Messiah will spring from his seed.” That rabbi didn’t think a ‘curse of Jeconiah’ would prevent Messiah from inheriting David’s throne!
Some think Jeconiah was cursed by God, but repented in captivity. So God removed the curse. Jewish Encyclopedia “Jehoiachin’s sad experiences changed his nature entirely, and as he repented of the sins he committed as king, he was pardoned by God, who revoked the decree to the effect that none of his descendants should ever become king: he even became the ancestor of the Messiah.” (Tan., Toledot, 20).
Joseph wasn’t Jesus’ biological father. In a sense, Joseph adopted Jesus as the firstborn son of Mary and himself. Thus Jesus became a legal heir of the line that went through David, Solomon, Zerubabbel, Jacob, Joseph. And Jesus was seed heir of the line that went through David, Nathan, Zerubabbel, Eli, Mary. Even if it was Jeconiah who God cursed (Je.22:29-30)…Jesus isn’t in the seed line of Jeconiah! Any curse on Jeconiah’s seed wouldn’t apply to Jesus!
Mary had a sister named Salóme. cf. Mk.15:40, Mt.27:56, Jn.19:25. (Biological sisters wouldn’t both be named Mary.) But no brothers. Joseph was probably deceased. Jn.19:25-27 Jesus gave His cousin John the responsibility of caring for Mary (she’d first be the responsibility of her: husband, son, brother). Jn.19:25 Bengel’s Gnomen “No brother of Mary is mentioned. She herself was heir of her father, and was therefore transmitting to Jesus the right to the kingdom of David.” All inheritances went through the males. But a daughter with no brothers could inherit her father’s possessions/rights, if she married within her father’s tribe, Nu.27:8 & 36:7-10. Except Levite women could freely intermarry, because Levites had no land inheritance to preserve, De.18:1-2. Eli (Mary’s father) and Joseph (Mary’s husband) were both from the tribe of Judah. In that sense, Joseph became Eli’s heir through marriage.
{Sidelight: Lk.1:5-7 Zacharías and Elizabeth were Levites descended from Aaron (their fathers were priests). They were elderly when she became pregnant with John the Baptizer (v.24). Elizabeth was probably young Mary’s aunt (v.36). Perhaps Mary’s father Eli of the tribe of Judah (Lk.3:23) had wed Elizabeth’s Aaronide sister. Though Eli’s daughters Mary & Salome were of Judah, their mother was a “daughter of Aaron” (priestly lineage). Mary wed Jacob’s son Joseph of Judah (Mt.1:16). Salome married Zebedee (cf. Mk.15:40, Mt.27:56, Jn.19:25), a well-to-do Galilean fisherman (Mk.1:19-20), who was of Aaron or Judah. Salome was Jesus’ aunt. Zebedee’s sons, James & John, were Jesus’ first cousins. Jesus was closest to James & John, and Peter (e.g. Mt.17:1-9 Transfiguration, Mt.26:37).}
Jesus, the “Branch” of David, was completely obedient. (see “Jesus Obeyed God’s Written Laws”.) Jesus didn’t break covenant, unlike the last four kings of Judah prior to the captivity, to which Jeremiah referred in Je.22. They were kings of Judah only. Jesus, Messiah ben David, inherits the throne of David as King of Israel (Jn.1:41, 49).
At creation in Ge.1:26-28, God gave dominion on earth to mankind. Jesus came in the flesh as a man, the “seed of the woman”. He never sinned (He.4:15, 1Pe.2:21-22). Jesus is fully qualified to rule over the earth, including all Israel. Ps.47:6-8 “Sing praises to our King. For God is the King of all the earth. God reigns over the nations.” Re.19:16 “He has a name written, ‘KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” Jesus/Yeshúa is the Emperor in the Kingdom of God. Praise the Lord!
Bible Topic Exposition 