I have chased after an ancient theory put forth by Arthur Charles Hervey and supported by the church fathers that both the genealogies of Matthew 1 and Luke 3 are Joseph’s. They believed that Matthew contains those with the right to rule and Luke ahows Joseph's physical descent. But then, Jesus is not the seed of David according to flesh, that is, from loin of Judah (for He was born of a virgin). So, I now lean towards the simplicity of the view that Matthew gives Joseph’s genealogy and Luke gives Mary’s. And both genealogies are required to tell the whole story. The line of Solomon was completely cutoff at the time of the captivity of Judah in Babylon. And the children of Israel had been under foreign control. So Luke tells how God fixed the situation by bringing forth the Messiah from a collateral line. Mary was a descendant of David’s other son— Nathan.
“Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s children shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; and as a lion, who shall rouse him? ” In verse 8, Judah is made the object of praise and endowed with worldwide dominion. Verse 9 continues this portrayal of Judah’s rule by vividly depicting him as a young, growing lion that has hunted down its prey, has returned to its den with its kill, and rests in power where no one dares challenge him.” (Judah's Scepter by Peter Y Lee)
“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, or a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.” (Genesis 49:10) “The phrase ‘from between his feet’ is a euphemism for the male reproductive organ (Judges 3:24; 1 Sam. 24:3; Isa. 7:20) and thus represents Judah’s progeny." (Judah's Scepter by Peter Y Lee)
“What is meant by the phrase ‘until Shiloh comes’ is not that at this time the scepter of leadership will depart from Judah, but, on the contrary, from that time on, the scepter will remain in actuality within the tribe of Judah. The adverb 'ad ('until') is used in a similar sense in a number of instances; for example: ‘For I will not leave you until I have done that which I have spoken to you’ (Gen 28:15), and ‘No man shall be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them’ (Deut 7:24). Did God leave Jacob after doing all that He promised him? Were the enemies of Israel who were killed able to stand after they were destroyed? Even after the Messiah comes the scepter will still belong to Judah. The right to the scepter will never depart from Judah until the Messiah comes, at which time his scepter will be wielded over all nations (Isaiah 11); up to that time it was wielded over Israel alone.” (The Scepter of Judah, Shiloh and the Messiah— Gerald Sigal)
To understand the change from Solomon to Nathan, we need to contrast the promises to David and Solomon: TO DAVID: “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. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” (2 Sam 7:12-16) “Of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, God would raise up Christ to sit on His throne,' as St Peter expounds it, Acts ii. 30.— BUT TO SOLOMON: The promise concerning Solomon was, only 'that the throne of his kingdom should be established for ever, which is further explained by the declaration, My mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.' And then again, as if to mark distinctly the contrast between the promise to David and the promise to Solomon, it is added, 'And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever,' 2 Sam. vii. 13-16. And even in 1 Chron. vi. 14, which is perhaps the strongest expression of the promise as regards Solomon, to whom it must primarily be applied, although it is strictly and fully applicable only to Christ himself, the promise is still only, that 'his throne shall be established for ever.' Neither in the Old or New Testament is there any thing said of Solomon similar to what is said concerning David... I would repeat then, that while the promises to David distinctly require that Christ should be David's seed, the promises to Solomon will be quite satisfied by Christ being his heir to the throne [in Judah].” (Arthur Charles Hervey)
Solomon allowed his heart to be swayed by his love of “many foreign women" to other gods. ”Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you (his son, Rehoboam) and give it to your servant. (1 Kings 11:1)-- "namely, Jeroboam, whom God permitted to rise into power and influence, that he might take the greatest part of his kingdom from him." (Joseph Benson) "It becomes now evident that the oath-bound covenant concerning a man to sit upon the throne of David with a glorious kingdom established, must be fulfilled in another son of David. Solomon fails. The kingdom is rent from him [in part].” (Arno Gaebelien) And later the kingdom was rent entirely from him:
“Approx. 334 years after Solomon died (ca. 931 BC), 18-year-old Jehoiachin ascended the throne (ca. 597 BC). He is also called Coniah and Jeconiah. Jehoiachin was an evil man and a wicked king. He reigned merely three months before he was exiled to Babylon, never to return. But in those three months, he so angered God that the LORD cursed Jehoiachin and all his descendants: 'Write this man down as childless,... for none of his descendants shall prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling anymore in Judah' (Jer. 22:30). Not only was Jehoiachin’s throne not established, but none of his heirs would ever rule over Judah or Israel. His bloodline bore the legal rights to David’s throne, but it also bore the curse. So how could Jesus—David’s greater Son and long-expected Messiah—prosper on David’s throne if the bloodline through the kings of Judah was cursed?” (The Curse by Tom Simcox)
The answer lies in the two lineages of Jesus: Matthew 1:1–17 and Luke 3:23–38. On Luke 3:23: "The original Greek merely says Joseph was 'of Heli' or Eli (verse 23). In fact, since Joseph's father is said to be Jacob in Matthew 1:16, Heli is most probably Mary's father. Joseph, then, is his son-in-law.
Unlike Joseph's lineage, there was no block in Mary's genealogy to Jesus sitting on the throne of David. Mary's descent from David comes through his son Nathan, not Solomon or one of David's other children (Luke 3:31). To fulfill His promise to establish David's throne forever, God honored Nathan by making him the ancestor of the promised King who would sit on David's throne throughout eternity (Luke 1:31-33).
But how could Mary transmit David's royal inheritance—the right to the throne—to her Son, since all inheritances had to pass through the male line? According to Israel's law, when a daughter is the only heir, she can inherit her father's possessions and rights if she marries within her own tribe (Numbers 27:1-8; 36:6-8). There is no record that Mary had any brothers to inherit her father's possessions and rights. Thus, Joseph became Heli's heir by marriage to Mary, inheriting the right to rule on David's throne, even over Judah. This right then passed on to Jesus.
Both genealogies had to be recorded to establish Christ's right to rule on David's throne. Joseph's genealogy shows that Christ was a legal descendant of Jeconiah and thus legally could not sit on the throne of David in the nation Judah by inheriting the right solely through Joseph.
Further, the genealogies prove the virgin birth: The curse on Jeconiah's line would have passed on to Christ if He were Joseph's natural son, but He was not—He was the Son of God the Father, begotten by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was Mary's son descended from Nathan. Jesus can inherit rule over Judah because of Mary's marriage to Joseph, whose genealogy shows he was Heli's son-in-law." ( https://www.cgg.org/index.cfm/library/bqa/id/184/why-does-jesus-have-two-different-genealogies-matthew-11-16-luke-323-38.htm?fbclid=IwAR0gDqI75tm3AVyWOab82qojtgG7cLkK4NN00kiePXlEgvYXHmKOrIEk8qk )
“'Binding his donkey to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, He washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes.' (11) Now Jacob points to a time of great abundance in the future of Judah's people. The king mentioned in the previous verse who will come from the tribe of Judah is very likely a reference to the eternal King, the Messiah Himself (Acts 2:36). Jacob's mention of Judah's descendant riding a donkey fits Zechariah's prophesy that the King of Zion will come 'humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey' (Zech 9:9). Jesus fulfilled this prophesy in what Christians refer to as the triumphal entry on the Sunday prior to His crucifixion (Matt 21:1–11). Normally, nobody would tie a donkey to a choice grapevine: the donkey would eat the valuable wine grapes. What Jacob describes is a time when grapes are so abundant that nobody worries about running out. They even wash their clothes in wine—an exaggeration meant to imply that fine wine will be as plentiful as water. This points to the enormous blessings under the rule of the Messiah in a distant era (Rev 20:4). — 'His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.' (12) Continuing the poetic language, Jacob compares the eyes of Judah's future descendants to wine. This may be a reference to attractiveness. Some believe this is better translated as 'dark with wine,' another reference to how wine is easily available in their land. Their teeth may be 'whiter than milk' from drinking abundant amounts of milk or this may be another suggestion that Judah's descendants will be attractive, prosperous people." ((Gen 49:11-12; bibleref.com)
Comments