Understanding Jesus' genealogy is important if we are to understand Jesus' fulfillment as Messiah and High
Priest of Old Covenant prophecy.
As a descendant of Judah, He would be the Messiah of Israel.
Genesis 4910 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering
of the people be.
(Shiloh from the Hebrew word Shiyloh is a direct reference to the Messiah) (Strong 7886).
Psalm 45 6 Thy throne, O
God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. 7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore
God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
As a descendant of the tribe of Levi, He would
become a High Priest and could give atonement for sin.
Exodus 28 41 "After you put these clothes on your brother Aaron
and his sons, anoint and ordain them. Consecrate them so they may serve me as priests. 42 Make linen undergarments as
a covering for the body, reaching from the waist to the thigh. 43 Aaron and his sons must wear them whenever they enter the tent
of meeting or approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they will not incur guilt and die. This is to be
a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants." (NIV)
Jesus needed to be of the genealogy of both tribes Judah
and Levi to fulfill prophecy.
King David as a prophet saw that the Messiah would be from the lineage of Judah through
himself.
Psalm 132 11 The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thythrone. 12 If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy
throne for evermore. 13 For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. 14 This is my rest for ever: here will
I dwell; for I have desired it.
Psalm 2 1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth
set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3 Let us break their bands
asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision. 5 Then
shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. 6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.7 I
will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
The prophet Isaiah also saw
that this Messiah would be from the lineage of Judah through David ("stem of Jesse")...
Isaiah 11 1 And there shall come
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
...as
did Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 37 24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk
in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
King David also prophesied the Messiah would be lineage
of high priest.
Psalm 110 1 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. 2 The
LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. 3 Thy people shall be willing in the
day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. 4 The LORD hath sworn,
and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
As high priest, the Messiah would descend from
Levi because Levi was chosen to be consecrated to God.
Numbers 3 5 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 6 Bring the tribe of Levi
near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. 7 And they shall keep his charge, and the charge
of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle. 8 And they shall keep all
the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle.9 And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel.
[Aaron
was given the job of high priest while his sons and their descendants were to continue this job so that there would always
be a high priest from the lineage of Levi through Aaron (Ex. 28).]
Quoted Old Covenant Scripture shows
the Messiah must come from the lineage of Judah through David if He is to be the prophesied Messiah, and if He is to be
a high priest, He must come from the lineage of Aaron.
A look at New Covenant Scripture will show if Jesus fulfilled
both.
Matthew gives the ancestry of Joseph, husband of Mary, Jesus' mother (Matt. 1:1-16). But since Jesus
was not actually a descendant of Joseph, we need to look further within Scripture to find His heritage.
Scripture tells
us that as Son of God Jesus had no human father.
Luke 1 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God.
So, the only way to find Jesus' human ancestry is through His mother Mary.
Luke's gospel gives Mary's ancestry.
Luke
3 23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,24 Which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Janna, which was the
son of Joseph, 25 Which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Amos, which was the son of Naum, which was the son of Esli,
which was the son of Nagge, 26 Which was the son of Maath, which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Semei, which was
the son of Joseph, which was the son of Juda, 27 Which was the son of Joanna, which was the son of Rhesa, which was the son of Zorobabel,
which was the son of Salathiel, which was the son of Neri, 28 Which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Addi, which was the
son of Cosam, which was the son of Elmodam, which was the son of Er, 29 Which was the son of Jose, which was the son of Eliezer, which
was the son of Jorim, which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, 30 Which was the son of Simeon, which was the son of
Juda, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Jonan, which was the son of Eliakim, 31 Which was the son of Melea, which
was the son of Menan, which was the son of Mattatha, which was the son of Nathan, which was the son of David, 32 Which was the son
of Jesse, which was the son of Obed, which was the son of Booz, which was the son of Salmon, which was the son of Naasson, 33 Which
was the son of Aminadab, which was the son of Aram, which was the son of Esrom, which was the son of Phares, which was the son of
Juda, 34 Which was the son of Jacob, which was the son of Isaac, which was the son of Abraham, which was the son of Thara, which was
the son of Nachor, 35 Which was the son of Saruch, which was the son of Ragau, which was the son of Phalec, which was the son of Heber,
which was the son of Sala, 36 Which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Arphaxad, which was the son of Sem, which was theson of Noe, which was the son of Lamech, 37 Which was the son of Mathusala, which was the son of Enoch, which was the son of Jared,
which was the son of Maleleel, which was the son of Cainan, 38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the
son of Adam, which was the son of God.
[Heli was the father of Mary (v. 23) but Joseph was listed in the line continuation
instead of Mary (v. 23) because as Mary's husband he was given title to the genealogy of Mary (thus the comment added "as
was supposed" meaning "it was believed to be" (Greek nomizo) (Strong 3543). In the Greek, the word "tou" which translates
into English as "belonging to" (Strong 5120) was before each name except Joseph's, showing that it was only Joseph's
heritage in question since it was actually Mary's heritage.]
Luke says that Jesus was ancestry of the
tribe of Judah (v. 33).
Though Luke does not tell us how Jesus is ancestry to the tribe of Levi through Mary's lineage,
he does tell us how Jesus descended from Levi by letting us know that Mary was a cousin to Elizabeth (Luke 1:36) and that Elizabeth
was a descendant of Levi through Aaron the priest.
Luke 1 5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named
Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. 6 And they were both righteous
before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
As cousins, they both would have shared a common
ancestry of Levi through Aaron.
Jesus was lineage of the tribe of Judah through Mary's father Heli and the tribe of Levi
through Mary's mother.
This means that Jesus could be both Messiah and high priest.
Through His lineage, Jesus
became our anointed Messiah (Christ) and our atoning salvation ("the author of eternal salvation").
John 20
31 But these are
written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
Hebrews
4
14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like
as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to
help in time of need.
Hebrews 5 1 For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to
God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: 2 Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of
the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. 3 And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself,
to offer for sins. 4 And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. 5 So also Christ glorified
not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. 6 As he saith also
in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. 7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up
prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9 And being made perfect, he became the author of
eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; 10 Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
An added
note about the genealogy of Jesus:
In the genealogy of Matthew, the Messiah is called "the Son of David, the Son of Abraham"
(Matt. 1:1).
In the genealogy of Luke, the Messiah is called "the Son of Adam, the Son of God" (Luke 3:38).
This is a fourfold
portrait of the Messiah. As Son of David, Jesus is King. As Son of Abraham, He is a Jew. As Son of Adam, He is a man. And as the Son
of God, He is God.
Son of David.
Psalm 132 11 The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of
the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.
Son of Adam.
Genesis 3 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman,
and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Son of Abraham.
Genesis 123 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Son
of God.
Psalm 110 1 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
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Works
Cited
Strong, James. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Hendrickson Publishers, Incorporated, 2009.
