Line of David
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Line of David
Q: How may we reconcile Jesus' Davidic lineage with His birth from the Virgin Mary?
A: Although we have no extant genealogy of Mary, Luke 1:32 alludes to her being in the line of David. Since Jesus had no human father, Mary's lineage puts Him in the family of David. However, Matthew's Gospel shows the difficulty in this. He lists Joseph's lineage only, as Jewish custom dictates. Matthew traces Joseph back to David, but then states that Joseph is not Jesus' father. For Matthew, when Joseph named Jesus, he became His legal father and so assured Jesus' place in the Davidic line. In either case, the evangelists saw no contradiction between Jesus' Davidic lineage and His birth from a Virgin.