Is Jesus a descendant of David?

Jesus turned the world upside down. He walked the earth, claiming to be the Messiah his people were waiting for. Jesus was not what they were expecting. Many rejected him outright, refusing to believe and angered by his presumption. Others flocked to him, not understanding, but wanting to hear his every word. Scholars quietly searched the scriptures to see if it could be true. They looked to the prophesies to confirm his heritage. They knew the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah, a descendant of David. Jesus' genealogy had to be perfect to support his claims. The public records had to show that he was from the line of David.

Heritage was important to the Jews and they kept detailed records. For Jesus to be legally considered an heir of David, even his adoptive father, Joseph had to be from David's line. The gospel writer Matthew knew the importance of Jesus fulfilling the prophesies and begins his book with the genealogy of Jesus through Joseph.

Matthew 1:1 – 16 –“A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham :…( 6) and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,…(16) and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called the Christ.

As a decendant of David, Joseph's records validated the correct heritage for Jesus to be the Messiah. But Jesus didn't have a biological father like the rest of us. For him to truely be from the line of David, Mary, his only biological parent also had to be a descendant of David.

The gospel writer Luke includes a second genealogy for Jesus, it also lists Jesus as the son of Joseph. So how do we know it's really the genealogy of Mary? There are some important differences indicating that it isn't Joseph's records.

Luke 3:23 – 38 – “Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat…(31) the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse…”

We know that this could not be the lineage for the same person as the record in Matthew because it is traced back through David’s son Nathan instead of Solomon. Another difference is the father of Joseph is listed as Heli instead of Jacob. This is the biggest clue indicating that this is actually Mary’s genealogy filed under her husband. The law required that all genealogies be listed under the head of the household. The Jewish Talmud tells us that Heli was Mary’s father. (Chagigah 77.4) Joseph was his son-in-law. With this in mind, we can conclude that Luke is recording the genealogy of Jesus’ mother, Mary and confirming Jesus’ right to the throne of David biologically as well as legally.