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    FAQ 79
    Was Yah'shua (Jesus) Joseph's Son?
    NCW 7, December 1993

    Q. If Yah'shua (Jesus) was not the literal son of Joseph, why is Joseph's genealogy given in the Bible? What would be the point?

    First, let us be quite clear that Yah'shua (Jesus) was not the literal, biological son of Joseph. The Gospel of Matthew leaves us in no doubt that Yah'shua (Jesus)' conception was miraculous and that no human (or "divine") intercourse took place (Matt.1:1-25). Rather, what was conceived in Mary was "from the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit)" (v.20, JNT). Therefore the only genes that could have been present in Yah'shua (Jesus) were from Mary's genealogical line, and even then we do not know to what extent the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) modified these. It may even be that the genes were completely made anew using Mary's physical matter (we do not know to what extent Yah'shua (Jesus) resembled His earthly mother).

    So why is Joseph's genealogy traced? There are probably several reasons. Firstly, for legal reasons. Irrespective of whether Joseph was the biological father or not, he was at least the legal father. To all intents and purposes, Yah'shua (Jesus) was an adopted son.

    Secondly, the father is the head of the household and the genealogy of children was always traced through the male line in Hebrew culture (the opposite was true in Egypt which was a matrilineal society, genealogy being traced through the female line). As the adopted child of Joseph, Yah'shua (Jesus) nevertheless obtained the name of Joseph, and was called Yah'shua (Jesus), son of Joseph.

    Thirdly, the Gospel teaches plainly that we are all the adopted sons and daughters of Abraham by emunah (faith). Even though those who are Gentiles have no blood lineage back to Abraham, they are nevertheless his sons and daughters through emunah (faith) in Christ. Likewise, we become the sons and daughters of Messiah through adoption. The principle of adoption is important, and the origin of the one to whom we are adopted to is therefore important. And the origin of Messiah is Elohim (God).

    The purpose of Joseph's genealogical tree in the Gospel of Matthew is to establish kingly descent. Joseph was a pure descendant of David and therefore entitled to sit on the throne of Israel in place of the upstart Herod.

    But even if Yah'shua (Jesus) did not belong biologically to Joseph's Davidic line, He certainly did through His mother Mary. Mary was a descendant of Nathan, Solomon's brother and son of Bathsheba, the wife of David. Joseph was a descendant of Solomon, Nathan's brother.

    There are important spiritual principles hidden up in these two genealogies. They are, if studied with the eye of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit), a beautiful picture of the redeeming mission of the Master Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). Yah'shua (Jesus) came as two parts of a unique whole -- He came as Elohim (God) and as man -- as (1) pure spirit and as (2) earthly flesh. To effect His redeeming work a Virgin Birth was absolutely essential. Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) had to have two genealogies, therefore -- a divine genealogy and an earthly one. Mary provided the earthly one and Joseph, by proxy, provided the 'heavenly' one.

    For the Hebrews, genealogy meant everything. It lay at the heart of the Mosaic dispensation. Yah'shua (Jesus) came to bring the Mosaic dispensation to its completion -- to fill it up spiritually, as it were, by elevating it to its true spiritual position, and not the lower, fleshy, school-master position which it occupied under the Old Covenant. He not only lived the outer covenant perfectly, without sin (the Mary dimension) but also lifted it into a new dimension (the Joseph principle). Though Mary had the biological line establishing Yah'shua (Jesus) as the legitimate King of Israel, Joseph - by proxy for our Heavenly Father - represented quite a different line -- a spiritual one. Though he himself had the biological line requirements too, it was not that which was of the utmost importance -- for Yah'shua (Jesus) came not as a political Messiah (on the first occasion) but as a spiritual one. The Kingdom He came to establish was "not of this world".

    Matthew was a Hebrew and quite possibly he alone of the four Gospel writers wrote in Hebrew. He was writing to a Hebrew audience, for whom genealogy was important. Mark, Luke, and John, who in all likelihood wrote in Greek, mention no genealogy at all. In a way, the latter three represent the 'completion' or the 'filling up' of the Law of Moses -- filling the outer, physical vessel (represented by the Gospel of Matthew) with the Ruach Elohim (Spirit of God) (represented by their own three Gospels). People have wondered why there are Four Gospels in our Bible, and I suspect it is, in part, to symbolise the transition from a predominantly flesh-centred Old Covenant to a Ruach/Spirit-centred New Covenant, where the Old is now only one part in four relative to the New Ruach (Spirit). Such is only a speculation but appears to this writer to have a good foundation.

    Throughout the Gospels, and particularly John's Gospel, we detect a force or movement, as it were, which is trying to elevate the human consciousness above the physical and into the spiritual. It cannot be any accident that Matthew's Gospel is the first chronologically in the Messianic Scriptures (New Testament), for it is the stepping stone from the old thinking and the first tentative steps into the new. Matthew, writing to the blood descendants of Israel, is preparing the stage for the Great Adoption by all those who believe into the same great family of Elohim (God).

    The fact that Matthew's Gospel contains accounts both of Joseph's genealogy and Yah'shua (Jesus)' miraculous conception can mean only one thing: that we are to understand that a marvelous work and a wonder is about to take place on all levels of Creation, from the physical (genealogical) to the spiritual. If Yah'shua (Jesus) had been naturally conceived and the writer had wished to stress this, then the story of the Virgin Birth would never have been included because it would have been a blatant contradiction. Indeed, it would have been so laughable that nobody would have believed the apostles' message.

    But for we who have found the Messiah, and have been reborn in His Ruach (Spirit), the presence of Joseph's genealogical line is no mystery. For as Joseph adopted Elohim/God-in-the-flesh on the earth, so Elohim/God-in-the-flesh has adopted us in heaven. We, too, have received a 'virgin birth' of sorts but on a different plane. Our rebirth on the spiritual plane is the fruits of that planting on the physical plane. We too have a biological line through our mothers and fathers and they are important to us so that we know to whom we belong on the earth. But as all Christians/Messianics know, we also have another genealogical line through adoption, making us children of heaven and citizens of a better world. We have been adopted by one who was adopted Himself, the One we know who has experienced everything and knows us through and through. God, in His infinite wisdom, left nothing incomplete.


    Supplement
    22 October 2019

    More recent scholarship into the Hebraic texts of the Gospel of Matthew has revealed that "the husband of Mary" in Matthew 1:16 should be "the father of Mary":

      "And Jacob begot Yosef avi Miriyam (Joseph the father of Mary), of whom was born Yah'shua (Jesus) who is called Messiah (Christ)" (Matt.1:16, NKJV, adapted).

    Or as the Aramaic has it:

      "Ya'akov (Jacob) fathered Yisef (Jospeh) the gawra of Maryah (Mary, Miriyam), of whom was born Yah'shua called Moshiach (Messiah, the Anointed One)" (Mt.1:16, Kata Mattyah: The Good News According to Matthew, translated by Jackson H.Snyder)

    Gowra in Aramaic may be 'father', 'protector' ('guardian') or 'husband'. (Remember, that each Hebrew or Aramaic world may have up to half-a-dozen unrelated meanings unlike Greek or English which are more precise - therefore context is essential). To make the 14 generations, the word here must mean 'father of', making this the toledoth (genealogy) of Maryah (Mary), who was married to another Yosef (Joseph).

    Andrew Gabriel Roth translates gowra as "guardian" in his Aramaic English New Testament and adds this footnote:

      "The word gawra designates a protector-male or guardian; the context of this verse determines its specific meaning. Y'shua elsewhere says "which one of gowra, if he has a son..."; obviously "father" is intended. 'Gowra' also applies to other forms of protector-male type relationships, depending on the context, such as 'husband', 'son', and so forth. Ancient Aramaic Matthew ends at verse 17, not verse 25. The text not only establishes, but shifts from 'background history' into the present, from intro to body. This means that Yosip (Aramaic for Yosef/Joseph) in verse 16 (the guardian or adopted father of Miriyam (Mary)) is not the same Yosip (Joseph) as the husband of Miriyam (Mary) in verse 19. There is no reason for Matthew to use two different words for the same individual, whereas gowra sometimes means 'husband' but can also mean 'father'. The other term baalah (master, lord) can only mean 'husband'. On the other hand, there would definitely be a reason to diffentiate two men called Yosip (Joseph), one being the adoped father, the other the husband of Miriyam (Mary). With this differentiation we now have three full sets of 14 generations, which satisfies the demands of verse 17..." (p.2, footnote #5).

    Before the advent of pointing (vowel marking) gawra ('elder', 'father', 'head of household') and gura ('husband') would have been indistinguishable, so the only way to have known which was which was either context, experience, or a mixture of both.

    This page was created on 18 April 1998
    Last updated on 22 October 2019

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