According to the Bible there is a curse on the bloodline of King David's descendent Koniyahu [known as Y'khanyahu in the King James Version]. It is argued by some that since the New Testament says our Rebbe came through this lineage he can not be haMoshiach ("the Messiah"). Is this correct? Let's consider this allegation. Jeremiah 22:28 Is this man Koniyahu [KJV: Y'khanyahu] a despised, broken pot, an instrument nobody wants? Why are they being thrown out? Why are he and his offspring thrown out into a country they do not know?
29 Oh, land, land, land! Hear the word of ADONAI!
30 This is what ADONAI says: "List this man as childless; he is a lifetime failure - none of his offspring will succeed, none will sit on David's throne or rule again in Y'hudah."
And yet we have this:
Matthew 1:1 This is the genealogy of Yeshua the Messiah, son of David, son of Avraham...
11 Yoshiyahu [KJV: Josias] was the father of Y'khanyahu [KJV: Jechonias] and his brothers at the time of the Exile to Bavel [KJV: Babylon]...
16 Ya`akov [KJV: Jacob] was the father of Yosef [KJV: Joseph] the husband of Miryam [KJV: Mary], from whom was born the Yeshua [KJV: Jesus] who was called the Messiah.
Does this lineage negate Rebbe Y'shua as coming Melekh (King of Israel)?
No. The presence of Y'khanyahu (Koniyahu/Jechonias) in Rebbe Y'shua's lineage (through his legal father Yosef) posses no difficulty to his Messianic claims at all. Indeed, Rebbe Y'shua's recorded dual lineage solves this prophetic challenge and makes his role as Messiah possible! Indeed, without this precise lineage it is difficult to imagine how haMoshiach could/will ever come!
According to the New Testament writings Yosef (Joseph) was our Rebbe's legal father. He was not "born out wedlock" as commonly believed. Under Jewish law at the time when Yosef and Miryam became "engaged" they were legally married, even though that marriage had not yet been consummated. Therefore Miriam's son, an ibur neshamot or intentionally placed soul, was Yosef's son in all legal respects.
Yosef legally married Miryam before she became pregnant but did not have intimate relations with her until after his birth according to Matthew 1:25. As Meshiykhiyyim (or authentic Messianic Jews) we accept the biblical version of these events.
As any son would, Y'shua inherited his father's lineage (Matthew 1:6,16). Yosef's lineage (and hence Y'shua's) passed through Jesse's son King David (Isaiah 11:1) and on through his son King Shlo'mo (Solomon: I Kings 2:12, Matthew 1:6). This lineage includes the curse that was placed on the bloodline of Y'khanyahu (recorded at Jeremiah 22:28).
This bloodline (with the curse) passed on to Yosef (Matthew 1:11) and to the children he fathered with Miryam (including Y'shua's half brother James, chief elder of the talmidim after the festival of Shavu'ot: i.e. the Day of Pentecost, described at Acts 2). Due to this curse, no descendant of Yosef can ever sit on the "Throne of David" as King of Israel/Judah.
This means that had Y'shua been a physical descendant of Yosef he could not have been haMoshiach based on his lineage as some of his critics point out.
However remember that Rebbe Y'shua was not of Yosef's bloodline according to the New Testament account. Yosef was not his biological father (Matthew 1:18) and therefore Rebbe Y'shua is not included in the bloodline curse of his father (even as an adopted child does not inherit the genetic pre-dispositions of his/her adoptive parents). Rebbe Y'shua's virgin birth as an ibur neshamot or intentionally placed soul therefore frees him from this royal exclusion. Without the virgin birth Rebbe Y'shua could not be haMoshiach.
This is not to say a virgin birth is a biblical requirement for haMoshiach. Nowhere do the Tanakh prophets speak of it. However considering the curse on Y'khanyahu's bloodline we can understand how our Rebbe's extra-normal birth made the fulfilment of the prophecies possible and are hard pressed to see how they could be fulfilled otherwise. The lineage is required and the lineage is blocked by the curse.
Rebbe Y'shua's biological mother Miryam (Mary) also passed on her royal (Davidic) linage to the child. As required by messianic prophecy (Isaiah 11:1) Miryam also descended from Jesse of Bethlehem of Judah (Micah 5:2) and his son King David (Isaiah 9:7; Matthew 1:6; Luke 1:27), but through David's son (Shlo'mo's brother) Nathan rather than through Solomon and Y'khanyahu. This gave Y'shua a dual Davidic (House of Judah) lineage (both kingly and priestly) without the curse of Y'khanyahu negatively affecting him.
Further, Miryam's cousin Elisheva (Elisabeth) married a cohen (priest) named Z'kharyah (Luke 1:5). This strongly suggests the presence of a Levitic bloodline in Miryam's family for both Yochanan the Immerser (John the Baptist) and his cousin Rebbe Y'shua.
Despite the well established and biblically consistent Jewish tradition of determining "Jewishness" through the mother (and house/tribal affiliation through the father), Karaite Jews trace both lines through the father. For this reason they sometimes argue that the lineage of haMoshiach, and hence Rebbe Y'shua were he accepted by them, must be calculated through the father rather than through the mother. This objection is not scripturally defensible, but for the sake of argument let's consider it.
According to the New Testament account, Rebbe Y'shua was not biologically Yosef's son. Torah gives instructions of what to do when there is no existing known paternal lineage. While the details of Y'shua's birth are certainly unique, the calculation of his lineage is clearly established in the Tanakh.
Since Rebbe Y'shua had no (known) biological father (Luke 1:27), his legal lineage would pass through his mother and her House as stated at Numbers 27:8 and she was of the required lineage (as was Yosef).
Prior to the destruction of the Temple records in 70 CE birth and death registries were carefully maintained categorizing all Israelites according to their houses and ancestries (as we find in Flavius Josephus, Contra Apionem ("Against Apion"), Book 1:7). Based on this biblical and cultural requirement, Miryam would have had to marry within her own house (Judah) of Israel (Numbers 36:6,7) so that the integrity of the houses/tribes would be preserved -- of course by this point in history only two identifiable houses remained: Judah and Benjamin. Both Miryam and Yosef were therefore clearly of the Tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:8-12, Matthew 1:3). This therefore is not a disqualifying argument against his royal claim.
We therefore can understand from Scripture that Y'shua's claim to the Throne of his ancestor David (compare Psalm 110) passed to him through his mother Miryam and his father Yosef in a way that the curse of Y'khanyahu does not apply to him.
The following is an edited reply to a reader on this important topic. Consider the following as a further clarification on this question.
In the books of the B'rit Hadashah (New Testament) greater emphasis is placed on the paternal lineage than on the maternal. This has raised various questions regarding Rebbe Y'shua's claim to the Throne.
Both of Rebbe Y'shua's lineages are found in the books of the B'rit Hadashah. This is very important because there is a curse on the lineage of Joseph (due to Y'khanyahu: KJV: Koniyahu) preventing any of his physical descendents from ever being crowned king of Israel. Had Joseph been Y'shua's biological father Rebbe Y'shua could not be haMoshiach (as some rabbis and others contend). His non-biological paternal lineage passes through king David, through King Solomon, through Joseph, while his maternal lineage is through King David and Nathan (Solomon's brother, thus bypassing the curse) and Miryam.
By the standard laws and traditions of the House of Judah (Judaism) "Jewishness" passes through the mother while House/Tribal affiliation passes through the father (our perspective as Rabbinic Jews is that this is the correct understanding, we simply do not wish to alienate our Karaite brothers and sisters on this point). In Rebbe Y'shua we have a man qualified to be haMoshiach through both lineages and one who also sidesteps the Y'khanyahu curse that passed through his father.
It is difficult to see how haMoshiach can be the son of David through Solomon (hence through Y'khanyahu) without something like the virgin birth taking place due to the clearly stated prohibition against anyone of that blood line ever again being crowned King of Israel (as haMoshiach must be). If our Rebbe is not haMoshiach how will this prophecy ever be fulfilled?
During his recorded ministry no one questioned Rebbe Y'shua's "Jewishness" (since Miryam was clearly Jewish) and so that was not the focus of the challenges laid against him.
Consider that if "Jewishness" passes through the father (as the Karaite Jews maintain) our Rebbe's Jewishness certainly would have been challenged. Had the rabbis merely accepted the claim that Rebbe Y'shua was indeed an ibbur neshamot and not the biological son of Joseph, they could have easily disqualified him as haMoshiach based on the direct claims of he and his talmidim regarding his birth. They also would never have acknowledged him as rabbi (a rabbinic Torah teacher) were his Jewishness not accepted. That they didn't challenge his Jewishness affirms the truth of the Rabbinic understanding (at least as far back as the first century CE). "Jewishness" passes through the mother.
Similarly, Islam claims that because Ishmael was a son of Avraham avinu (and the firstborn at that) he and his descendents are the rightful inheritors of the Promise. Torah directly rejects this claim however, stating that the Promise passes through Sarah and her descendents:
Genesis 17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
17:21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
The maternal passing on of the Promise is well established biblically and historically among the Jewish people.
Shalom,
~ Rabbi Yochanan
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