Christ Came Through Solomon and Bathsheba. How did David's Son Nathan Come in to It? Reconcile the Genealogies in Matthew 1 and Luke 3?
1) Direct answer
There is no contradiction. Matthew gives the royal, legal line to Joseph through David’s son Solomon. Luke gives the natural, blood line to Mary through David’s son Nathan. Joseph is named in Luke “as was supposed” because he was the husband, the legal head; but the descent there runs through Mary, whose father was Heli. So Jesus has the legal right to David’s throne through Joseph (Solomon’s line) and the blood of David through Mary (Nathan’s line), all without being Joseph’s physical son.
2) Scriptural explanation
- Matthew’s record: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1), traces from Abraham down to “Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus” (Matthew 1:16). Notice it never says Joseph begat Jesus. It’s the royal succession through Solomon (Matthew 1:6-7).
- Luke’s record: “Jesus… being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli” (Luke 3:23), then traces back through Nathan, not Solomon (Luke 3:31). “As was supposed” marks that men thought Joseph was the father, but he was not.
- The virgin birth: “A virgin shall conceive” (Isaiah 7:14). “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee… that holy thing… shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). So Jesus is not Joseph’s seed.
- Yet He must be David’s seed: “Made of the seed of David according to the flesh” (Romans 1:3). Mary is of David (Luke 1:27), and the Lord gives Him “the throne of His father David” (Luke 1:32).
- The Jeconiah barrier: God said of Coniah/Jeconiah, “no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David” (Jeremiah 22:30). Matthew’s legal line runs through Jeconiah (Matthew 1:11-12). If Jesus were Joseph’s physical son, He would be under that judgment. But He wasn’t Joseph’s seed; He was born of a virgin. Thus:
- Legal right comes by Joseph’s line through Solomon (Matthew).
- Blood descent comes by Mary’s line through Nathan (Luke), bypassing Jeconiah.
3) Simple clarifying logic
- Two sons of David cannot both be Joseph’s fathers. So one record is Joseph’s legal line (Matthew), and the other is Mary’s natural line (Luke), with Joseph named as “son” of Heli by marriage (a son-in-law). That fits the wording “as was supposed.”
- Matthew is about the throne—kingship—so it follows Solomon. Luke is about true humanity all the way to Adam, so it follows Mary’s bloodline through Nathan.
- God guarded the promise perfectly: Jesus is truly David’s Son by Mary, yet not under Jeconiah’s curse; and He holds the legal title through Joseph.
4) Reinforcing statement
You see, the Bible fits like a glove. The virgin birth, Davidic promises, and the two branches—Solomon and Nathan—come together in Christ without a single break in the Scripture.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
A Greater than Solomon is here now
64-0306 §23
Now, we find out, He comes down then, after speaking of Jonah, and He comes to Solomon's age. Now we all know that Solomon's age was the millennium, almost, of the Old Testament. It was the greatest time of all Israel ever had, was under the reign of Solomon. No wars to speak of, and they had a great time. God gave Solomon, which was a son of David, gave him a gift of discernment. And now, he could discern the thoughts in the people's heart. Now, how that Hebrew standing there ought to have recognized that. Solomon...
There is a man here that can turn on the light
63-1229M §22
Then we find after he come Obed, and after he come Boaz, and there come another Gentile in--which he come in by Ruth--and out of there come Jesse; and out of Jesse come David. And a little hillside stable out there brought forth the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, the Son of David, his spiritual son. Now, then he was... David himself being born in the city, He had to come to this little spot. And it was called Bethlehem which means "the house of God's bread." And He is the house of God's bread. And David, laying there...
Why little Bethlehem?
63-1214 §41
Now, just as Isaac was in the line of the seed otherwise. Now notice this, we find out then that David had this promise of a son. Now, we notice how that parallels again with Israel. When Israel... Or Abraham was promised that his seed, what it would be, that out of his seed would come this great Saviour, and he'd be father of the nations. His natural seed, of course, was Isaac, and it failed. But his spiritual seed, by the faith that he had, come Christ, which brought in all of the nations. Well, now the same thin...
A Greater than Solomon is here
57-0228 §66
Then there was a man came to Him one time, and his name was Nathanael. Philip had found him and brought him to the meeting. And when he stood before the Lord, the Lord told him of something that he had done. Something had taken place in his life before he come to that meeting. And what did this Jew say to him? Said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
God is His own interpreter
64-0205 §23
It was Jesus Christ that was in David. When David, the son of... David went up on the mountain, a rejected king, and wept over Jerusalem, that was nothing but Christ in him. For about eight hundred years later, the Son of David sat up over the Mount of Olives and looked down upon Jerusalem and wept, and said, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have hovered you as a hen would her brood, but you would not!" When Joseph was in prison, that was Jesus. When he was sold for pretty near thirty pieces of silver, that w...