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.
We have seen His star and have come to worship Him
63-1216 §45
No doubt he said, "O great Jehovah, God, I come through the lineage of David. And I'm a righteous man--I hope I am. I'm trusting in what You said to be the truth. And my beloved, little sweetheart here, that I have ... I'm espoused to, to put her away, otherwise I'm guilty of committing adultery. And she's to be mother, and I don't know her as a wife. What is these things, Lord?" See, he was not a prophet, so He couldn't speak to him that way. So He let him get to sleep, and sent the angel of the Lord to him in a d...
The Queen of Sheba
58-0208 §58
When Philip got converted, he went and found a friend, Nathanael, under a tree. He told him, "Come see who I've found, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph." He said, "Now, could there be any good thing come out of Nazareth?" He said, "Come see." On the road around, he instructed him, like your friends has you coming tonight. And when he got in the presence of our blessed Lord, he looked down and the Lord bid him, said, "Behold, here's an Israelite in whom there is no guile." It's so surprising that he said, "Rabbi...
Going beyond the camp
64-0719E §56
It was David went up through the streets crying, rejected king, and set upon the mountain weeping over Jerusalem. That wasn't David! The Son of David, a few hundred years after that set on the same hill and wept because He was a rejected King among his own people. It's Christ always. And today when it's prophesied that Christ must come into the camp, you know what happened? It'll be just exactly like it was then. It's got to be that way to fulfill what the Word here promises He'll do. Now remember, Christ was in th...
The unveiling of God
64-0614M §36
Notice now, He came first as the prophet, and they crucified Him. His own crucified Him. He came as the Son of man. Then after the Holy Spirit came, He was then the Son of God. God is a Spirit. He was the Holy Spirit, Son of God. He lived through the church ages as Son of God. Now, in the millennium, He'll be Son of David, sitting upon the throne of His father, David. He is the Son of David. Now, and remember, between the Son of God ... in the Laodicea church age, they put Him out. And in Luke, He said He would be...
The Mighty God unveiled before us
64-0629 §23
Now, I think in that, we find out that changing Himself, what He did, if you'll notice, He came in the name of three sons. He came in the name of the Son of man, and in the Son of God, in the Son of David. He came as Son of man. Now, in Ezekiel 2:3, Jehovah Himself, called Ezekiel the prophet, the son of man. Son of man means "a prophet." He had to come that way to fulfill Deuteronomy 18:15, which Moses said, "The Lord your God shall raise up among you a prophet likened unto me." He never called Himself the Son of...