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.
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever
63-0627 §49
Now, we find out that Nathanael was quite a theologian. And I can imagine him saying to Philip, "Now wait just a minute, Philip. What kind of a deep end have you went off?" You know that talk still goes around today. "What end did you run off on?" Some loose end out somewhere, you know. "I know you to be a sound, sensible man. And here you come running up and telling me that the Messiah is here on earth." He ought to've talked to the Magis. You know the Magis was up in Babylon. They were Jews, up there studying ast...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 2:E-62
Now in Matthew 16:28, prefacing Matthew 17:1-13, Jesus had said, "... There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." And the three apostles did see just that--the order of His second coming. They saw Him transfigured there on the mountain top. His raiment was blazing white and His face shone like the sun at its zenith. And there as He appeared, stood Moses and Elijah on either side. That is exactly how He is coming again. Truly Elijah will first com...
Hebrews, Chapter 7, part 1
57-0915E §52
Now, the Son of God had to come through a woman to be created here---by the womb of a woman---because through that same thing come death. And He could not come through creation like God did at the beginning. When God made man at the beginning, woman had nothing to do with it. God just said, "Let there be," and a man came from the dust. He called him, without any woman to have anything to do with it. But the woman then was in the man. And God took the woman out of Adam's side. Is that right? And then woman went and...
God's Wrapped Gift
60-1225 §20
And it was on this same grounds that Samuel, the prophet, anointed David to be king over Israel---right here at Bethlehem. And through David came forth the great Son, "Thou Son of David," the Son that was born in a little stable manger over by the side of the hill, on the west side of the city. It was there on that hill where the angels of God sang their first Noel. The word Bethlehem, let's break it down. B-e-t-h means "house." E-l means "God." E-l-h-a-m means "bread..." "The house of God's bread." How fitting it...
Faith
57-1229 §15
..., when he become the King of Israel... No doubt that he'd become king, for such a warrior as that. When he become king he had an idea: "Let me build the house of the Lord." And when the prophet Nathan that night took him out and was talking to him, the Lord appeared to Nathan. He said, "Go tell my servant David, I know he was just a little ruddy thing, I know he's wearing a sheep coat, but I took him away from that sheepcote and made him a ruler over my people and give him a name like the great men in this earth."...