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.
Modern events are made clear by prophecy
65-1206 §93
Remember, He comes in three son's names. He came first in the name of the Son of man. He never called Himself the "Son of God." You know that. See, He came in the Son of man, a prophet, Jehovah Himself, the Father. Called Jeremiah, "son of man"; a prophet is son of man. He come... Now he come after the day of Pentecost, He come back in the form of the Holy Ghost, supernatural Spirit. Now He's Son of God. In the Millennium He will be Son of David, sitting upon the throne of David. See, He come ... He's Son of God, S...
As I thought on my ways
59-0610 §29
David, after he did wrong, and taken Uriah the Hittite's wife, the lovely Bathsheba, and was going to be the father of her child, and had caused her gallant husband to be killed in battle. But when the prophet, Nathan, come in and revealed his sins to him, then David thought on his ways, and he turned himself to repentance in sack cloth and ashes. That's the way to turn. God heard him. God will always hear a man or woman that'll turn their feet to His testimony. David was worthy of dying, and he pronounced his own...
God's Wrapped Gift
60-1225 §19
Now, you see, this harlot was a Gentile, and she was an ancient grandmother to our Lord Jesus. And also, when Boaz, her grandson, come forth and married Ruth, the Moabite, he also married into a Gentile, which made Jesus also part Gentile, earthly speaking. Then when they brought their child forth, his name was Obed. And Obed had a son, and his name was Jesse. And Jesse had a son whose name was David, all this taking place in little Bethlehem. What is it? The lineage of the Lord Jesus, his background that the great...
A Greater than Solomon is here
57-0228 §57
When Philip went and found Nathanael, and he come, and He told him where he was and what happened to him before he come there. Told him he was a believer, and what he did before he come. Then he said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." He was a Jew. And you're a Gentile. And if the Samaritan believed because Jesus said that to her, and said that was a sign of Messiah (The true Jew believed because that sign was done, knowed it was the sign of the Messiah.), what would you do as a Gentile if He did th...
A greater than Solomon is here
63-0628E §17
We followed also Philip to get Nathanael, brought him over---which was a staunch man, great, learned in the Scripture. We find that ... perhaps that Philip instructed him on the road over, what had happened. But when he come to Him, He called him, said, "Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile." He said, "When did you know me, Rabbi?" Said, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the tree, I saw you." And he said, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God, the King of Israel."