And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;
Matthew 1:6 traces the line from Jesse to his son David as the first king in Jesus' ancestry, and from David the king to Solomon by the woman who had been Uriah's wife, that is Bathsheba. It gives the royal and legal line through Joseph from David through Solomon, while Luke gives the human and blood line through Mary from David through Nathan, Solomon's brother. It belongs to the kingly genealogy from Abraham to Jesus that presents Jesus as King, Son of David and Son of Abraham, and through Joseph as legal father He legally receives the kingship with rightful claim to David's throne. The line from Jesse through David to Solomon marks the oath renewed to David that Christ would be raised from David's descendants according to the flesh to sit on David's throne. It places the Son of God in a real human family containing the wicked and the good, and the naming of Uriah's wife with other women of shameful histories presents hope to the fallen that inherited tendencies do not remove hope in Christ.
Words and Literary Form
Matthew 1:6 places David and Solomon in Joseph's legal lineage through Solomon's line, calling David "the king" and identifying Solomon's mother through her former marriage as the woman who had been Uriah's wife, that is Bathsheba. David is marked as the first king in Jesus' genealogical line and as a landmark in the progress of God's promise, which was renewed to David, with the line from Jesse through David to Solomon pointing to God's oath that Christ would be raised from David's descendants according to the flesh to sit on David's throne. Through this naming Jesus is placed in David's human family line and in the royal line of David through Solomon.
The begetting named here uses the Greek word also used of women bringing forth or giving birth. Generations in this genealogy are counted as successive father-to-son family links, with forty-two generations counted from Abraham to Christ showing generations as successive family connections rather than a fixed number of years.
The genealogy is selective rather than a complete father-to-son list at every step, omitting generations and arranging the names in three groups of fourteen, and a grandfather may be called father when he is the leading type. It records royal inheritance where some named kings were descendants of earlier kings rather than their sons, tracing the royal succession and inheritance from David through Solomon toward Joseph so that Jesus as Joseph's reputed son has claim to David's throne. The line from Abraham to Joseph is grouped into three fourteen-generation sections headed by Abraham, David, and Jechonias to show three stages of Hebrew history, omitting three familiar generations for the sake of this structure and not through ignorance. In this form it traces direct human descent from Abraham through forty-two generations and establishes rightful lineage under Hebrew law, following the male line through Joseph as legal father and presenting Christ as David's descendant and the promised Seed of Abraham, the Branch from Jesse's line. On one reckoning the chapter's genealogy traces Mary's lineage from Abraham to Christ's birth in the same three sections of fourteen.
The forty-two generations from Abraham to Christ give no uniform measure for the length of a generation, since the average varies across its different periods from about twenty-eight years between the Babylonian exile and Christ to more than sixty-four years from Abraham to David. An average of about forty or more years to each generation has been used to fix the length of a generation at about forty years, but the count does not give a dependable measure.
Matthew and Luke Compared
Matthew gives the royal and legal line through Joseph from David through Solomon, while Luke gives the human and blood line through Mary from David through Nathan, Solomon's brother. Matthew's genealogy is the kingly genealogy of Joseph traced through the males, because inheritance came that way and Joseph is named instead of Mary according to custom, and Jesus as Joseph's reputed son and legal son is therefore heir of David's throne. It runs from Abraham because the promises came through Abraham, joining the titles son of David and son of Abraham, and from Abraham traces the reigning house through David to Joseph. Luke has a different purpose, tracing Jesus not as son of Abraham and heir to the throne but as son of Adam and son of man back through David to Adam the son of God, giving the genealogy of Mary through Heli her father, who is Joseph's father-in-law and Jesus' grandfather, with Joseph named only as the male member of the house and counted as son of Heli as Mary's husband.
Jesus is Joseph's son in the legal sense, while His fleshly descent came through Mary, and as Joseph's wife Mary is treated as her father's daughter and Jesus as Joseph's son. Mary's marriage to Joseph makes Jesus legally part of David's royal house, which Matthew traces from Jesse to David and from David through Solomon. In that record Jesse is David's father and David is Solomon's father, with Solomon's mother identified as the former wife of Uriah. The difference in the number of generations arises because Luke's line through Mary contains more names than Matthew's line through Joseph.
Together the lines show Jesus descended from David according to the flesh through Mary and succeeding to the royal line through Joseph. Matthew traces Jesus on the fleshly side from Abraham down through David the king to Joseph the reputed father to establish His identity as Messiah, the promised Seed of Abraham, showing such family relation to Joseph as to have claim to all that belonged to him as lineal descendant of Abraham and proving Him heir of the everlasting covenant made with Abraham and renewed to David. Luke's ancestral line of Mary back through David and Abraham to Adam unites with Matthew's line in Abraham, making doubly sure Christ is the promised Seed, while Matthew for this royal purpose traces back to Abraham, not to Adam. Joseph is named as Mary's husband, and the two genealogies meet in the course of time, the royal line through Solomon and the blood line through Nathan meeting again in Salathiel and Zorobabel, so that the blood of Solomon in this line was in both Joseph and Mary. In law Jesus was the child of Joseph, so this line through David and Solomon and on through Rehoboam and the kings gives Him legal entitlement to the throne of Israel.
On a differing view held by fewer, Matthew belongs to the genealogy of the mother of Jesus and names Solomon as the son of David in that line, while Luke gives the lineage of the legal father Joseph, with both genealogies ending in Joseph because genealogy is reckoned legally through the father. The two genealogies harmonize with one another. Their preservation in original form without editorial explanations to reconcile apparent differences reflects confidence in the truth of what was recorded rather than reshaping them into a uniform account.
Kingly Messiahship and Heirship
Matthew's list is the kingly genealogy tracing the royal family from Abraham to Jesus, presenting Him as King, Son of David, Son of Abraham, rightful Heir of Abraham, Branch from Jesse's line, King of kings and promised Seed of Abraham. It follows the male line through Joseph, His legal father, and its royal presentation is reinforced by the next chapter's setting in Bethlehem, David's city, under Herod, and by the title king of the Jews. It identifies Him in the line of David the king, with David in the royal line from Jesse and Solomon named as David's descendant, and the complete genealogy is given to prove His Messiahship. The names are arranged in three groups of fourteen headed by Abraham, David, and Jechonias to show three stages of Hebrew history, with some generations omitted, three familiar generations left out for the sake of structure not through ignorance, and the Bible able to call a grandfather father when he is the leading type. Genealogical lists of this kind select ancestors rather than listing every generation and should not automatically be treated as complete chronologies.
Through Joseph as reputed son and legal father Jesus legally receives the kingship, inherits the kingdom, and has legal entitlement and rightful claim to David's throne and heirship to the kingdom through the male line. The verse presents His royal ancestry through David and the male members of the family, showing Him as heir to the kingdom, and names Joseph as His direct ancestor. This royal genealogy through Joseph runs from David through Solomon and on through Rehoboam and the kings, giving Jesus in law as Joseph's child legal entitlement to the throne of Israel and establishing His legal heirship to David's royal line. It is not a step-by-step father-to-son list at every generation but records royal inheritance, where some named kings were descendants rather than sons of earlier kings. Through this male genealogy of Joseph, His legal father, He was counted as of David's seed under Jewish law, and the blood of Solomon in this line was in both Joseph and Mary because the royal line through Solomon and the blood line through Nathan meet again in Salathiel and Zorobabel.
The line runs from Abraham because the promises came through Abraham, joining the two titles son of David and son of Abraham, and from Abraham traces the reigning house through David to Joseph, establishing His human line through David from Jesse through David and Solomon as foretold for the Messiah. It traces His direct human descent from Abraham through forty-two generations, establishing His rightful lineage under Hebrew law. This descent proves Him heir of the everlasting covenant made with Abraham and renewed to David, with claim to all that belonged to Joseph as lineal descendant of Abraham. That claim includes Abraham's material promise, which included the whole world, with citizenship and claim to covenant blessings as a Jew descended from David's family and the tribe of Judah. The passage specifies David rather than his elder brothers as the ancestor from whom the Messiah was to derive His origin, preserves the genealogy of Judah the ruler on His father's side until He came as Shiloh to whom the gathering of God's people would be, and presents Him as the perfect Jew.
Covenant Promise and Preservation
Matthew 1:6 marks a landmark in the progress of the promise renewed to David, for the line from Jesse through David to Solomon points to God's oath that Christ would be raised up from David's descendants according to the flesh to sit on David's throne. It places Jesus' birth in the line of David and Solomon as a landmark in the fulfillment of the Gospel promises of the Old Testament and in the predicted signs of Messiahship. It shows Jesus as Son of David, fulfilling the prophecy that the Messiah would come from David's line.
The lineage from Abraham was preserved through the generations despite obstacles and attempts to destroy it, establishing the legitimacy of the succession and Christ's claim to Abraham's material promise, which included the whole world. The line ran from Abraham through Judah, Jesse, David, and Solomon to Mary, so that Jesus' earthly ancestry could be traced literally and legally through the line of promise. The genealogy was recorded as a necessary preface to the Gospel, showing the lineage through which the promised Seed was born in the promised land. Tracing Christ's lineage from Abraham to Joseph before recounting His earthly life establishes His descent as the promised Seed of Abraham, supports the predicted signs of His Messiahship, and guards against doubt about His identity and covenant role. It belongs to the genealogy preserved to show God's promises and prophecies fulfilled in the Messiah, as part of God's work of preparing a people who would preserve the truth and make the Messiah's coming and future kingdom known.
That ancestry from Abraham through Judah, Jesse, David, and Solomon to Mary could be traced literally and legally. Its named ancestors are real people in literal history, not characters in an allegory, and tracing the lineage to Abraham also established an Israelite's citizenship and claim to the covenant blessings. It is a historical record of descent through Jesse and David, including Solomon, having real meaning and value as a plain historical account, not to be replaced with a fanciful spiritual interpretation. It records the historical line from Jesse through David to Solomon as plain historical record, not to be given a hidden or fanciful spiritual meaning.
Israel was set apart so that this descent of the Seed, Christ, and the promise associated with Abraham's Seed could be made known, and through Christ all nations would be blessed. Judah was held together and its genealogy kept until Jesus came as Shiloh to whom the gathering of God's people would be, so that His descent from Judah the ruler through the tribe of Judah and the house of David on His father's side in Matthew 1, with His mother's side in Luke 3, can be proved.
David's descent from Jesse and his royal line through Solomon make him a type and prelude of Christ the heavenly Prince of Peace, whose lineage is traced to David through kings and, on His mother's side, through priests. Matthew 1:6 shows one father-to-son generation from Jesse to David the king to Solomon within the Bible rule for counting generations, and joined with Genesis 11 and Luke 3:23-38 it proves fewer than two hundred such generations in six thousand years from creation. Therefore the thousand generations of those who love God and keep His commandments must reach more than twenty-four thousand years beyond 1868 and mean generation to generation without end, proving the ten commandments stand perpetually.
Human Lineage and Sin
Matthew 1:6 places Jesus in a human family line through Jesse, David, and Solomon. The genealogy gives the Son of God a real pedigree and shows He truly entered the human family by birth and became a member of the human race. In this He stands unlike Melchizedek, who was without such birth and death, for Christ was both born and died.
That membership meant sharing human sorrows and temptations, though without sin. His human ancestry grounds His kinship with humanity and assures that He sympathizes with human weaknesses and knows human needs from experience. He entered David's line whose ancestors were subject to the iniquities common to humanity, and took human flesh so that by divine power He could conquer sin on humanity's behalf. Like every child of Adam He accepted weakened human nature bearing the inherited consequences and effects of centuries of sin and heredity, so He could share human sorrows and temptations and give the example of a sinless life.
That humanity came through a lineage containing both the wicked and the good, bad men and women, and descendants marked by sin. Some were of another race than the Jews, for He did not refuse to be born of sinners but came to save sinners. Ruth the Moabitess entered the line by marrying Naomi's kinsman in Bethlehem and became mother of Obed, the grandfather of David the king, proving direct lineal descent from Abraham through Ruth. Her inclusion as a Gentile among the few women named shows brotherhood with aliens and Gentiles, while the other women named point to kinship with sinners. Having thus taken upon Himself the nature of man, He was tempted in all points as human beings are, yet lived a perfect life in spite of His human nature, showing that it is possible for human beings to live a holy life here in the world.
Believers' Hope and Inheritance
Descent from Abraham was a valuable privilege and opportunity, but natural birth alone did not guarantee heirship. Those of the literal seed who fell by the way were incidental to the fulfillment of the promises, and could still share in them through faith. The genealogy that includes Jesse, David and Solomon identifies Jesus as David's descendant, and in Him the blessing given to Abraham is available through faith in Christ to His spiritual seed. That lineage from Abraham was preserved through the generations despite obstacles, establishing the legitimacy of the succession and Christ's claim to Abraham's material promise, which included the whole world. Through faith in Christ believers share that inheritance of the world and are joint heirs with Christ in the throne of David.
Jesus came to save sinners and did not refuse to be born of sinners, with bad men and women among His ancestors, some of another race than the Jews. His ancestry through David and Solomon and her that had been the wife of Urias belongs to that sinful line. The naming of Bathsheba as the wife of Uriah recalls her course with David, long used to reproach her, and with other women of shameful or difficult histories presents hope to the fallen. Inherited tendencies and appetites do not remove the possibility of hope in Christ. For He took upon Himself the nature of man and was tempted in all points as human beings are, yet lived a perfect life in spite of His human nature, showing that it is possible for human beings to live a holy life here in the world.
Matthew 1:6 traces the line from Jesse to his son David as the first king in Jesus' ancestry, and from David the king to Solomon by the woman who had been Uriah's wife, that is Bathsheba. It gives the royal and legal line through Joseph from David through Solomon, while Luke gives the human and blood line through Mary from David through Nathan, Solomon's brother. It belongs to the kingly genealogy from Abraham to Jesus that presents Jesus as King, Son of David and Son of Abraham, and through Joseph as legal father He legally receives the kingship with rightful claim to David's throne. The line from Jesse through David to Solomon marks the oath renewed to David that Christ would be raised from David's descendants according to the flesh to sit on David's throne. It places the Son of God in a real human family containing the wicked and the good, and the naming of Uriah's wife with other women of shameful histories presents hope to the fallen that inherited tendencies do not remove hope in Christ.
Words and Literary Form
Matthew 1:6 places David and Solomon in Joseph's legal lineage through Solomon's line, calling David "the king" and identifying Solomon's mother through her former marriage as the woman who had been Uriah's wife, that is Bathsheba. David is marked as the first king in Jesus' genealogical line and as a landmark in the progress of God's promise, which was renewed to David, with the line from Jesse through David to Solomon pointing to God's oath that Christ would be raised from David's descendants according to the flesh to sit on David's throne. Through this naming Jesus is placed in David's human family line and in the royal line of David through Solomon.
The begetting named here uses the Greek word also used of women bringing forth or giving birth. Generations in this genealogy are counted as successive father-to-son family links, with forty-two generations counted from Abraham to Christ showing generations as successive family connections rather than a fixed number of years.
The genealogy is selective rather than a complete father-to-son list at every step, omitting generations and arranging the names in three groups of fourteen, and a grandfather may be called father when he is the leading type. It records royal inheritance where some named kings were descendants of earlier kings rather than their sons, tracing the royal succession and inheritance from David through Solomon toward Joseph so that Jesus as Joseph's reputed son has claim to David's throne. The line from Abraham to Joseph is grouped into three fourteen-generation sections headed by Abraham, David, and Jechonias to show three stages of Hebrew history, omitting three familiar generations for the sake of this structure and not through ignorance. In this form it traces direct human descent from Abraham through forty-two generations and establishes rightful lineage under Hebrew law, following the male line through Joseph as legal father and presenting Christ as David's descendant and the promised Seed of Abraham, the Branch from Jesse's line. On one reckoning the chapter's genealogy traces Mary's lineage from Abraham to Christ's birth in the same three sections of fourteen.
The forty-two generations from Abraham to Christ give no uniform measure for the length of a generation, since the average varies across its different periods from about twenty-eight years between the Babylonian exile and Christ to more than sixty-four years from Abraham to David. An average of about forty or more years to each generation has been used to fix the length of a generation at about forty years, but the count does not give a dependable measure.
Matthew and Luke Compared
Matthew gives the royal and legal line through Joseph from David through Solomon, while Luke gives the human and blood line through Mary from David through Nathan, Solomon's brother. Matthew's genealogy is the kingly genealogy of Joseph traced through the males, because inheritance came that way and Joseph is named instead of Mary according to custom, and Jesus as Joseph's reputed son and legal son is therefore heir of David's throne. It runs from Abraham because the promises came through Abraham, joining the titles son of David and son of Abraham, and from Abraham traces the reigning house through David to Joseph. Luke has a different purpose, tracing Jesus not as son of Abraham and heir to the throne but as son of Adam and son of man back through David to Adam the son of God, giving the genealogy of Mary through Heli her father, who is Joseph's father-in-law and Jesus' grandfather, with Joseph named only as the male member of the house and counted as son of Heli as Mary's husband.
Jesus is Joseph's son in the legal sense, while His fleshly descent came through Mary, and as Joseph's wife Mary is treated as her father's daughter and Jesus as Joseph's son. Mary's marriage to Joseph makes Jesus legally part of David's royal house, which Matthew traces from Jesse to David and from David through Solomon. In that record Jesse is David's father and David is Solomon's father, with Solomon's mother identified as the former wife of Uriah. The difference in the number of generations arises because Luke's line through Mary contains more names than Matthew's line through Joseph.
Together the lines show Jesus descended from David according to the flesh through Mary and succeeding to the royal line through Joseph. Matthew traces Jesus on the fleshly side from Abraham down through David the king to Joseph the reputed father to establish His identity as Messiah, the promised Seed of Abraham, showing such family relation to Joseph as to have claim to all that belonged to him as lineal descendant of Abraham and proving Him heir of the everlasting covenant made with Abraham and renewed to David. Luke's ancestral line of Mary back through David and Abraham to Adam unites with Matthew's line in Abraham, making doubly sure Christ is the promised Seed, while Matthew for this royal purpose traces back to Abraham, not to Adam. Joseph is named as Mary's husband, and the two genealogies meet in the course of time, the royal line through Solomon and the blood line through Nathan meeting again in Salathiel and Zorobabel, so that the blood of Solomon in this line was in both Joseph and Mary. In law Jesus was the child of Joseph, so this line through David and Solomon and on through Rehoboam and the kings gives Him legal entitlement to the throne of Israel.
On a differing view held by fewer, Matthew belongs to the genealogy of the mother of Jesus and names Solomon as the son of David in that line, while Luke gives the lineage of the legal father Joseph, with both genealogies ending in Joseph because genealogy is reckoned legally through the father. The two genealogies harmonize with one another. Their preservation in original form without editorial explanations to reconcile apparent differences reflects confidence in the truth of what was recorded rather than reshaping them into a uniform account.
Kingly Messiahship and Heirship
Matthew's list is the kingly genealogy tracing the royal family from Abraham to Jesus, presenting Him as King, Son of David, Son of Abraham, rightful Heir of Abraham, Branch from Jesse's line, King of kings and promised Seed of Abraham. It follows the male line through Joseph, His legal father, and its royal presentation is reinforced by the next chapter's setting in Bethlehem, David's city, under Herod, and by the title king of the Jews. It identifies Him in the line of David the king, with David in the royal line from Jesse and Solomon named as David's descendant, and the complete genealogy is given to prove His Messiahship. The names are arranged in three groups of fourteen headed by Abraham, David, and Jechonias to show three stages of Hebrew history, with some generations omitted, three familiar generations left out for the sake of structure not through ignorance, and the Bible able to call a grandfather father when he is the leading type. Genealogical lists of this kind select ancestors rather than listing every generation and should not automatically be treated as complete chronologies.
Through Joseph as reputed son and legal father Jesus legally receives the kingship, inherits the kingdom, and has legal entitlement and rightful claim to David's throne and heirship to the kingdom through the male line. The verse presents His royal ancestry through David and the male members of the family, showing Him as heir to the kingdom, and names Joseph as His direct ancestor. This royal genealogy through Joseph runs from David through Solomon and on through Rehoboam and the kings, giving Jesus in law as Joseph's child legal entitlement to the throne of Israel and establishing His legal heirship to David's royal line. It is not a step-by-step father-to-son list at every generation but records royal inheritance, where some named kings were descendants rather than sons of earlier kings. Through this male genealogy of Joseph, His legal father, He was counted as of David's seed under Jewish law, and the blood of Solomon in this line was in both Joseph and Mary because the royal line through Solomon and the blood line through Nathan meet again in Salathiel and Zorobabel.
The line runs from Abraham because the promises came through Abraham, joining the two titles son of David and son of Abraham, and from Abraham traces the reigning house through David to Joseph, establishing His human line through David from Jesse through David and Solomon as foretold for the Messiah. It traces His direct human descent from Abraham through forty-two generations, establishing His rightful lineage under Hebrew law. This descent proves Him heir of the everlasting covenant made with Abraham and renewed to David, with claim to all that belonged to Joseph as lineal descendant of Abraham. That claim includes Abraham's material promise, which included the whole world, with citizenship and claim to covenant blessings as a Jew descended from David's family and the tribe of Judah. The passage specifies David rather than his elder brothers as the ancestor from whom the Messiah was to derive His origin, preserves the genealogy of Judah the ruler on His father's side until He came as Shiloh to whom the gathering of God's people would be, and presents Him as the perfect Jew.
Covenant Promise and Preservation
Matthew 1:6 marks a landmark in the progress of the promise renewed to David, for the line from Jesse through David to Solomon points to God's oath that Christ would be raised up from David's descendants according to the flesh to sit on David's throne. It places Jesus' birth in the line of David and Solomon as a landmark in the fulfillment of the Gospel promises of the Old Testament and in the predicted signs of Messiahship. It shows Jesus as Son of David, fulfilling the prophecy that the Messiah would come from David's line.
The lineage from Abraham was preserved through the generations despite obstacles and attempts to destroy it, establishing the legitimacy of the succession and Christ's claim to Abraham's material promise, which included the whole world. The line ran from Abraham through Judah, Jesse, David, and Solomon to Mary, so that Jesus' earthly ancestry could be traced literally and legally through the line of promise. The genealogy was recorded as a necessary preface to the Gospel, showing the lineage through which the promised Seed was born in the promised land. Tracing Christ's lineage from Abraham to Joseph before recounting His earthly life establishes His descent as the promised Seed of Abraham, supports the predicted signs of His Messiahship, and guards against doubt about His identity and covenant role. It belongs to the genealogy preserved to show God's promises and prophecies fulfilled in the Messiah, as part of God's work of preparing a people who would preserve the truth and make the Messiah's coming and future kingdom known.
That ancestry from Abraham through Judah, Jesse, David, and Solomon to Mary could be traced literally and legally. Its named ancestors are real people in literal history, not characters in an allegory, and tracing the lineage to Abraham also established an Israelite's citizenship and claim to the covenant blessings. It is a historical record of descent through Jesse and David, including Solomon, having real meaning and value as a plain historical account, not to be replaced with a fanciful spiritual interpretation. It records the historical line from Jesse through David to Solomon as plain historical record, not to be given a hidden or fanciful spiritual meaning.
Israel was set apart so that this descent of the Seed, Christ, and the promise associated with Abraham's Seed could be made known, and through Christ all nations would be blessed. Judah was held together and its genealogy kept until Jesus came as Shiloh to whom the gathering of God's people would be, so that His descent from Judah the ruler through the tribe of Judah and the house of David on His father's side in Matthew 1, with His mother's side in Luke 3, can be proved.
David's descent from Jesse and his royal line through Solomon make him a type and prelude of Christ the heavenly Prince of Peace, whose lineage is traced to David through kings and, on His mother's side, through priests. Matthew 1:6 shows one father-to-son generation from Jesse to David the king to Solomon within the Bible rule for counting generations, and joined with Genesis 11 and Luke 3:23-38 it proves fewer than two hundred such generations in six thousand years from creation. Therefore the thousand generations of those who love God and keep His commandments must reach more than twenty-four thousand years beyond 1868 and mean generation to generation without end, proving the ten commandments stand perpetually.
Human Lineage and Sin
Matthew 1:6 places Jesus in a human family line through Jesse, David, and Solomon. The genealogy gives the Son of God a real pedigree and shows He truly entered the human family by birth and became a member of the human race. In this He stands unlike Melchizedek, who was without such birth and death, for Christ was both born and died.
That membership meant sharing human sorrows and temptations, though without sin. His human ancestry grounds His kinship with humanity and assures that He sympathizes with human weaknesses and knows human needs from experience. He entered David's line whose ancestors were subject to the iniquities common to humanity, and took human flesh so that by divine power He could conquer sin on humanity's behalf. Like every child of Adam He accepted weakened human nature bearing the inherited consequences and effects of centuries of sin and heredity, so He could share human sorrows and temptations and give the example of a sinless life.
That humanity came through a lineage containing both the wicked and the good, bad men and women, and descendants marked by sin. Some were of another race than the Jews, for He did not refuse to be born of sinners but came to save sinners. Ruth the Moabitess entered the line by marrying Naomi's kinsman in Bethlehem and became mother of Obed, the grandfather of David the king, proving direct lineal descent from Abraham through Ruth. Her inclusion as a Gentile among the few women named shows brotherhood with aliens and Gentiles, while the other women named point to kinship with sinners. Having thus taken upon Himself the nature of man, He was tempted in all points as human beings are, yet lived a perfect life in spite of His human nature, showing that it is possible for human beings to live a holy life here in the world.
Believers' Hope and Inheritance
Descent from Abraham was a valuable privilege and opportunity, but natural birth alone did not guarantee heirship. Those of the literal seed who fell by the way were incidental to the fulfillment of the promises, and could still share in them through faith. The genealogy that includes Jesse, David and Solomon identifies Jesus as David's descendant, and in Him the blessing given to Abraham is available through faith in Christ to His spiritual seed. That lineage from Abraham was preserved through the generations despite obstacles, establishing the legitimacy of the succession and Christ's claim to Abraham's material promise, which included the whole world. Through faith in Christ believers share that inheritance of the world and are joint heirs with Christ in the throne of David.
Jesus came to save sinners and did not refuse to be born of sinners, with bad men and women among His ancestors, some of another race than the Jews. His ancestry through David and Solomon and her that had been the wife of Urias belongs to that sinful line. The naming of Bathsheba as the wife of Uriah recalls her course with David, long used to reproach her, and with other women of shameful or difficult histories presents hope to the fallen. Inherited tendencies and appetites do not remove the possibility of hope in Christ. For He took upon Himself the nature of man and was tempted in all points as human beings are, yet lived a perfect life in spite of His human nature, showing that it is possible for human beings to live a holy life here in the world.