And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;
The verse is one father-to-son link carrying the royal line from Solomon through Rehoboam and Abijah to Asa on toward Christ. It stands among the forty-two generations from Abraham to Christ, ordered in Matthew 1:17 into three fourteens from Abraham to David, from David to the exile, and from the exile to Christ. Matthew gives Joseph's line in the male reckoning, making Jesus legally David's heir through Joseph, while Luke traces His natural descent through Mary and David's son Nathan. It thus presents Him as the rightful King, the Son of David and promised Seed of Abraham and heir of the covenant and kingdom. His line runs through both righteous and wicked ancestors, showing He truly entered sin-weakened humanity, yet lived without sin, so that believers by faith become Abraham's heirs and joint-heirs with Him.
Wording and Arrangement
The word rendered begat is the Greek word for begetting or giving birth, used of men in the sense of begetting, and this verse is one father-to-son link in a genealogy counted from father to son. It is one of forty-two generations listed from Abraham to Christ. Matthew 1:17 divides them into three periods of fourteen generations: Abraham to David, David to the Babylonian exile, and the exile to Christ.
The three groups of fourteen are a deliberate arrangement marking the patriarchal, royal, and provincial phases of Hebrew history. They are selected to show relation to Abraham and David and the stages toward the promised Seed and King. To preserve the arrangement of fourteens, generations are omitted, as Bible genealogies sometimes call a grandfather father. Matthew omits three familiar kings, Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah, not from lack of knowledge but to keep the pattern. The royal succession is a record of royal inheritance rather than unbroken father-to-son descent at every step.
The grouped periods do not fix the length of a generation, yielding different averages when the periods from Abraham to David, David to the Babylonian exile, and the exile to Christ are compared. The forty-two generations average about forty or more years to a generation, sometimes figured at somewhere around forty years, but this figure cannot be depended upon to fix the length of a generation. No definite time is allotted to a generation, and no definition fixes that time for the last generation. A generation was probably longer among the antediluvian patriarchs than at the present time, and generation sometimes means race, people, nation, or the people living on earth at one time.
Counting generations father-to-son from the creation of the world through six thousand years gives fewer than two hundred generations. Eight hundred more to make a thousand generations would require twenty-four thousand years yet future from 1868. This proves a thousand generations means more than a thousand and means unlimited time from generation to generation. The genealogical records are preserved as firsthand source material without editorial adjustment to harmonize differences elsewhere, rather than as a uniformly composed historical narrative. Their connection to the earliest generations depends on the historical record in Genesis, without which the genealogy cannot be verified back to its beginning.
Place in Royal Line
Matthew 1:7 names three generations from Solomon to Asa, continuing the royal line from David through Solomon and Rehoboam and Abijah to Asa toward the Babylonian exile and ultimately to Christ among the kings of Judah. It belongs to Christ's royal genealogy tracing His earthly pedigree back to David through Solomon and the kings of Judah and establishing His claim to David's throne. As part of the genealogy leading to Jesus it records the succession that establishes His legitimate descent and His claim to the material promise made to Abraham, a promise that included the whole world. It assures believers that Abraham's promises belong to his spiritual descendants, since natural descent was privilege and opportunity but did not itself guarantee heirship, and through faith in Christ believers share Abraham's inheritance of the world and are joint heirs with Christ in David's throne.
The named progenitors are real people and the connected history literal events, given as plain historical fact and not as allegory or as symbols to be assigned a more spiritual meaning.
The verse belongs to the preserved genealogy of Judah the ruler tribe, distinct from the preserved genealogy of Levi the priesthood, so that His lineage could be traced on both His mother's side and His father's side. It shows Jesus comes from Judah, fulfilling that the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet till Shiloh come, with the tribe of Judah held together until Jesus came, from which time He became the center of the gathering of God's people. Its ancestry through Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, and Asa is evidence that Jesus' parents were Jews descended from David's family and the tribe of Judah, tracing His ancestry back to Abraham and presenting Him as the perfect Jew.
The verse is part of the recorded link in Abraham's family line leading to Christ that God preserved through threats against Abraham's descendants until Christ was born in the promised land, a pedigree necessary to show the descent of the promised Seed and to serve as a preface to the Gospel. Despite attempts to destroy the line of the promised seed from Solomon through Rehoboam and Abijah and Asa, His earthly lineage could be traced through it. God deliberately chose one family from corrupt nations and planted them as a separate people, cleared idolatry from their land, taught them truth, and kept this family line so the world could be assured that promises and prophecies were fulfilled in Messiah. Through judgments on Egypt and Canaan and through the Levitical law given to this separate people He unfolded the doctrines and facts of Messiah's future kingdom and gradually developed the great plan of salvation to make it plain to human reason and impress it deeply on the human heart, having perfect right to choose His own instruments to carry out justice by flood, fire, tornado, earthquake, or other nations and to overthrow grossly immoral nations in mercy to His people and in mercy to the race.
Matthew and Luke Compared
Matthew gives Joseph's genealogy in the male line, presenting Jesus in the royal line of David legally through Joseph's marriage to Mary, while Luke traces Mary's line through Heli and through David's son Nathan, Solomon's brother. The line in Matthew runs from David through Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah and Asa to Joseph, Jesus' legal father, carried through the males because inheritance came that way, distinct from Mary's literal blood line. Luke's genealogy gives the pedigree of Mary, with Heli as Mary's father, Joseph's father-in-law and Jesus' grandfather, tracing the male line back as genealogies were reckoned through males. The two genealogies meet in the stream of time.
Joseph was not Jesus' biological father but His reputed and legal father, and in law Jesus was counted as Joseph's child and as a descendant of David through Joseph. Jewish law and custom reckoned descent, genealogy and heirship through the husband and the males, naming Joseph as father and as legal head instead of Mary. Joseph is named as Jesus' father because Jewish law recognized him as Jesus' legal father, while Jesus' fleshly descent came through Mary. Luke's genealogy names Joseph only because he was the legal head, with the male named instead of the female because genealogy and heirship ran through the male.
Because Jesus was regarded as Joseph's son, He was heir to David's throne with legal descent and legal right to inherit the kingdom through Joseph. Heirship is reckoned through the father, while His human fleshly descent came through Mary, to whom He belongs naturally. In law Jesus was the child of Joseph, and the succession through David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah and Asa traces the royal family to show Jesus was entitled to the throne of Israel and establishes His kingship through the father. The right to rulership would have come through Joseph, who was a descendant of David.
Together the two lines show both Mary and Joseph came from David's family, and their crossing binds both absolutely to David's royal branch. The royal line and the line through Nathan meet in Salathiel and Zorobabel, so the blood of Solomon was in both Joseph and Mary. Mary's father is called Joseph's father because Joseph was Mary's husband. The longer list of names in Mary's line accounts for the difference in the number of generations between Matthew and Luke.
In contrast to Luke's line tracing Jesus as son of man back through Adam to God, Matthew runs from Abraham through David to Joseph showing Jesus as son of David and son of Abraham in whom the promises through Abraham are met. Luke's line traces back through Adam to God and back to the promise of the seed of the woman in the beginning. Those who held the other view held that the first chapter's genealogy traces Mary's line from Abraham to Christ's birth, with some generations omitted to arrange it in three sections of fourteen generations each.
Messiah King and Heir
Matthew's list is a kingly genealogy that presents Jesus as the rightful King, the Son of David, and the Heir of Abraham through Joseph's legal line. It follows the male line from Abraham through David and the royal succession to Joseph, who stands as Jesus' reputed and legal father and direct ancestor, so that Jesus is shown as heir to the kingdom and entitled to the throne of Israel. The succession through David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah and Asa traces the royal family in law, by which Jesus was counted in law as Joseph's child, with legal descent and legal right to rule. It is arranged in three groups of fourteen generations, with some generations omitted as Bible genealogies sometimes call a grandfather father, and it bears witness to His human lineage and messianic identity.
By this family relation to Joseph as David's lineal descendant, Jesus had claim to all that belonged to Joseph as Abraham's lineal descendant. By this genealogy Matthew proves Jesus is the promised Seed of Abraham and heir of the everlasting covenant made with Abraham and renewed to David. So it establishes His identity as the true Messiah who was to come, who died and rose again and ascended to heaven according to the Scriptures.
The preserved succession from Solomon through Rehoboam and Abijah to Asa records the lineage leading to Jesus and establishes His legitimate descent. That descent establishes His claim to the material promise made to Abraham, a promise that included the whole world.
The genealogy was given before the account of His earthly life so that His identity would be clear. It bears witness to His human lineage and messianic identity and establishes His pedigree as the promised Seed, supporting the predicted signs of His Messiahship. The complete genealogy presents Him as the Son of David with royal descent, for Matthew's Gospel portrays Christ as King and is written to prove that He is the Messiah.
The genealogy is presented as evidence that Jesus Christ descended from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Jesse, and David, and thus fulfilled the expected lineage of the Messiah. Its preservation of Messiah's genealogy from Solomon through Rehoboam and Abijah to Asa assures that promises and prophecies were fulfilled in Messiah. God deliberately chose one family from corrupt nations and planted them as a separate people, cleared idolatry from their land, taught them truth, and kept this family line for that assurance. God has perfect right to choose His own instruments to carry out justice, using flood, fire, tornado, earthquake, or other nations to overthrow grossly immoral nations, and His overthrow of the Egyptians in mercy to His people and His extermination of the idolatrous and sensual nations of Canaan in mercy to the race unfolded the doctrines and facts of Messiah's future kingdom. The Levitical law given to this separate people shows God's wisdom in gradually developing the great plan of salvation to make it plain to human reason and impress it deeply on the human heart.
Israel was set apart so that this lineage from Abraham could be shown and the promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through Christ could be fulfilled. Jesus' birth stands in that account as a landmark in the fulfillment of the Gospel promises made in the Old Testament.
The verse belongs to the genealogy tracing Jesus' human descent from Abraham through forty-two generations, establishing His direct descent according to Hebrew lineage and His royal birthright.
Human Lineage and Believers
As part of Christ's genealogy the verse shows that Jesus had human ancestors and truly became a member of the human race. He entered this world by birth into the human family as an infant and departed it by death. He shared its sorrows and temptations while remaining without sin, and His human lineage supports confidence in His sympathy and in His understanding of human needs. He accepted humanity after the race had been weakened by four thousand years of sin, and His place in the line of earthly ancestors shows the effects of heredity.
That lineage traces His human ancestry through David's line, whose members were subject to the iniquities common to the human race. Its descent through both wicked and righteous ancestors shows that Jesus entered a human lineage marked by sin and inherited liability. Among His ancestors were a number of bad men and women, some of another race than the Jews, and He did not refuse to be born of sinners in order to save sinners. This descent mattered in the temptations He faced throughout His life, including in that He took upon Himself the nature of man and was tempted in all points as human beings are. Yet in spite of His human nature He lived a perfect life, showing that it is possible for human beings to live a holy life here in the world.
Rehoboam was born to Solomon after Solomon turned from the Lord, and his place in Jesus' genealogy belongs to that descent through wicked and righteous ancestors. The generations from Rehoboam to Asa include both a bad father and a bad son, Rehoboam and Abijah, and then a bad father and a good son, Abijah and Asa. A father's piety is not guaranteed to pass to his child, and a father's impiety does not determine his child's character. In contrast to Christ who has a pedigree, Melchizedek has no pedigree and as priest has no beginning of days as an infant and no end of life. This proves Christ and the Melchizedek who blessed Abraham are two distinct individuals though both are priests after the same order.
Ruth is among the four women named in Christ's genealogy. Her place in the line shows His brotherhood with aliens and Gentiles, just as the other women in the genealogy point to His kinship with sinners. The verse belongs to the genealogical table that begins the New Testament Gospel of divine grace and human salvation. That table forms part of a long list of hard Jewish names of men of a former dispensation, many of whom are unknown, which can appear altogether unprofitable and lacking in spiritual character compared with direct revelations of divine mercy and the loveliness of the character of Christ.
The verse names three generations in the genealogy of Jesus, continuing the royal line from Solomon through Rehoboam and Abijah to Asa. The chapter's genealogy assures believers that Abraham's promises belong to his spiritual descendants. Natural descent was a privilege and opportunity, but did not itself guarantee heirship. Through faith in Christ, believers share Abraham's inheritance of the world and are joint heirs with Christ in David's throne, with right through faith in Christ to Abraham's promised blessing.
The verse is one father-to-son link carrying the royal line from Solomon through Rehoboam and Abijah to Asa on toward Christ. It stands among the forty-two generations from Abraham to Christ, ordered in Matthew 1:17 into three fourteens from Abraham to David, from David to the exile, and from the exile to Christ. Matthew gives Joseph's line in the male reckoning, making Jesus legally David's heir through Joseph, while Luke traces His natural descent through Mary and David's son Nathan. It thus presents Him as the rightful King, the Son of David and promised Seed of Abraham and heir of the covenant and kingdom. His line runs through both righteous and wicked ancestors, showing He truly entered sin-weakened humanity, yet lived without sin, so that believers by faith become Abraham's heirs and joint-heirs with Him.
Wording and Arrangement
The word rendered begat is the Greek word for begetting or giving birth, used of men in the sense of begetting, and this verse is one father-to-son link in a genealogy counted from father to son. It is one of forty-two generations listed from Abraham to Christ. Matthew 1:17 divides them into three periods of fourteen generations: Abraham to David, David to the Babylonian exile, and the exile to Christ.
The three groups of fourteen are a deliberate arrangement marking the patriarchal, royal, and provincial phases of Hebrew history. They are selected to show relation to Abraham and David and the stages toward the promised Seed and King. To preserve the arrangement of fourteens, generations are omitted, as Bible genealogies sometimes call a grandfather father. Matthew omits three familiar kings, Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah, not from lack of knowledge but to keep the pattern. The royal succession is a record of royal inheritance rather than unbroken father-to-son descent at every step.
The grouped periods do not fix the length of a generation, yielding different averages when the periods from Abraham to David, David to the Babylonian exile, and the exile to Christ are compared. The forty-two generations average about forty or more years to a generation, sometimes figured at somewhere around forty years, but this figure cannot be depended upon to fix the length of a generation. No definite time is allotted to a generation, and no definition fixes that time for the last generation. A generation was probably longer among the antediluvian patriarchs than at the present time, and generation sometimes means race, people, nation, or the people living on earth at one time.
Counting generations father-to-son from the creation of the world through six thousand years gives fewer than two hundred generations. Eight hundred more to make a thousand generations would require twenty-four thousand years yet future from 1868. This proves a thousand generations means more than a thousand and means unlimited time from generation to generation. The genealogical records are preserved as firsthand source material without editorial adjustment to harmonize differences elsewhere, rather than as a uniformly composed historical narrative. Their connection to the earliest generations depends on the historical record in Genesis, without which the genealogy cannot be verified back to its beginning.
Place in Royal Line
Matthew 1:7 names three generations from Solomon to Asa, continuing the royal line from David through Solomon and Rehoboam and Abijah to Asa toward the Babylonian exile and ultimately to Christ among the kings of Judah. It belongs to Christ's royal genealogy tracing His earthly pedigree back to David through Solomon and the kings of Judah and establishing His claim to David's throne. As part of the genealogy leading to Jesus it records the succession that establishes His legitimate descent and His claim to the material promise made to Abraham, a promise that included the whole world. It assures believers that Abraham's promises belong to his spiritual descendants, since natural descent was privilege and opportunity but did not itself guarantee heirship, and through faith in Christ believers share Abraham's inheritance of the world and are joint heirs with Christ in David's throne.
The named progenitors are real people and the connected history literal events, given as plain historical fact and not as allegory or as symbols to be assigned a more spiritual meaning.
The verse belongs to the preserved genealogy of Judah the ruler tribe, distinct from the preserved genealogy of Levi the priesthood, so that His lineage could be traced on both His mother's side and His father's side. It shows Jesus comes from Judah, fulfilling that the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet till Shiloh come, with the tribe of Judah held together until Jesus came, from which time He became the center of the gathering of God's people. Its ancestry through Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, and Asa is evidence that Jesus' parents were Jews descended from David's family and the tribe of Judah, tracing His ancestry back to Abraham and presenting Him as the perfect Jew.
The verse is part of the recorded link in Abraham's family line leading to Christ that God preserved through threats against Abraham's descendants until Christ was born in the promised land, a pedigree necessary to show the descent of the promised Seed and to serve as a preface to the Gospel. Despite attempts to destroy the line of the promised seed from Solomon through Rehoboam and Abijah and Asa, His earthly lineage could be traced through it. God deliberately chose one family from corrupt nations and planted them as a separate people, cleared idolatry from their land, taught them truth, and kept this family line so the world could be assured that promises and prophecies were fulfilled in Messiah. Through judgments on Egypt and Canaan and through the Levitical law given to this separate people He unfolded the doctrines and facts of Messiah's future kingdom and gradually developed the great plan of salvation to make it plain to human reason and impress it deeply on the human heart, having perfect right to choose His own instruments to carry out justice by flood, fire, tornado, earthquake, or other nations and to overthrow grossly immoral nations in mercy to His people and in mercy to the race.
Matthew and Luke Compared
Matthew gives Joseph's genealogy in the male line, presenting Jesus in the royal line of David legally through Joseph's marriage to Mary, while Luke traces Mary's line through Heli and through David's son Nathan, Solomon's brother. The line in Matthew runs from David through Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah and Asa to Joseph, Jesus' legal father, carried through the males because inheritance came that way, distinct from Mary's literal blood line. Luke's genealogy gives the pedigree of Mary, with Heli as Mary's father, Joseph's father-in-law and Jesus' grandfather, tracing the male line back as genealogies were reckoned through males. The two genealogies meet in the stream of time.
Joseph was not Jesus' biological father but His reputed and legal father, and in law Jesus was counted as Joseph's child and as a descendant of David through Joseph. Jewish law and custom reckoned descent, genealogy and heirship through the husband and the males, naming Joseph as father and as legal head instead of Mary. Joseph is named as Jesus' father because Jewish law recognized him as Jesus' legal father, while Jesus' fleshly descent came through Mary. Luke's genealogy names Joseph only because he was the legal head, with the male named instead of the female because genealogy and heirship ran through the male.
Because Jesus was regarded as Joseph's son, He was heir to David's throne with legal descent and legal right to inherit the kingdom through Joseph. Heirship is reckoned through the father, while His human fleshly descent came through Mary, to whom He belongs naturally. In law Jesus was the child of Joseph, and the succession through David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah and Asa traces the royal family to show Jesus was entitled to the throne of Israel and establishes His kingship through the father. The right to rulership would have come through Joseph, who was a descendant of David.
Together the two lines show both Mary and Joseph came from David's family, and their crossing binds both absolutely to David's royal branch. The royal line and the line through Nathan meet in Salathiel and Zorobabel, so the blood of Solomon was in both Joseph and Mary. Mary's father is called Joseph's father because Joseph was Mary's husband. The longer list of names in Mary's line accounts for the difference in the number of generations between Matthew and Luke.
In contrast to Luke's line tracing Jesus as son of man back through Adam to God, Matthew runs from Abraham through David to Joseph showing Jesus as son of David and son of Abraham in whom the promises through Abraham are met. Luke's line traces back through Adam to God and back to the promise of the seed of the woman in the beginning. Those who held the other view held that the first chapter's genealogy traces Mary's line from Abraham to Christ's birth, with some generations omitted to arrange it in three sections of fourteen generations each.
Messiah King and Heir
Matthew's list is a kingly genealogy that presents Jesus as the rightful King, the Son of David, and the Heir of Abraham through Joseph's legal line. It follows the male line from Abraham through David and the royal succession to Joseph, who stands as Jesus' reputed and legal father and direct ancestor, so that Jesus is shown as heir to the kingdom and entitled to the throne of Israel. The succession through David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah and Asa traces the royal family in law, by which Jesus was counted in law as Joseph's child, with legal descent and legal right to rule. It is arranged in three groups of fourteen generations, with some generations omitted as Bible genealogies sometimes call a grandfather father, and it bears witness to His human lineage and messianic identity.
By this family relation to Joseph as David's lineal descendant, Jesus had claim to all that belonged to Joseph as Abraham's lineal descendant. By this genealogy Matthew proves Jesus is the promised Seed of Abraham and heir of the everlasting covenant made with Abraham and renewed to David. So it establishes His identity as the true Messiah who was to come, who died and rose again and ascended to heaven according to the Scriptures.
The preserved succession from Solomon through Rehoboam and Abijah to Asa records the lineage leading to Jesus and establishes His legitimate descent. That descent establishes His claim to the material promise made to Abraham, a promise that included the whole world.
The genealogy was given before the account of His earthly life so that His identity would be clear. It bears witness to His human lineage and messianic identity and establishes His pedigree as the promised Seed, supporting the predicted signs of His Messiahship. The complete genealogy presents Him as the Son of David with royal descent, for Matthew's Gospel portrays Christ as King and is written to prove that He is the Messiah.
The genealogy is presented as evidence that Jesus Christ descended from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Jesse, and David, and thus fulfilled the expected lineage of the Messiah. Its preservation of Messiah's genealogy from Solomon through Rehoboam and Abijah to Asa assures that promises and prophecies were fulfilled in Messiah. God deliberately chose one family from corrupt nations and planted them as a separate people, cleared idolatry from their land, taught them truth, and kept this family line for that assurance. God has perfect right to choose His own instruments to carry out justice, using flood, fire, tornado, earthquake, or other nations to overthrow grossly immoral nations, and His overthrow of the Egyptians in mercy to His people and His extermination of the idolatrous and sensual nations of Canaan in mercy to the race unfolded the doctrines and facts of Messiah's future kingdom. The Levitical law given to this separate people shows God's wisdom in gradually developing the great plan of salvation to make it plain to human reason and impress it deeply on the human heart.
Israel was set apart so that this lineage from Abraham could be shown and the promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through Christ could be fulfilled. Jesus' birth stands in that account as a landmark in the fulfillment of the Gospel promises made in the Old Testament.
The verse belongs to the genealogy tracing Jesus' human descent from Abraham through forty-two generations, establishing His direct descent according to Hebrew lineage and His royal birthright.
Human Lineage and Believers
As part of Christ's genealogy the verse shows that Jesus had human ancestors and truly became a member of the human race. He entered this world by birth into the human family as an infant and departed it by death. He shared its sorrows and temptations while remaining without sin, and His human lineage supports confidence in His sympathy and in His understanding of human needs. He accepted humanity after the race had been weakened by four thousand years of sin, and His place in the line of earthly ancestors shows the effects of heredity.
That lineage traces His human ancestry through David's line, whose members were subject to the iniquities common to the human race. Its descent through both wicked and righteous ancestors shows that Jesus entered a human lineage marked by sin and inherited liability. Among His ancestors were a number of bad men and women, some of another race than the Jews, and He did not refuse to be born of sinners in order to save sinners. This descent mattered in the temptations He faced throughout His life, including in that He took upon Himself the nature of man and was tempted in all points as human beings are. Yet in spite of His human nature He lived a perfect life, showing that it is possible for human beings to live a holy life here in the world.
Rehoboam was born to Solomon after Solomon turned from the Lord, and his place in Jesus' genealogy belongs to that descent through wicked and righteous ancestors. The generations from Rehoboam to Asa include both a bad father and a bad son, Rehoboam and Abijah, and then a bad father and a good son, Abijah and Asa. A father's piety is not guaranteed to pass to his child, and a father's impiety does not determine his child's character. In contrast to Christ who has a pedigree, Melchizedek has no pedigree and as priest has no beginning of days as an infant and no end of life. This proves Christ and the Melchizedek who blessed Abraham are two distinct individuals though both are priests after the same order.
Ruth is among the four women named in Christ's genealogy. Her place in the line shows His brotherhood with aliens and Gentiles, just as the other women in the genealogy point to His kinship with sinners. The verse belongs to the genealogical table that begins the New Testament Gospel of divine grace and human salvation. That table forms part of a long list of hard Jewish names of men of a former dispensation, many of whom are unknown, which can appear altogether unprofitable and lacking in spiritual character compared with direct revelations of divine mercy and the loveliness of the character of Christ.
The verse names three generations in the genealogy of Jesus, continuing the royal line from Solomon through Rehoboam and Abijah to Asa. The chapter's genealogy assures believers that Abraham's promises belong to his spiritual descendants. Natural descent was a privilege and opportunity, but did not itself guarantee heirship. Through faith in Christ, believers share Abraham's inheritance of the world and are joint heirs with Christ in David's throne, with right through faith in Christ to Abraham's promised blessing.