The Jewish Messiah, Descended from David?

Christianity has claimed a virgin birth for Jesus almost from he start. Almost, but not quite. The very first Christians, including Mark and Paul, saw Jesus as the Jewish Messiah.

The Jewish Messiah was prophesied to be a descendant of David, and those later Christians maintain that that is via Joseph by adoption (in Matthew) or via Mary (in Luke). Does that fit with what the Jews of Jesus day thought? This post is more specifically about whether they would accept a messiah whose descent was via a woman, as Christians claim for the genealogy in Luke.

Women were not important enough to name

In Genesis, Adam and Eve were supposedly the first man and woman, and the whole population of the world is descended from them. They had three sons, Cain, Abel and Seth. Presumably they also had daughters, but the daughters were not important enough to rate a mention.

There were four men on Noah's Ark and four women. The men were Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth. The women, again, do not rate  a mention by name.

Jesus had brothers called James, Joses, Judas and Simon (Mark 6:3). He also had sisters. As usual the women do not rate  a mention by name.

Why are they not named? Because they were not relevant to genealogies. No one cared if the were descended from Noah's wife; her family tree was irrelevant.

Women were not considered spiritual

When it comes to spiritual matters, matters pertaining to God, women were simply excluded - and remember, the Messiah was coming from God, he was the fulfilment of God's promise, so this was a spiritual matter, not a legal one.

There were no female priests; priests were exclusively men (Lev 21:1,10). There were prophet who were women - seven in all - but prophets were outside the normal hierarchy; they were beyond the control of the priests and the authorities.

Jesus had twelve principle disciples. All were men. The odds of that happening by chance, by the way, are around 1 in 4000.

The Seed of Abraham

An important part of the prophecies about the messiah was God's promise to Abraham.

Genesis 22:15 Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your [e]seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your [f]seed shall possess the gate of [g]their enemies. 18 In your [h]seed all the nations of the earth shall [i]be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

The messiah was sure to come specifically because God had made a promise to Abraham that Abraham's seed would rule the world. The "seed" is the semen, so necessarily had to pass via the male line. This is mentioned elsewhere too.

1 Chronicles 16:13 O seed of Israel His servant,
Sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!

Psalm 89:4 I will establish your seed forever And build up your throne to all generations.” Selah.

Psalm 105:6 O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!

Women did not count in genealogies

We have two genealogies to hand that illustrate this point perfectly. One in Matthew, one in Luke.

Matthew 1:1 The [a]record of the genealogy of [b]Jesus [c]the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham [d]was the father of Isaac, [e]Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of [f]Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of [g]Ram. 4 Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon. 5 Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. 6 Jesse was the father of David the king.
David was the father of Solomon by [h]Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah. 7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of [i]Asa. 8 Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of [j]Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah. 9 Uzziah was the father of [k]Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of [l]Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah. 11 Josiah became the father of [m]Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12 After the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah became the father of [n]Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel. 13 Zerubbabel was the father of [o]Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor. 14 Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud. 15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob. 16 Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called [p]the Messiah.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to [q]the Messiah, fourteen generations.

Luke 3:23 When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, [h]as was supposed, the son of Joseph, [i]the son of [j]Eli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of [k]Hesli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, 27 the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of [l]Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 29 the son of [m]Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of [n]Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of [o]Salmon, the son of [p]Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of [q]Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of [r]Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of [s]Heber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, 38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

In both cases the genealogy is from father to son (with Mary being a possible and very doubtful exception). A few women rate a mention, but none of them are included in the line of descent.

The first chapter of Numbers describes a census of the Jews. Only men are counted, and they are organised with reference to the patriarchal leader of the tribe. That is to say, tribe identification was via the male line. Indeed, the Gospel of Luke carefully establishes that Joseph was of the House of David.

Luke 1:26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin [r]engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the [s]descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was [t]Mary.

Furthermore, according to Luke they had to travel to Bethlehem because that was the home of Joseph's tribe, not Mary's. It was the home of the man's tribe that was significant.

Mary's tribe was irrelevant, and Luke understood it to be irrelevant. It makes no sense to suppose he then included her genealogy.

Women were little more than property

Women were regarded as little more than property. We know that because the Bible has rules on how to sell your daughter (Exodus 21:7); there is no such rule for selling sons, because men are important, men are family, not property! Leviticus 21:9 says unchaste daughters of priests are to be put to death; not the sons of course. The law about adultery is all about the other man adulterating your property; it is comparable to the prohibition against theft. Leviticus 12:2,5 explain how a woman is unclean longer after giving birth to a girl. Deuteronomy 22:13-22 is all about virginity; a man wants to ensure his property has not been handled previously by another man. Obviously it is fine for the man to sleep around all he likes before - or after - marriage.

Perhaps the worst of this is Deuteronomy 22:28-29, which demands that a rapist marry his victim. Shameful in our culture, but if you consider women as property, this is like a shop saying "You broke it, you pay for it." The woman is damaged property, so the rapist has to pay the full price for her.

Here we get very a clear statement that women are worth less - and exactly how much less:

Leviticus 27:3-7:
And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver...
And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels.
And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels.
And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver.
And if it be from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels.

The Talmud

Some Christians claim Mary is mentioned in the Talmud as the daughter of Eli (which would be Heli in the genealogy of Luke). If that is the case, then the most likely explanation is this was in response to Christian claims in the gospels.

However, it seems very uncertain if she is actually mentioned at all. All claims I have come across seem to go back to a statement by John Lightfoot, in a book written in 1675, over four centuries ago, and can be found here. The relevant passage is on page 550:

2. Suppose it could be granted that Joseph might be called the son of Heli (which yet ought not to be), yet would not this be any great solecism, that his son-in-law should become the husband of Mary, his own daughter. He was but his son by law, by the marriage of Joseph's mother, not by nature and generation.
There is a discourse of a certain person who in his sleep saw the punishment of the damned. Amongst the rest which I would render thus, but shall willingly stand corrected if under a mistake; He saw Mary the daughter of Heli amongst the shades. R. Lazar Ben Josah saith, that she hung by the glandules of her breasts. R. Josah Bar Haninah saith, that the great bar of hell's gate hung at her ear.
If this be the true rendering of the words, which I have reason to believe it is, then thus far, at least, it agrees with our evangelist, that Mary was the daughter of Heli: and questionless all the rest is added in reproach of the blessed Virgin, the mother of our Lord: whom they often vilify elsewhere under the name of Sardah.

I have found full version of the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, and cannot find the text he is quoting. Now it must be acknowledged that there are various spellings and versions, so I may have missed it, but I suspect Christians would make more of it if it really existed.

In fact it seems possible this is referencing this story:

In Ashkelon lived two good friends, both pious students. One died and appeared to his friend in a dream, strolling among the orchard and springs of Paradise. Then the dream say Miriam, the daughter of My Onion-Leaves, with the hinge of the hood of Hell stuck in her ear.

I have been told informally that "The misunderstanding comes from the fact that Alei Betzalim (onion leaves) and Eli, Betzalim (Eli, in the Shadows) are spelled the same in Aramaic." This is somewhat confirmed by this:

the Jerusalem Talmud (Ḥag. 2:2; 77d) mentions a Miriam bat Alei Beẓalim ("onion leaves") which may be a reference to Miriam the mother of Jesus.

But they had a Queen

Judah had about twenty kings, and a single queen, Athaliah. That should be enough to establish that kingship generally went down the male line. It is worth noting that Athaliah was removed from the throne after only six year when rebellion broke out, so she was not accepted as ruler by a significant proportion of the population.

Jehoash, her grandson, replaced her on the throne. He was nevertheless still a direct male-line descendent of David. His father was Ahaziah, whose father was Jehoram (husband to Athalia), son of Jehoshaphat. All were kings, all of the male line of David (there is a family tree here).

So Athaliah was unique not just for being a woman who was ruler of Judah but also because she was the only ruler who was not a direct male-line descendant of David. Athaliah seized power for herself, she was not given it. She had all other claimants killed (but missed Jehoash), and instituted worship of Baal. I am doubtful they considered her a messiah.

I see no reason to suppose Athaliah gives any credence to the Jews accepting descendant of the messiah via the mother, given she was not a descent of David at all herself, and her success was a descendant of David via the male line.

Conclusion

All the evidence points to the genealogy in Luke being via Joseph - not least of all the fact that that is what the text says!