As the Mishnah says, האומר זה בני, נאמן

If a man says 'this is my son', he is to be believed. (Baba Bathra 8:6)

In the Brit Chadasha birth narratives and genealogies of our Moshiach we learn that Moshiach was only the adoptive son of Yosef (Joseph), the descendant of David.  However, Yosef acknowledged that the child was not a "mamzer"  (illegitimate son) but a son "whom Hashem provided" supernaturally.  Therefore, Joseph adopted the Jewish child and consequently conferred upon him the legal rights of his son and his firstborn heir, for the right of succession was established according to whether the father was willing to recognize anyone as  his son (see Baba Bathra 8:6). See Babylonian Talmud Baba Bathra 130a on Deuteronomy 21:16, "then it shall be in the day that he causes his sons to inherit?" because once Yosef Ben Dovid recognized the child as Yeshua Ben Yosef Ben Dovid, then even Oral Law or Halacha or a Jewish Judge could not dispute the right of succession to the throne conferred by the act of a Davidic heir [Yosef] naming the child and thus accepting the child as his firstborn heir to David's kingship.  The formal Hebrew name was normally given to a Jewish boy during the bris milah (ritual circumcision).  Let's stop here and test your Moshiach literacy.

Now before we speak of the second genealogy, we need to say a word about the preaching of Shimon Kefa. Markos took Shimon Kefa's preaching that had been preached for decades and set it down in writing. These were spiritual things expressed in spiritual words and were of inestimable value as a core document. Matthew used this core document in his writing along with his own unique material. Now Luke was familiar with Mark but by the time Luke was ready to publish his Lukan material he not only had Mark's writing in front of him but also very probably Matthew's writing because there are some 200 verses in Luke that are also found in Matthew. Therefore, since Luke had opportunity to personally interview people with knowledge of Miriam's family and Miriam's relative, the mother of Yochanan of the tevilah of teshuva, during the narrow window of time before the Churban and before the death of these witnesses, it is very unlikely that Luke is giving us a divergent genealogy of Yosef ben Dovid. On the contrary, we have a great deal of evidence to make a circumstantial case that Luke's genealogy, the second genealogy, is the genealogy of Miriam Bat Eli Ben Dovid, the Davidic royal almah Isaiah promised the House of Dovid in Isaiah 7:14, which Hebrew text contains the word LAMED KHAF FINAL MEM ("to you PLURAL," that is, NOT to King Ahaz, singular, NOT to "you" SINGULAR, in Isaiah chapter 7:13-14), meaning that the almah is a ROYAL DAVIDIC ALMAH which will be a supernatural sign not to King Ahaz only but to the whole House of David.

As today, anti-Moshiach activists among the rabbis would have wanted to make the most of any knowledge that Miriam was not of the Davidic house of Judah.  Rav Sha'ul particularly would have insisted on Miriam's Messianic credential of Davidic lineage.  Yet there is not a hint in any of his writings that this rabbi from Tarsus ever doubted the descent of Yeshua from David.  A relatively short time later Ignatius of Antioch, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, refers to "Miriam of the seed of Dovid." This early attestation of Davidic descent attributed to Miriam can also be found in the writings of Irenaeus and Tertullian.  But already in Ro 1:3 Rav Sha'ul says of our Moshiach that "he was as to his human nature a descendant of King Dovid."He was not born of a man and woman but of a woman only (Ga 4:4, a verse with a clear allusion to Gn 3:15 as interpreted by Isa 7:14).  The only human nature Moshiach Ben Dovid had was from his mother.  Now, think: the tribes of Israel were Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehudah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Yissakhar, Zevulun, Yosef, and Binyamin.  Does anyone actually believe that Miriam did not know her genealogy?  Does anyone think that on Nisan 8, at the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, the crowds were throwing down palm branches before someone from another tribe other than Yehudah (Judah) or that Miriam didn't know her own name, that she was Miriam Bat Eli Ben Dovid?  Or that these matters were not minutely investigated (see Lk 1:1) at the time?  Arrogant pride will trip one up here. Genealogies were of the highest importance in all matters of life: property rights, inheritance, marriage arrangements, everything.  Ignorant 21^st century readers need to stop reading the Bible with ignorant 21^st century notions.  The main reason the Kohanim establishment in charge of the Beis Hamikdash was so threatened by this Galilean rabbi was not just the crowds who took note of his miracles or of his cleansing their Temple turf, but the Jews who took note of his Davidic right to the throne of Israel and to be "King of the Jews," thus upsetting their balance of power with the Romans.  See also 2Ti 2:8. In Edersheim's Messianic classic, p.149, it is indicated that kohanim normally either married daughters of kohanim or nobility, so, from any view of the facts, it is not hard to see how the family of Miriam could have had royal kinship in the line of King Dovid.  The name of the husband could be used to trace a woman's line without, as in Jewish custom, mentioning her name (see Luke 3:23).  Luke's genealogy does not deal with Yosef for it says that Moshiach was only supposedly Ben Yosef, meaning Miriam, though unnamed, is really being spoken of here with Eli (Heli) being Yeshua's grandfather on his maternal side. Matthew gives us Jeconiah's legal Davidic line through Solomon, but because of Jeconiah's sin (see Jeremiah 22:24-30 and Jeremiah 33:15-17) the Seed of Dovid came through Nathan and Miriam's Davidic ancestors, the genealogy of which is given to us by Luke. We know that Luke did research concerning the family background of Yeshua and Yochanan of the tevilah of teshuva. A careful study of Lk-Ac shows that a historian has been divinely dispatched into pre-Churban Jerusalem in the narrow window of time before the death of many of the eye-witnesses and before the 70 C.E. cataclysm (see Ac 21:8) to confirm with assurance that these things pertaining to our salvation (Moshiach's genealogy, miracles, parables, post-histalkus appearances, etc) written in Lk-Ac are true and trustworthy as eye-witnessed facts locked into the context of secular history and the Hebrew Bible's out-working of Hashem's plan of redemption (Lk 24:44). So during the narrow window of time before genealogical records in the Beis Hamikdash were destroyed Lk was in Jerusalem doing his research.

When dealing with the question of Yosef Ben Dovid's adoption of Yeshua as his son and heir, an anti-Moshiach activist might try to make the case that "adoption" did not exist in Judaism.  It is strange that no one told Abraham this when he considered adopting his servant Eliezer in Genesis chapter 15.  And did not Naomi "adopt" the Jewish child of a Levirate marriage (Ruth 4:16f) as her grandson and also as the adopted child of her deceased son Mahlon? Would these anti-Moshiach activists have us believe that Naomi is also outside the pale of Judaism?  Is Judaism defined by Oral Law and not by Scripture?  Did not Mordecai "adopt" Queen Esther (Esther 2:7,15)?  Did not childless Sarah and childless Rachel acquire children through the surrogate motherhood of their handmaidens?   Is Sarah outside the jurisdiction of Judaism? We might as well say Hashem is as well, since Hashem adopted Israel as His "first-born son" (Exodus 4:22; Hosea 11:1).  See Ro 8:14-17. If only the anti-Moshiach activists could prove that the natural physical maternal parent or birth mother of our Moshiach was not of Davidic descent from the tribe of Judah, then this proof would presumably make Yeshua retain some other tribal lineage.  But alas such proof from them is not forthcoming.  Regarding Miriam Bat Eli Ben Dovid look here and here and here and here and here and here. Miriam Bat Eli Ben Dovid was in fact the royal almah of the House of David foretold in Isaiah 7:14.Now here we need to say something about the Hebrew word “almah.” Now the ROYAL almah (not just ANY almah, but the ROYAL almah of the House of David) prophesied by Isaiah was to bring a sign to the House of Dovid, a supernatural sign by a supernatural birth. Now this word “almah” occurs only a few times in the Tanakh. But every time it occurs it is always an unmarried young virginal maiden. Now there is a Hebrew word “betulah,” but it is used by the prophet Yoel for a MARRIED virgin who is bereft of the husband of her youth. The Hebrew word “almah” in the inerrant Tanakh is ALWAYS an UNMARRIED betulah. We see this in the case of Rebecca or Rivka. We see this in the case of the sister of Moshe Rabbeinu, Miriam. And this word “almah,” referring to a ROYAL “almah” of the House of David, finally comes in the fullness of time in the “almah” Miriam Bat Eli Ben Dovid, who was betrothed to Yosef Ben Dovid when she was around the ages of twelve or fourteen.


Now the penalty for adultery during the time of betrothal could be as severe as death by stoning but in any case the marriage would be annulled by a required divorce. And of course in that case Yosef Ben Dovid would have been free to find himself another wife, having become a cuckold in his time of betrothal. However, Hashem showed Yosef Ben Dovid that this thing that had happened was a supernatural miracle so that he should claim the coming child as his legal heir. So Yosef Ben Dovid did not give a “get” to put away his royal “almah” that he had betrothed. Rather Yosef Ben Dovid accepted this child born supernaturally like Yitzchak, born supernaturally like Shimshon, born as Immanuel, the Bar Enosh from the Atik Yomin born to this young royal almah besulah maidulah virgin Miriam Bat Eli Ben Dovid.


Now the point we are making is that when we look at these genealogies we see very clearly that Moshiach has to have credentials. Moshiach truly is the One who fulfilled Hashem’s promise to Avraham Avinu because Abraham would not merely become the father of the Jewish people. No, broader than that, he had been born a non-Jew and he would be a blessing to the whole non-Jewish world, the non-Jews of the Gantzer Velt, not just of Israel but of ALL the nations. And we know that we are to go into ALL the Gantzer Velt and make talmidim of ALL the Nations. And we see this in the second genealogy.





In the first genealogy we are dealing with gematria. Now gematria is not merely a homiletical game, a code-breaking tool, a mere exercise in letter-mysticism. Here is Ruach Hakodesh anointed gematria. In the first genealogy of Moshiach we have the name of Dovid, DALET-VAV-DALET in Hebrew, each Hebrew letter having a numerical value, the DALET having the equivalent value of 4, the VAV of 6, the other DALET of 4, making a total when you add us the sum (4 plus 6 plus 4 equals 14) so that the sum total value of King Dovid’s name is 14. So we see the whole history of the Nation of Hashem given in 3 factors of 14, 14 generations from Avraham to Dovid and 14 generations from Dovid to the Golus in Babylon and 14 generations from the Golus in Babylon to the climactic time of Moshiach Ben Dovid. And so the point that is being made by the genealogy is that all the divine promises made to Dovid the King come to pass by a factor of DALET (4) VAV (6) DALET (4), in the coming of the glorious Moshiach Ben Dovid, the Ganzer Velt Goel Redeemer Savior of the World.


You can set forth your gematria for your anti-Moshiach claimant to the throne of Dovid, but yours is promoting a false Moshiach, an imposter without Biblical credentials. You are promoting some kind of pseudo-Yiddishkait Shmad Apostasy from the Jewish Religion.


Now in the second genealogy Yosef Ben Dovid would be the son-in-law of his father-by-marriage Eli Ben Dovid. And this second genealogy traces Miriam Bat Eli Ben Dovid’s forebears just as you have in Numbers chapter 27 (Bamidbar 27) a woman’s genealogy giving the woman’s male forebears which are traced back through the generations. So you have a precedent for this genealogy right here in Number 27 in the Torah. And this genealogy highlights the first man because lacking parents the first man can be called the “Zoon foon der Oybershter,” the Son of Elokim. But because of the Chet Kadmon fall, no son of the First Man can be credited with righteousness or right standing before Hashem except through the righteousness of the Ben Adam, the Bar Enosh, Moshiach Tzidkeinu, Moshiach Our Righteousness. He is our righteousness. And the Righteous shall live by faith in Him, as the Tanakh declares. So, if we have faith, true faith abiding in obedience to the Scriptures, true saving faith, then Hashem credits the Righteousness of the Bar Enosh Moshiach to us through our faith, for by faith the Righteous shall live. And Hashem says that His Righteous Moshiach will make many righteous. So in this genealogy which focuses on the first Man, the DISobedient MAN, and the Ben Adam, the Bar Enosh, the OBEDIENT MAN, we see even in this genealogy how salvation would come to the whole world by our Ganzer Velt Goel Redeemer Moshiach Savior of the World.


Now we need to say a word about the strict Jewish custom and procedure used in the second genealogy of Moshaich. Because no women are mentioned in this genealogy, including Miriam Bat Eli Ben Dovid. Because by Jewish custom one would not mention the name of the woman but would instead trace her line by using the name of the husband. And we see this sort of Jewish procedure in Ezra 2:61 and in Nehemiah 7:63. So this genealogy is the very very Jewish genealogy of Miriam Bat Eli Ben Dovid. Don’t read these genealogies with goyishe ignorant eyes of prejudice. Ask Hashem to give you spiritual eyes to see.


Those with an ignorant prejudice toward these genealogies often also have a bias against the kedusha hameshuleshet, the threefold holiness, of Hashem. This is a concept seen in the Shema, where the name of G-d is given three times. Shema Yisroel, Adonoi Eloheinu Adonoi Echad. There it is. Three times. The mystery of the number three, the “razei d’shlosha.” There it is, three times: first Adonoi, second, Eloheinu, third, Adonoi. There we have something like Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh in Isaiah chapter 6. In volume 2, page 43 of the Zohar, it says, “How can the THREE be ONE? … Then the Zohar says, How Three can be One can only be known through the revelation of the Ruach Hakodesh, the Holy Spirit.”


Also in this ancient Mahzor I have here it speaks of the threefold unity, not three g-ds, but Adonoi Echad. So this is Hashem as He reveals himself: the Chochmah of Hashem, that is, the Devar Hashem who came in person, in the flesh from Hashem though the Ruach Hakodesh. This is the mystery of the kedusha ha-meh-shu-leh-shet, just as we have the ba-ra-chei-nu ba-bracha ha-meh-shu-leh-shet in the Prayerbook where we bless in the threefold blessing of the Aaronic Benediction, Y’vareh-ch’chah Adonoi v’yeesh-m’reh-chah, Y’air Adonoi pah-nahv eh-leh-chah vee-cho-neh-chah. Ye-sah Adonoi pahnav eh-leh-chah v’yah-seym l’chah shalom. We do this because Hashem is Adonoi Echad, but He is also Elohei Kedusha HaMeshuleshet. He is the One L-rd, the Elokim of Threefold Holiness.


That Yeshua was born of the royal line of David and no other tribe or family is a matter of common knowledge in the early community of believers (cf Acts 2:29ff.; 13:23; 2Ti2:8; Rv 22:16).  So MJ 7:14 says it is obvious that Moshiach Adoneinu has sprung from Judah, an allusion to Zech 6:12 (see How To Point).

DO YOU KNOW THE DERECH HASHEM [REQUIRES LITERACY IN HEBREW]?

ARE YOU DEPRESSED [THIS IS IN ENGLISH]?

The 19^th Psalm says that the simple are made wise by the testimony of Hashem, which testimony is "sure."  In fact, G-d's Word is called

תמימה

temimah (perfect). (Tehillim 19: 7[8])

This means it is factually without error.  G-d is not the author of any lie or falsehood or misrepresentation of reality or false witness to the truth.  The Bible is verbally inspired.  This means that literally every word is breathed out in the very breath of the Ruach Hakodesh and that man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of Hashem.

The Bible is the solid rock that will never pass away. Whatever is in the Bible is just what G-d wanted to be said and not the mere whim of human will. See 2K 1:21.  In the Scriptures are spiritual words taught by the Ruach Hakodesh to those believers who have the Ruach Hakodesh. See 1C 2:12-16.  See 2Ti 3:16 and Mt 5:18. 

We have no other written authority.  The words of the Hellenistic Jewish Synagogue of the First Century that comprise the last 27 books and the Hebrew and Aramaic words that make up the first 39 books are without error in the original autographs and have been preserved in the extant copies so that we have the infallible and inerrant authority that is able to make us wise unto salvation.  See 2Ti 3:15. 

Blessed is the man who over G-d's Word does not stumble.  Just as it was possible for a proud disciple of the Jerusalem rabbis to look at the Galilean Carpenter and not "read" him but instead despise his lowly peasant appearance ("There was no special beauty or form to make us notice him or desire him" Isaiah 53:2), so there are proud readers who see apparent but not actual discrepancies in the Scripture.  For example, when you are reading Matthew 27:9 you might think that the text has a mistake until you realize that this is a composite citation (Jer 18:2-6; 19:1-2,4,6,11; 32:6-15; Zech 11:13) from Zecharyah and Yirmeyah.  And just as some turned away from the incognito King, Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach, so one's wicked heart might lead one to turn away from Matthew 27:9, but in both cases the error is not in what is read but in the reader.

So we primordially and perennially, with disastrous consequences for ourselves, forsake the words of G-d and receive the contradictory words of HaSatan.

SEE HOW EASY IT IS TO READ THROUGH THE BIBLE

See the ORTHODOX JEWISH BIBLE.