Expert: Edward Bode - 1/23/2008

Question
QUESTION: the old testament specifies that the messiah would be a direct blood descendent of david on his father's side (all lineage follows the father in judaism). how is this possible if his father is god? adopted fathers do not establish lineage according to judaism, nor does the lineage of the mother.

ANSWER: Matthew calls Jesus "son of David" and "Son of God." Matthew had to have thought that the two phrases were both validly applicable to Jesus.
Mt 1:1-16 outlines the male ancestors of Jesus. Jesus is often called "son of David", for example, 9:27, 15:22, 20:30-31, 21:9,14.  The gospel recognizes the special conception of Jesus that entitles Him to the title of Son of God -- 1:20, 10:32, 16:16.
The theological explanation is that Jesus is true God because He is one divine Person [Son of God]united to a human being with a body descended from David.  Matthew knows that Joseph is not the biological father of Jesus, who was born into the wedded family of Joseph and Mary.  Joseph is not an adopted father but a foster father, who as the husband would be thought of as the father even though he really was not.  That situation satisfied Matthew to qualify Jesus as a son of David.
If I have not answered what you were asking, please feel free to write again.
Best wishes, Paul.

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QUESTION: a foster father does not establish lineage in judaism. an isrealite who has a levite as a foster father does not reap the benefits of being a levite himself. lineage will not follow a foster father to determine which house someone is born into...

ANSWER: I do not know the detailed criteria of what you report about lineage in Judaism.  Is this information explicitly from the time of Jesus or from some later time?  
What I can say [and did so in my first reply] is that people at the time of Jesus considered him to be a son of David.  
Whether or not Jesus' sonship of David satisfies your criteria, the gospels and the letters of Paul clearly teach that Jesus was really the Messiah and the divine Son of God.
If you would like more, please feel free to write again.
Again, best wishes, Paul.

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QUESTION: i understand that his followers accepted him, but just because someone believed something in something in the past doesn't make it right. a lot of people have believed a lot of different things over the course of time. im not talking from my personal knowledge of jewish practices when i speak about lineage. the old testament states lineage rules quite clearly when it discusses the divisions by the tribes, directly following the accounting of mount sinai. for jesus to be the messiah, he would have had to follow the rules up until that point, and only after being accepted as the messiah would he be able to change the rules into what christians follow today (i dont personally believe that the messiah changes the old rules, but im going with the christian interpretation). jesus has to be considered valid by the old standards, because if he wasn't, then he's trying to affect something externally, which is a logical fallacy.

Answer
If you would give me the biblical reference to the Exodus passage to which you refer, I would be pleased to comment and respond.
However, I would also suggest for your consideration that Jesus's claim to be the Christ might not be dependent on his literally being the son of David but rather his being the fulfillment of the OT expectations by one who claimed and showed the authority to alter the Sinaitic covenant [cf. Mt 5:21-48].
Until later.

In thinking about your quandry, I offer a few further thoughts for your consideration:
1 - Joseph as the legal father would justify calling Jesus a son of David.  So thought Matthew and Luke.
2 - In the OT, after the return from the exile, emphasis is also placed on the Messiah as a prophet, one like Moses.
3 - In the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus, the cause of the death sentence is that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
4 - In popular estimation, Jesus was thought of as a son of David.  In Mt 22:41ff [and Mk 12:35ff, Lk 20:41ff], when Jesus asks whose son is the Messiah, Pharisees respond: son of David.  Jesus asks: how can that be since David refers to the Messiah as his Lord?  Jesus seems to be saying that the Messiah needs to more that a son of David.