Matthew and Luke lay out Jesus’ right to the Davidic throne. It is from the line of Judah from whom the promised Messiah would come. This prophecy came through Jacob as he was blessing his sons.
Genesis 49:9—10 9 “Judah is a lion’s whelp; ?From the prey, my son, you have gone up. ?He couches, he lies down as a lion, ?And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? ?10 “The scepter [crown] shall not depart from Judah, ?Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, ?Until Shiloh [Peace-bearer or Christ] comes, ?And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
We can see the fulfillment of this prophecy in Revelation. Even though it has not been accomplished from our standpoint, it’s as if it has already happened as far as God is concerned. When John had the vision of end-time events, he saw them as they will happen. He saw the Lion from the tribe of Judah open the seven seals.
Revelation 5:5 and one of the elders *said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.
Even Satan, as the great imitator and so-called angel of light will appear as a roaring lion in the Tribulation. Many will be deceived believing that he is the awaited Messiah who will deliver Israel from her enemies.
There are five women listed in Jesus’ genealogy. If you understand how women are regarded in the Middle East you can understand how incredible it was to have women listed. This just wasn’t done. These are not necessarily wonderful, holy women that could be used as role models. Tamar played the part of a temple prostitute and seduced Judah (her father-in-law) to be intimate. Rahab was a prostitute who helped the Jewish spies as they staked out Jericho and was rewarded by God for her actions. Ruth was a Moabites and was not allowed to marry an Israelite. Bathsheba was seduced by King David and later became the mother of King Solomon. The fifth woman mentioned in Matthew is Mary, a lowly, weak girl. Jesus makes it plain that He was not looking for perfect and righteous people to serve Him but would take people where they were. He only demands obedience.
Christianity is probably the only “religion” that holds women as high as it does. The key is to understand that women and men were created to fill two different roles. The Bible portrays women as not only sensitive and caring but often very strong (Jael in Judges 4). Sometime a woman is called to action because men are not willing to do so (Deborah).
We also see that many of the men in Jesus’ lineage are despicable, idol-worshipping scoundrels.
Matthew follows the genealogy through Solomon and ending with Joseph while Luke follows it through Solomon’s brother Nathan. This is the lineage of Mary because we know Joseph was begotten of Joseph on Matthew 1:16 while Luke says Joseph is the son of Eli. The word son in Luke 3:23 is a broad term meaning special relationship. This probably means Joseph was Eli’s son-in-law.
There was a curse on the last king of Judah (King Jeconiah). Jeremiah 22:24—30 says that no man in his line will sit on the throne of David. Since Joseph (Jesus’ earthly father) was in this lineage then Jesus would not be qualified to be King if Jesus was Joseph’s biological father.