TRIBAL LINEAGE/SUCCESSION OF YESHUA (JESUS) including "Jechoniah's curse"and the VIRGIN BIRTH (Almah and Bethulah).
Almah in Hebrew means "young girl or young woman". Bethulah in Hebrew means "virgin". As you will see, Almah has also been used in the Tanakh to refer to a virgin in verses quoted below. (Please remember that a young woman bearing a child is not a special sign from God. A virgin birth is a special sign, though!)
Isaiah 7:14 (From the Tanakh) "Assuredly, my Lord will give you a sign of His own accord! Look, the young woman is with child and about to give birth to a son. Let her name him Immanuel." (in Hebrew, God with us).
Matthew 1:1 "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ (Iesou Christou in Greek), the son of David, the son of Abraham." (The name of Jesus Christ in mentioned in the very first verse in the New Testament or New Covenant. Jesus means Savior from sin and Christ means Anointed One or Messiah in Greek).
Matthew 1:21 "She will bear a son and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins."
Matthew 1:23 "Behold the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel" which means "God is with us." (This is a parallel verse with Isaiah 7:14. See above.) (Again, you must have both the Old and New Covenants to understand that "almah" does in fact translate to virgin in the Tanakh as well as the New Covenant). (Please remember the promise of a New Covenant in the Tanakh in Jeremiah 31:31.)
- Scenario: Joseph and Mary are both the biological parents of Jesus. (This doesn't make any sense when you put the Old and New Testaments or Covenants together. Joseph is not the biological father, but for the sake of the argument that he is we will proceed with this line of thought). There is tribal succession in Judah through both Mary and Joseph to Jesus from King David's line. Jesus fulfills the prophecies. Jesus is the Messiah. To totally understand the prophecies (Please see the entire PROPHECY page) you must put all this together (this whole page). Please read on.
Genesis 49:10 The scepter shall never depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be (the power of authority) and
Isaiah 11:1-10 tells that the Messiah will come from
Jesse’s descendants. (Jesse was
King David’s father).
JECHONIAH'S CURSE:
Jeremiah 22:29 “Record this man as without succession, one who shall never be found acceptable; for no man of his offspring shall be accepted to sit on the throne of David and to rule again in Judah.”
Jechoniah’s curse (no more tribal succession, and Judah’s line is broken.) No more children, but he does have some children. God is very mad at Jechoniah for no t being faithful to His commandments!
Haggai 2:23 “On that day-declares the Lord of Hosts-I will take you, O My servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel-declares the Lord-and make you as a signet; for I have chosen you-declares the Lord of Hosts.
The curse is lifted TWO generations later. We have a very forgiving God! God constantly forgives His chosen people as long as they are faithful to His commandments. Faith is a very important message in ALL of God's WORD!
Why was God so forgiving:
Hag. 1:12 …the people gave heed to the summons of the Lord their God and to the words of the prophet…
Please remember that Jesus was also a prophet and God demands that we heed His Word as well. Jews and rabbis worldwide at least acknowledge Jesus as a GREAT PROPHET!
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Scenario: Joseph is not the biological father of Jesus. God is the Father of Jesus through the Holy Spirit (Mat. 1:23) because of the virgin birth. His name will be Emmanuel. God is with us and there is tribal succession through Mary. Did God make a mistake or make an error in judgment? Does there have to be a biological father to have the correct succession? Is Mary enough to carry succession in Jewish tradition? Is God sufficient to carry the LINE OF JUDAH and KING DAVID? If Jesus is God with us, then maybe we didn’t see ALMAH interpreted correctly in Isaiah 7:14. Maybe this was a virgin birth. This is the only way that the story would makes sense. This virgin birth was a "one-of-a-kind" happening. This must have been the only way God could fulfill the tribal succession question and still make Jesus GOD! There are no Jewish laws about "virgin birth", so we have to see what God was trying to do and succeeded in doing! As it was, Mary and Joseph should have been stoned to death because they were said to have had intercourse outside of wedlock, but God had a plan. He protected them, just like He protected them by sending an angel to them when Jesus was born. They were told to go to Egypt where they stayed for roughly 12 years until Herod died. At this point they came back to Jerusalem and we see Jesus teaching in the temple (at 13 years of age.) Can you imagine teaching the great rabbis in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at age 13. Maybe there was something special about this young man! Maybe He was really the Messiah. Maybe He was teaching the Word of God, because that's what He was! This is what He is called in John 1:1. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God." Maybe God made it possible to understand only if we put the New and Old Covenants together. God's Word always makes sense. If it doesn't, at any time in your search, keep searching until it does. God is always right and never makes mistakes. He is perfect!
Exodus 2:8 Speaks of Pharoah’s daughter, as almah, who finds Moses in the river. She is a virgin and a young girl, not married at this point.
The 3 kings or magi came from different places in the region. They all followed a star that led them to Yeshua. Herod was so sure that Yeshua was the King of the Jews that he sent forth an edict to kill all the Jewish babies under 2 years old. Maybe there was something to this after all. Maybe the whole known world at that time knew that He was coming. Maybe God wants us to know, too!
Please email me if you have any comments or suggestions at cdwiner@cox.net