Some Rabbis claim that Jesus could not have been the Messiah because Matt 1:12 states that Jesus descends from Jeconiah, who was cursed in such a way that no descendant of his could hold the position of Davidic kingship. Essentially, Jeconiah’s descendants were disqualified from kingship and only a legitimate king could be the Messiah.

Matt 1:12-16 and after the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel. And Zerubbabel was the father of Abihud, and Abihud was the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim was the father of Azor. And Azor was the father of Zadok, and Zadok was the father of Achim, and Achim was the father of Eliud. And Eliud was the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar was the father of Matthan, and Matthan was the father of Jacob. And Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

Jeconiah Cursed

Jer 22:24-30   As I live,” declares Yahweh, “even though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a signet ring on My right hand, yet I would pull you off; and I will give you over into the hand of those who are seeking your life, indeed, into the hand of those whom you dread, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. I will hurl you and your mother who bore you into another land—there you were not born, but there you will die. But as for the land to which their soul desires to return, they will not return to it. Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered jar? Or is he an undesirable vessel? Why have he and his seed been hurled out and cast into a land that they had not known? O land, land, land, Hear the word of Yahweh! Thus says Yahweh, “Write this man down childless; a man will not succeed in his days; it is that a man from his seed will not succeed, sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah.”

In the book of Jeremiah, Yahweh curses Jeconiah (spelled Coniah as shorthand) to die a pathetic death and it also appears that his descendants are cursed from ever being able to be kings in Israel. Since the Messiah is supposed to be the king of Israel, this is a significant problem.

If we look for Christian responses to this problem, we get answers that are not at all convincing to Jews who view them as not addressing the real issue. Consider this response from NeverThirsty.org:

Jesus was not conceived by Joseph, who was a descendant of Jeconiah since He was virgin born by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:20; Luke 1:35). Had Joseph been his actual physical father, Jesus would not have been able to sit on the throne of David as the Messiah-King. Jesus’ only human parent was Mary. Consequently, He inherited the royal blood line through Mary and the legal right to be king through his father, Joseph. By not being a direct descendant, He avoided the “curse.” Praise God . . . some day we will see Jesus reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords on the throne of David. Praise Jesus!

Matthew went out of his way to show that Jesus is legally (through Joseph’s adoption of him) a descendant of king David through the line of Jeconiah. If this line is cursed, then why did Matthew spill so much ink on expensive parchment to prove that Jesus descends from Jeconiah? Pointing out the fact that Jesus isn’t really genetically related to Jeconiah doesn’t address the problem of Matthew thinking that this was something worth writing about. If Joseph isn’t a legitimate heir of David because of God’s curse upon his ancestor, then he has no right-to-kingship to pass down to Jesus through adoption. Also, kingship transfers down through fathers, not mothers, so Jesus could not have been a legitimate king from the Davidic line through Mary. It is vital to show that the genealogy of Jesus connects him through male descendants to king David and it remains troublesome that the line he apparently comes from is cursed to not be a legitimate line for kingship. This is not a satisfactory response.

Reading Carefully

We need to pay very close attention to the wording that Jeremiah uses so that we don’t mistake him as saying more than he really said. I think that our friends at NeverThirsty.org were too quick to agree with the Rabbis about what Jeremiah said, and didn’t take the time to see that other passages indicate that their interpretation is mistaken.

He Will Not Succeed… In His Days?

Jeremiah says quite specifically that a man from the seed of Jeconiah (the genetic descent of Jeconiah) will not succeed in “his days.” What does it mean that a descendant of Jeconiah will not succeed in sitting on the throne of David “in his days”? The most reasonable interpretation is that this prophecy is limited to the time of Jeconiah; it isn’t meant to be a permanent curse for all time going forward. But if it isn’t permanent, then why have it at all?

The people in days of Jeconiah didn’t want to believe that Jerusalem was going to fall or that there wouldn’t be a king on the throne of David. So, they would have held out the hope that even if Jeconiah did get deported, that one of his descendants would immediately replace him and the kingdom would continue. God is preventing the people from having this hope; there would be no immediate replacement for Jeconiah and the throne would remain empty during his days. But there is a problem with this interpretation.

…for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah?

Most translations translate the remainder of the verse in a way that makes it seem like there could never be a king from Jeconiah that sits on the throne of David.

New International Version
This is what the LORD says: “Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah.”

New Living Translation
This is what the LORD says: ‘Let the record show that this man Jehoiachin was childless. He is a failure, for none of his children will succeed him on the throne of David to rule over Judah.’

English Standard Version
Thus says the LORD: “Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah.”

Berean Standard Bible
This is what the LORD says: “Enroll this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will prosper to sit on the throne of David or to rule again in Judah.”

King James Bible
Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

New King James Version
Thus says the LORD: ‘Write this man down as childless, A man who shall not prosper in his days; For none of his descendants shall prosper, Sitting on the throne of David, And ruling anymore in Judah.’ ”

New American Standard Bible 2020
This is what the LORD says: “Write this man down as childless, A man who will not prosper in his days; For no man among his descendants will prosper Sitting on the throne of David Or ruling again in Judah.”

These translations make it appear that the reason that no descendant of Jeconiah will be king in the days of Jeconiah is because NO descendant will EVER sit on the throne. It is obvious that if no descendant of Jeconiah will ever sit on the throne, then that is also going to be true in the days of Jeconiah. But this very popular translation has two problems.

First, the word כי that is being translated “for” has multiple other common meanings. It can also be translated “that.” By the cross-linguistic reality of insubordinate grammar, we can legitimately translate this verse as:

Thus says Yahweh, “Write this man down childless; a man will not succeed in his days; it is that a man from his seed will not succeed, sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah.”

In this translation, the second half of the verse explains what it means that “a man will not succeed.” It means that a man who descends from Jeconiah will not succeed in sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah. The time limitation of “in his days” is presupposed to still be valid in the second half of the verse.

If I say “You won’t win tomorrow; you’re going to lose at everything you try to succeed at!” You could interpret, “you’re going to lose at everything you try to succeed at” as being a statement about the rest of your life, but that would be a bad interpretation. I was talking specifically about tomorrow, not the rest of your life. So, it is not legitimate to take a statement about “in his days” and suddenly make it be about the rest of human history.

But just because we CAN translate the verse this way doesn’t mean that we should. We need a reason to. And we have such a reason: a later descendant of Jeconiah is spoken of as being worthy of being king in the Old Testament. Why would God speak this way of a line of descendants that are cursed to never be king?

Haggai 2:20-23

Zerubbabel is a descendant of Jeconiah and is also in the genealogy of Jesus (Matt 1:13). Consider what God has to say about Zerubabbel:

Hag 2:20-23    Then the word of Yahweh came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, “Speak to Zerubbabel governor of Judah, saying, ‘I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. ‘I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariots and their riders, and the horses and their riders will go down, everyone by the sword of another.’ ‘On that day,’ declares Yahweh of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, My servant,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you,’” declares Yahweh of hosts.

So, Jeconiah was like a signet ring that God threw away, and Zerubabbel was like a signet ring that God chose and didn’t throw away. Signet rings were symbols of authority; they symbolized the authority of their owner. God rejected Jeconiah from representing his authority but chose Zerubabbel to represent his authority. So, God was very intentional when he said that no man descended from Jeconiah would become king IN HIS (Jeconiah’s) DAY, but God did not reject all of his descendants from all time from being king beyond that time period.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is no problem with Jeconiah’s descendants being cursed to be unable to take the throne in the days of Jeconiah. We don’t need to try to appeal to Jesus’ virgin birth as a way for Jesus to escape the curse; there is no curse that extended beyond the days of Jeconiah. It is perfectly fine for Jesus to be a Davidic heir through Joseph’s adoption of him; God approves of adoption, as proven by the fact that he permits people to join his family and be called children of God; we can call God “Abba, Father” just like Jesus did:

John 1:12-13 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Mark 14:36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”