“Then Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the temple, ‘How is
it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?’”
When Jesus asked a question, he was teaching. He wanted His hearers to think about a
subject that was well known, what the scribes had taught, and then he was going
to expand upon it. He was going to help
the hearers understand the Messiah, the Christ, in an entirely new light. In a way the scribes were lacking.
The title ‘Son of David’ is a Messianic title. The scribes used this title for the Christ,
the expected Messiah, the long awaited for Deliverer. “When
your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed
after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I
will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” (2 Samuel 7:12-13) This is a prophecy of the anointed one to
come, whose kingdom will be forever.
This phrase ‘Son of David’ made it clear to the scribes that
the Messiah would be of the lineage of David.
But there was a problem with their singular thought. There was a prophecy that, due to his sins
against God, King Jeconiah’s descendants would not rule on the throne of David,
see Jeremiah 22:24-30. Based upon this
curse of the descendants of Jeconiah, it appeared to be impossible for this
eternal king to come from the lineage of David.
“If the kingship is passed father to son, but none of King Jeconiah's
descendants would rule, then how could the Messiah, the son of David, rule? The
answer is that Jesus inherited the throne through Joseph without being a
physical son of Joseph, and at the same time was still a son of David through
his mother.” (lavistachurchofchrist.org)
Even though Jesus came to earth through immaculate conception, since
Joseph and Mary were married prior to Jesus' birth, Jesus is considered
Joseph's son. Joseph is from Solomon’s line of David, as
shown to us in the first chapter of Matthew.
Solomon is the royal line. Mary
is from Nathan’s line of David as detailed in chapter three of Luke.
Jesus complicated His question to the scribes by quoting the
inspired statement by King David from Psalm 110:1, “The LORD said to my
Lord…” The question from Jesus combined
with the quote from David point out a scriptural difficulty for the scribes who
looked only for a human fulfillment by the Messiah. It is not possible for a descendant to have
authority over an ancestor, yet David was not mistaken because he was inspired
with these words by the Holy Spirit. If
the Messiah is David’s Lord, then the Messiah must be something greater. This is the point Jesus is making. The scribes were unable to answer the question
due to their limited view of the Messiah.
Jesus was helping the scribes and those in attendance to see that the
Messiah had an additional nature:
divine. Until this point, the
scribes’ understanding, and therefore their teaching, was of a Messiah that was
less than what the scriptures described.
Mary should have known. She knew
how Jesus came to be, and she was told by Gabriel that the child would be
divine: “He will be great, and will be
called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His
father David" (Luke 1:32).
To the dismay of the scribes and Pharisees, many people proclaimed
Jesus to be the Messiah and therefore called Him ‘Son of David.’ “When
Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying,
‘Son of David, have mercy on us!’” (Matthew 9:27) “And
behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying,
‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely
demon-possessed.’” (Matthew 15:22) “Then the multitude warned them that they
should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, ‘Have mercy on us, O
Lord, Son of David!’” (Matthew 20:31)
“David was promised that one of his offspring would rule
forever. Jesus was called the "Son of David" while he was here on the
earth. He was born in David's city, Bethlehem. The gospel of Matthew records
that various people, on six different occasions, acknowledged Jesus as the Son
of David. This is a messianic title. Jesus never denied that he was the Son of
David. In fact, on Palm Sunday he received the praise and worship of the
people.” (Don Stewart)
As a result of this teaching, the common people, some of whom
had called Jesus the Messiah by referring to Him as the ‘Son of David,’ had a
greater understanding of the Messiah.
They had a greater understanding of Jesus. “…and
the common people heard Him gladly.” (Mark 12:37b) I thank God for this passage, because now we
can have a greater understanding of the human nature and the divine nature of
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
May you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
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