The Line of Judah and the Kingship

The line of the Sceptre runs from Abraham to Judah and through the clan of Bethlehem Ephratah to David and ultimately Messiah.

Mathew is the book of the line of Messiah by adoption through Joseph and declaration by God.

Matthew 1:2: shows the line as:

Abraham
Isaac
Jacob
Judah

The line continues then in the line of Perez and we hear no more of Zerah or Zarah in this lineage.

Matthew 1:3-6 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Ammin'adab, and Ammin'adab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Bo'az by Rahab, and Bo'az the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uri'ah, (RSV)

The women mentioned are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba who was the wife of Uriah. The significance of these women demonstrates specific lessons in the genealogy. Sarah was not mentioned. She was undoubtedly more significant than all. The women were gentiles and guilty of sexual sins. Tamar was guilty of incest with Judah through his breach of the Law. Rahab was a descendent of Ham and guilty of prostitution. Bathsheba was a Hittite and guilty of adultery. This genealogy shows that the lineage of the Messiah was constructed to show that the Gentiles were involved and that he was to be sent to save sinners. This whole matter has been examined in the paper Genealogy of the Messiah (No. 119) (CCG)messiah-genealogy.html.

The split in the lines of the Sceptre promises between Perez and Zarah the sons of Tamar are carried on in the diagrams.

The lines of the Messiah are in two lines from David also. One line goes to Joseph his mother's husband and his earthly parent through Solomon as we see in the gospel of Matthew. The second line goes to his mother Mariam or Miriam from David through Nathan as we see in Luke Chapter 3.

The Lemba, a lost tribe of Israel in Southern Africa?

Recent research by Dr Magdel le Roux from Department of Old Testament and ANES at University of South Africa investigates the correlation between the culture of the Lemba and that of early Israel.