“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” Genesis 49:10
The Messiah could not be just any person. God gives many prophecies in His word so that people could test those who claimed to be Messiah against specific criteria. Most of these criteria are not under the control of the person. For example where they are born. One of the criteria that is essential to be King (and out of the control of the person) is the right lineage – the right family to be in line to inherit the throne of Israel.
God clearly states in His word what the lineage of the Messiah
will be. For example we know that the Messiah must be Jewish –
the descendant of Abraham. In Genesis 22:18 God tells Abraham that “and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed”. In Christ’s genealogies found in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 both clearly show the Lord to be a descendant of Abraham. Second the Messiah must
come from the line of Isaac. God makes this clear in Genesis 21:12 “But God said to Abraham, ‘Don’t be troubled about the boy and the slave woman. Do whatever Sarah tells you. The descendants I promised you will be from Isaac’.” Third, the Messiah will be from the line of Jacob (not Esau). Then the false prophet Balaam (Numbers 24:17) was used of God to make clear that “a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel”. Before we finish the book of Genesis God tells us clearly that the Messiah will come through the tribe of Judah. “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him;1and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” (Genesis 49:10)
These are such important prophecies that Matthew’s Gospel opens with the presentation of the lineage of the Messiah by writing “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah”.
Finally, God tells us that the Messiah will be from the line of King David. The prophet Jeremiah writes “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness’” (Jeremiah 23:5–6). God details the very specific genealogy the Messiah must have.
What can we learn? One statistician states “scientists generally accept a standard that anything with a probability of less than 1
chance in 1050 is regarded as impossible”. That same statistician reports “statistically the chances of Jesus fulfilling the messianic genealogy requirements recorded in the Old Testament are incredibly small (1 chance in 13.824 trillion). Unless another explanation is offered – Jesus is the Messiah!.”
It is known that the Jews kept careful genealogical records (especially of families who were in the Davidic line). At the time Jesus lived he was under intense attack by Jewish religious leaders who went to any lengths to disprove the Lord’s claim that He is the Messiah. We can be sure the genealogical prophecies of the Messiah would have been carefully checked by his adversaries. Yet we never read of any
allegation that Jesus failed to fulfill any Messianic prophecy. And skeptics claim there is no evidence that Jesus is God. He is Lord!