Whose blood line connect Jesus to King David - Joseph or Maryv?

Answer 1

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They both did. At the end of the Book of Numbers an interesting loophole emerged. A man died without a son, leaving 4 daughters. They came to Moses complaining that they would lose the family land since there was no son to inherit it. Moses sought the Lord Who decreed that if there was no son in a family daughters could inherit family land providing they married within their own tribal clan. In effect they had to marry a cousin to keep the land in the "family." This made sense since land was allotted first by tribe then by clan then by family. Marrying within the clan kept the families in close proximity and preserved the tribal allotment. (Num. 36 1:13) Now compare the 2 genealogies of Jesus in Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38, and you'll discover that Mary and Joseph were both of the tribe of Judah and descendants of David. Joseph descended through Solomon, the royal but cursed line, while Mary's line was through Solomon's brother Nathan. Here's the tricky part. Mary had no brothers, and so was entitled to inherit her family's land as long as she married someone also descended from David. Joseph fit the bill and being in the royal line had a claim to the throne, but carried the blood curse. No biological son of his could ever legally qualify as Israel's king, but Joseph could secure Mary's right of inheritance. When Mary accepted Joseph's offer of marriage she preserved her family's land and also made good her son's claim to the throne of Israel. Jesus was in the royal succession through Joseph but escaped the curse since he wasn't Joseph's biological son. But He was a biological descendant of David's through his mother and therefore of the "house and lineage of David." This whole issue revolves around the facts that a) God has bound Himself to His own laws and b) He keeps His word; facts that should give you great comfort. God is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man that He should change His mind (Num. 23:19). Legally, a virgin birth was required to produce a sinless man who would be qualified and able to serve as our Kinsman Redeemer, and God longed to redeem us. A virgin birth was also required to sidestep the blood curse on the royal line, fulfilling God's promise to David that a biological descendant of his would sit on the throne of Israel forever.

Answer 2

We do not know anything about the genealogy of Mary, so it would be impossible to answer this question in full. Even the tradition that Mary's father was called Joachim and her mother's name was Anne, is open to considerable doubt.
It is even surprising to know the ancestors of Joseph. First of all, few even of the Jewish priests of the first century BCE knew their ancestors back as far as 5 generations, and it is unlikely that any lay people could say who were their ancestors in the male line past their grandfathers or perhaps great-grandfathers.

There is some confusion because Matthew's Gospel provides a genealogy back through Joseph and then through the great Zorobabel, son of Salathiel, to King David, but Luke's Gospel provides a quite different genealogy back through Joseph and then through the great Zorobabel, son of Salathiel, to King David. In modern times, some have suggested that the genealogy in Luke's Gospel is really that of Mary. However, Luke is quite clear - this genealogy is through Joseph, going back through Zorobabel to David.

It is necessary to understand that the authors of Matthewand Luke wrote their Gospels in separate communities and each was entirely unaware of the work being performed by the other. So, they were unable to compare and harmonise their work, to assist future generations better understand the life of Jesus.

We should, of course, not take the genealogies too literally - the two evangelists were simply doing the best they could with the information available. Even if Luke meant 'Mary' when he said 'Joseph' in the genealogy he passed on to us, this would still not explain why Matthew gave Zorobabel's paternal grandfather as Jechonias, while Luke gave the same grandfather as Neri. A man can not have two paternal grandfathers.

Also, Luke used numerology to show that Jesus was destined for greatness (Matthew did as well, but in a different way). He had great men occur in multiples of 7 generations starting from Adam, with: Enoch at 7; Abraham at 21; David at 35; other ancestors called Joseph at 42 and 70; and finally Jesus at 77. Why would the line include two Josephs at multiples of 7 unless Luke was saying that Joseph was destined for greatness (as the father of Jesus)?

Jesus needed to be descended from King David to be the Messiah and so both Gospels say that he was, although their genealogies are substantially different. However, both Gospels do provide another alternative - that Mary was a virgin. With this alternative, Jesus was not really descended from David at all.