Son of David

Biblical Texts

"Son of David" means a descendant of King David. In the New Testament it serves as a title identifying Jesus as the promised king, the Messiah, and it appears chiefly in the Synoptic Gospels.

• Matthew 1:1 opens the genealogy by introducing Jesus as "the son of David, the son of Abraham." Among the Gospels, Matthew uses this title most frequently.
• The sick and Gentiles addressed Jesus by this title when seeking his help. Examples include the two blind men (Matthew 9:27), the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:22; in Mark, the Syrophoenician woman), and the blind man of Jericho, Bartimaeus (Mark 10:47–48). Bartimaeus cried out, "Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me."
• At the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the crowds shouted, "Hosanna to the son of David" (Matthew 21:9).
• Citing Psalm 110:1, Jesus asked, "How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David?" (Mark 12:35–37).
• Paul wrote that Jesus "was made of the seed of David according to the flesh" (Romans 1:3). In Revelation 22:16, Jesus calls himself "the root and the offspring of David."

Background

In the Old Testament the expression refers first to David's actual descendants. Ecclesiastes 1:1, for example, calls Solomon "the son of David." The prophet Nathan delivered God's promise to raise up David's seed and establish his kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:12–16); this promise is known as the Davidic covenant. Even after the kingdom fell, the prophets spoke of "a rod out of the stem of Jesse" (Isaiah 11:1) and of "a righteous Branch" to be raised unto David (Jeremiah 23:5). This expectation persisted. Chapter 17 of the Psalms of Solomon, a Jewish writing from around the first century BC (part of the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, that is, ancient Jewish literature not included in the canon), is known to contain a passage calling the coming king the "son of David." In Jesus' day the title carried political hopes for a king who would restore Israel.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

The New Testament regards Jesus as the fulfillment of this promise. Luke states that Joseph was of the house of David (Luke 1:27; 2:4), and both Matthew and Luke report that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, David's hometown. In the Gospels, rather than claiming this title for himself, Jesus mainly used the expression Son of Man. Moreover, the Gospels associate the title less with the image of a military king than with that of a king who heals the sick and has compassion on the weak.

Interpretations and Issues

• Mark 12:35–37: Many church traditions read this passage not as Jesus denying Davidic descent but as revealing that the Messiah is both David's son and the one whom David called "Lord." Some critical scholars, however, see it as a text that calls into question the very expectation of a Davidic Messiah.
• The two genealogies: Matthew 1 traces the line through Solomon, while Luke 3 traces it through Nathan, another son of David (not the prophet Nathan). Various explanations of this difference have been offered, such as reading Luke's genealogy as Mary's line or as reflecting a distinction between legal and biological descent, but the text itself does not directly explain it. Nor does Scripture explicitly state that Mary was of the house of David.
• Connection with healing: Some scholars link the frequent appearance of this title in Matthew's healing scenes to later traditions about Solomon, who was renowned for his wisdom and for his power to cast out demons.

In the Korean Church

Bartimaeus's cry, "Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me," is frequently cited in sermons as a model of earnest prayer. Around Christmas, sermons commonly take the genealogy of Matthew 1 as their text and present Jesus as the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant.