Following bloodlines
Back in Biblical times, a person's genealogy was rather important. Reasons for this varied from simple identification to the roles people were expected to take in their lives, and so people kept very detailed and through records to keep track of their family history.
Jewish society held genealogies to be very important, as which tribe you were from mattered a lot. For example, each tribe had a claim to a specific part of the land. If you were from Dan, you lived in the area given to Dan, and so on. Another reason why it mattered was that the tribes of Judah and Levi had special unique roles in Jewish society. The tribe of Judah was the royal tribe, and was thus the tribe from which the Jewish kings came. Likewise, the tribe of Levi was the priesthood; no one from any other tribe could serve in the temple. Those that tried were slain before they got close.
An added catch is that God promised king David that his line would have a permanent throne, and for most of the old testament the kings came from David's family. When Israel and Judah were conquered by the Babylonian empire, the crown was seemingly lost. However, the records were kept and David's bloodline was maintained.
In the opening of the Gospel of Matthew we have a nice family tree for Jesus Christ. This certifies that Jesus was part of the royal bloodline and thus heir to David's throne.
It also was part of the reason Herod wanted Him dead and attempted to have Him killed. As I mentioned earlier, Herod was from Esau's line not Jacob's. Thus while he had the title of king of the Jews, Herod was not a member of the royal tribe or any of the twelve tribes at all. A male descendant of David's family would have the claim to Herod's title by birthright, and that was a more legitimate claim than anything Herod could even try to defend.
A final addendum is that when the Romans sacked Jerusalem in 70 AD, they burned the libraries and records. Thus the only surviving family tree that ties to David's special family line is the one in Matthew that belongs to Jesus Christ. Nobody else can back up a claim that they were from any particular tribe anymore.
Jewish society held genealogies to be very important, as which tribe you were from mattered a lot. For example, each tribe had a claim to a specific part of the land. If you were from Dan, you lived in the area given to Dan, and so on. Another reason why it mattered was that the tribes of Judah and Levi had special unique roles in Jewish society. The tribe of Judah was the royal tribe, and was thus the tribe from which the Jewish kings came. Likewise, the tribe of Levi was the priesthood; no one from any other tribe could serve in the temple. Those that tried were slain before they got close.
An added catch is that God promised king David that his line would have a permanent throne, and for most of the old testament the kings came from David's family. When Israel and Judah were conquered by the Babylonian empire, the crown was seemingly lost. However, the records were kept and David's bloodline was maintained.
In the opening of the Gospel of Matthew we have a nice family tree for Jesus Christ. This certifies that Jesus was part of the royal bloodline and thus heir to David's throne.
It also was part of the reason Herod wanted Him dead and attempted to have Him killed. As I mentioned earlier, Herod was from Esau's line not Jacob's. Thus while he had the title of king of the Jews, Herod was not a member of the royal tribe or any of the twelve tribes at all. A male descendant of David's family would have the claim to Herod's title by birthright, and that was a more legitimate claim than anything Herod could even try to defend.
A final addendum is that when the Romans sacked Jerusalem in 70 AD, they burned the libraries and records. Thus the only surviving family tree that ties to David's special family line is the one in Matthew that belongs to Jesus Christ. Nobody else can back up a claim that they were from any particular tribe anymore.