Some hints from the gospels about Jesus’ illegitimate birth

One

David and Bathsheba

Judah and Tamar

Any standard Jewish genealogy at the time of Jesus was based only on male lineage. Yet in Mathew’s account of Jesus’ genealogy (1: 2-16) 4 women connected to 4 males are listed: Judah and Tamar, Salmon and Rehab, Boaz and Ruth, and David and Uriah’s wife. Each of these women had a scandalous sexual reputation. Tamar, dressed herself up as a roadside prostitute and enticed her own father-in-law. Rehab was the madam of a brothel. Ruth crawled into the bed of Boaz after getting him drunk. Uriah’s wife had an adulterous relationship with King David and ended up pregnant. She was the infamous Bathsheba.

They don’t belong in a normal genealogy. They stand out because of their shocking sexual details. It seems Mathew is trying to put the scandalous birth of Jesus in the context of his fore-fathers and fore-mothers. The last line gives the entire game away: Mathew writes:

Jacob fathered Joseph, the husband of Mary, from her was fathered Jesus called Christ.

What should appear in a normal genealogy would have been:

Jacob fathered Joseph, Joseph fathered Jesus, called the Christ.  (T: p 49, 50.)

Mathew uses the verb fathered (begot) 39 times in the active voice with a masculine subject. When it comes to Joseph, he used the same verb in the passive voice with a feminine object. So a fifth woman unexpectedly gets into the list: Mary herself! (T: P 51)

Two

The gospel of John describes in chapter 8 a debate Jesus had with some of his believers. At one point, when it became quite acrimonious, they tell him: “we were not born of fornication; we have one father, even God” (John 8: 41) implying that Jesus was an illegitimate child. [The Good News Bible that I use has edited out the sentence ‘we were not born of fornication’.]

Three

Calling Jesus in the gospels ‘the son of Mary’ indicates an unnamed father. Among Jews, children are always referred to as sons and daughters of the father, not the mother.

Four

Was Jesus’ rebuke of Mary on a number of occasions a sign of his bitterness towards her for his illegitimate birth? (Luke 8: 19-21; 11: 27-28)

Among the Jews of Jesus’ time, if your conception was not legitimate, you are going to stand out. They had a word for it – mamzer. It meant questionable paternity. Everyone who sees you will think “There goes that Jesus kid, the one whose mother…” (choose from the following)

·         slept with that Roman.

·         was raped by that Roman.

·         had intercourse when she shouldn’t.

·         claims she was impregnated from God.  (G; p76)

Life would be difficult for that child. A mamzer in effect was an untouchable.

Edward Edinger

Edward Edinger (1972), a Jungian Psychiatrist ‘believes that Jesus exhibited the characteristics of an illegitimate child.’ (G; p76)