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{{Short description|Lineage of the Israelite king David}}
'''Davidic line''', (also '''House of David''' or '''Davidic Dynasty''', sometimes referred to as ''Royal House of Israel''), known in ] as '''''Malkhut Beit David''''' ('''"Monarchy of the House of David"''') refers to the tracing of royal lineage by kings and major leaders in ] to the Biblical ] in ].
{{redirect|House of David}}
{{Royal house
| surname = House of David
| native_name = {{nobold|{{lang|he|{{Script/Hebrew|בֵּית דָּוִד}}|rtl=yes}}}}
| estate = ]
| native_name_lang = he
| coat of arms = Star of David.svg
| country = ] ({{circa|1010 BCE–930 BCE)}}<br />] ({{circa|930 BCE–587 BCE}})
| titles = {{bulletedlist|]|]}}
| founder = ] (traditional)
| origin = ]
| final ruler = ]
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=November 2021}}


The '''Davidic line''' refers to the descendants of ], who established the '''House of David''' ({{Langx|he|בֵּית דָּוִד}} {{Transliteration|he|Bēt Dāwīḏ}}) in the ]. In ], it is based on texts from the ], as well as on later ].
==History==
Upon being chosen and becoming king, the custom in the times of the ] was to be anointed with ] by having it poured on the head. In David's case, this was done by the prophet ]. The anointing is called ''meshicha'' (meaning "pouring") in Hebrew and that is why a king (''melekh'' or ''melech'' in Hebrew) is referred to as a '']'' or ] or a ''Melech HaMashiach'' meaning "The Anointed King". The procedure of anointment, in David's case symbolized the descent of God's holiness (''kedusha'') upon the king and as a sign of a bond never to be broken.


According to the biblical narrative, David of the ] engaged in a protracted conflict with ] of the ] after the latter succeeded his father ] to become the second king of an amalgamated ]. Amidst this struggle, ] had sent his prophet ] to anoint David as the true king of the ]. Following Ish-bosheth's assassination at the hands of his own army captains, David officially acceded to the throne around 1010 BCE, replacing the ] with his own and becoming the country's third<!--Do NOT change this to "second"--> king.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carr |first1=David M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OzHhuvuEQxQC&pg=PA58 |title=An Introduction to the Old Testament: Sacred Texts and Imperial Contexts of the Hebrew Bible |date=2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-44435623-6 |page=58 |access-date=2020-10-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011131758/https://books.google.com/books?id=OzHhuvuEQxQC&pg=PA58 |archive-date=2020-10-11 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Falk |first1=Avner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z10-Xz9Kno4C&pg=PA115 |title=A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews |date=1996 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |isbn=978-0-83863660-2 |page=115 |access-date=2020-10-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011131816/https://books.google.com/books?id=z10-Xz9Kno4C&pg=PA115 |archive-date=2020-10-11 |url-status=live}}</ref> He was succeeded by his son ], whose mother was ]. Solomon's death led to the rejection of the House of David by most of the ], with only Judah and Benjamin remaining loyal: the dissenters chose ] as their monarch and formed the ] in the north (]); while the loyalists kept Solomon's son ] as their monarch and formed the ] in the south (]). With the success of ] having severed Israel's connection to the House of David, only the Judahite monarchs, except ], were part of the Davidic line.
Since the monarchy was vouchsafed to David by God in the ]:
*"...Now he was ruddy, and with beautiful eyes, and goodly to look upon. And the Lord said: 'Arise, ''anoint him; for this is he.' Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward''..." (), and
*"And Nathan said to the king:...Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, that you should be ''prince over my people, over Israel.'' And I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the name of the great ones that are in the earth... and I will cause you to rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord tells you that the Lord will make you a house....Then David the king went in, and sat before the Lord...'now therefore let it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you; for you, O Lord God, have spoken it; and through your blessing ''let the house of your servant be blessed forever''.'" (), and
*"Then came all the tribes of Israel to David to Hebron, and spoke, saying: 'Behold, we are your bone and your flesh. In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you that did lead out and bring in Israel; and the Lord said to you: You shalt feed my people Israel, and ''you shall be prince over Israel''.' So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the Lord; and ''they anointed David king over Israel''..." ().


In the aftermath of the ] around 587 BCE, ] was destroyed and the Kingdom of Judah fell to the ]. Nearly 450 years later, the ] established the first independent Jewish kingdom since the Babylonian conquest, though it was not considered to be connected to the Davidic line nor to the Tribe of Judah.
As well as in the ]:
* "...So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the Lord; and ''they anointed David king over Israel'', according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Samuel..." (), and
*"...And these are the numbers of the heads of them that were armed for war, who came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of the Lord...All these, being men of war, that could order the battle array, came with a whole heart to Hebron, ''to make David king over all Israel''; and all the rest also of ''Israel were of one heart to make David king''." ().


In ], the ] ({{Lang|he|מָשִׁיחַ|rtl=yes}}) will be a Jewish king whose paternal bloodline traces to David. He is expected to rule over the ] during the ] and in the ].<ref name="schochet moshiah ben yossef2">{{cite web |last=Schochet |first=Rabbi Prof. Dr. Jacob Immanuel |title=Moshiach ben Yossef |url=http://www.moshiach.com/discover/tutorials/moshiach_ben_yossef.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021220182918/http://www.moshiach.com/discover/tutorials/moshiach_ben_yossef.php |archive-date=20 December 2002 |access-date=2 December 2012 |work=Tutorial |publisher=moshiach.com}}</ref><ref name="JVL messiah2">{{cite web |last=Blidstein |first=Prof. Dr. Gerald J. |title=Messiah in Rabbinic Thought |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0014_0_13744.html |access-date=2 December 2012 |work=MESSIAH |publisher=Jewish Virtual Library and Encyclopaedia Judaica 2008 The Gale Group}}</ref><ref name="JVL The Messiah2">{{cite web |last=Telushkin |first=Joseph |title=The Messiah |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/messiah.html |access-date=2 December 2012 |publisher=The Jewish Virtual Library Jewish Literacy. NY: William Morrow and Co., 1991. Reprinted by permission of the author.}}</ref>
Thus all subsequent monarchs in both the ancient first united ] and the later ] needed to show their direct descent from King David to validate their claim to the throne in order to rule over the Israelite and Jewish people in perpetuity.


==Historicity==
In cases where this rule was broken, the verdict of history has not been kind according to classical understandings within traditional Judaism. Two important examples are:
], with mention of the "House of David" highlighted in white.]]
*After the death of ] son of David, the ten northern tribes of the ] revolted against the Davidic line, refusing to accept ] son of Solomon and instead chose as king ] who was not a member of King David's family. The fate of this northern kingdom was sealed when they were eventually conquered by ] who exiled them completely until they became ].
Very little is conclusively known about the House of David. The ] mentions the death of the reigning king from "BYTDWD",{{sfn|Pioske|2015|p=180}} (interpreted as "House of David") and thus far is the only extrabiblical explicit mention of ] himself. The stele is dated to circa 840 BCE; however, the name of the Davidic king is not totally preserved, as much of the stele has not survived since the 9th century BCE. All that remains of the name is the final syllable, the extremely common ] ''-yahū''. Because the stele coincides the death of the Davidic king with the death of ram]], the king of the ], scholars have reconstructed the second slain king as ], the only king contemporary to Jehoram with a name ending in ''-yahū''.{{efn|Jehoram's reign in Israel saw three kings of Judah — ], his son ], and ''his'' son, Ahaziah}}
*The ], also known as the ], who were priests, (]) from the ], established a monarchy of their own in ] following their revolt and war against the ] ]. The Hasmoneans were not connected to the Davidic line that is attached to the ]. The Levites had always been excluded from the Israelite monarchy. When the Maccabees assumed the throne in order to re-dedicate the defiled ], a cardinal rule was nevertheless broken, and it has been considered to be contributing to their own downfall, and part of the eventual downfall of Judea and when internal strife brought in ] and resulted in the violent non-Jewish ] becoming king, and eventually ended with the destruction of the ] by the ] according to scholars within ].


The earliest unambiguously{{efn|'Unambiguous' as Ahaziah's name on the Tel Dan Stele is incomplete, and there is no explicit confirmation that the apical ancestor David of ''Bayt-David'' was a king}} attested king from the Davidic line is ], who reigned in the 8th century BCE, about 75&nbsp;years after Ahaziah, who is named on bullae seals belonging to his servants Abijah and Shubnayahu.<ref>Corpus of West Semitic Stamp Seals. N. Avigad and B. Sass. Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1997, nos. 4 and 3 respectively; Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200–539 B.C.E. Lawrence J. Mykytiuk. SBL Academia Biblica 12. Atlanta, 2004, 153–59, 219.</ref> Uzziah may also be mentioned in the annals of ]; however, the texts are largely fragmentary.<ref>Haydn, Howell M. '''' in ''Journal of Biblical Literature'', Vol. 28, No. 2 (1909), pp. 182–199</ref>{{efn|The name in the annals is ''Azariah'', not "Uzziah". While Uzziah is called "Azariah" several times in the Bible, scholars consider this to be the result of a ''later'' scribal error. Thus it is unlikely that Tiglath-Pileser's scribes would have used this name to refer to Uzziah.}} Additionally, a ] dated to the ] claiming to mark the grave (or, reburial) site of Uzziah, was discovered in a convent on the ] in 1931, but there is no way of determining if the remains were genuinely Uzziah's as the stone had to have been carved more than 700 years after Uzziah died and was originally interred, and the tablet's provenance remains a mystery. A controversial artefact called the ] recalls deeds performed by ], who reigned about 44 years before Uzziah; however, scholars are tensely divided on whether or not the inscription is genuine. After Uzziah, each successive king of Judah is attested to in some form, with the exception of ]: ], Uzziah's successor, is named on the seals of his own son and successor, ],<ref>Deutsch, Robert. " {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180904042404/http://www.archaeological-center.com/en/monographs/m1 |date=4 September 2018 }}". ''Biblical Archaeology Review'', July 1998, pp. 54–56, 62</ref> who ruled from 732 to 716 BCE. ], Ahaz's son, is attested to by numerous royal seals<ref>{{cite web|title=Biblical King's seal discovered in dump site|author=Heilpern, Will|url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/03/middleeast/king-hezekiah-royal-seal/|publisher=CNN|date=December 4, 2015|access-date=2016-05-03}}</ref><ref>Cross, Frank Moore (March–April 1999). "". ''Biblical Archaeology Review''.</ref> and ];<ref>Oppenheim, A. L. in ], pp. 287–288</ref> ] is recorded giving tribute to ];<ref>Oppenheim, A. L. in ], p. 291</ref> ] has no relics explicitly naming him; however, seals belonging to his son Eliashib<ref>Albright, W. F. in ], p. 569</ref> and officials ]<ref>Weiss, Bari.
With the cessation of the Jewish monarchy following the destructions of both the ] and the ], the line of the monarchy was always carefully preserved and guarded even though no kings such as David and his immediate descendants were alive. It was from that supposed '''Davidic line''' though that many great ] and "princes" of the people were claimed descent. Thus men such as the editor of the ], Rabbi ] and his heirs were considered to be from the '''Davidic line''', hence also the title "Nasi" meaning prince. Many of the heads of the Jewish communities in Babylon, the ''Reish Galuta'' were also described as being of the Davidic line.
Who was Natan-Melech, the king's servant? New York Times. March 30, 2019</ref><ref>. Jerusalem Post. April 1, 2019</ref> and ]<ref>Heltzer, Michael, ''THE SEAL OF ˓AŚAYĀHŪ''. In ], Vol. II p. 204</ref> have been discovered; and the kings ], ], and ] are never explicitly named in historical records but are instead alluded to; however, ] is mentioned by name in ] detailing the rations he and his sons were given while held prisoner during the ].<ref>James B. Pritchard, ed., ''Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament'' (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1969) 308.</ref>


The origins of the dynasty, on the other hand, are shrouded in mystery. The Tel Dan Stele, as aforementioned, remains the only mention of David himself outside the Bible, and the historical reliability of the United Monarchy of Israel is archaeologically weak. The ] and ] in ], assuming ]'s contested stratigraphic dating of the structures to the Iron Age I is accurate, show that Jerusalem was at least somewhat populated in King David's time, and lends some credence to the biblical claim that Jerusalem was originally a Canaanite fortress; however, Jerusalem seems to have been barely developed until long after David's death,<ref name="mazar" /> bringing into question the possibility that it could have been the imperial capital described in the Bible. In David's time, the capital probably served as little more than a formidable citadel, and the Davidic "kingdom" was most likely closer to a loosely-confederated regional polity,<ref name="mazar">{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/2503754 |title=Archaeology and the Biblical Narrative: The Case of the United Monarchy |pages=29–58|journal=One God – One Cult – One Nation. Archaeological and Biblical Perspectives, Edited by Reinhard G. Kratz and Hermann Spieckermann in Collaboration with Björn Corzilius and Tanja Pilger, (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 405)|location=Berlin/ New York |first=Amihai |last=Mazar |access-date=12 October 2018}}</ref> albeit a relatively substantial one. On the other hand, excavations at ]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Garfinkel |first1=Yossi |last2=Ganor |first2=Sa'ar |last3=Hasel |first3=Michael |title=Journal 124: Khirbat Qeiyafa preliminary report |url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1989 |website=Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel |publisher=Israel Antiquities Authority |access-date=12 June 2018 |ref=garfinkel2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623021750/http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1989 |archive-date=23 June 2012 |date=19 April 2012}}</ref> and ],<ref>{{cite news |title= Proof of King David? Not yet. But riveting site shores up roots of Israelite era |url= https://www.timesofisrael.com/proof-of-king-david-not-yet-but-riveting-site-shores-up-roots-of-israelite-era/ |access-date=24 October 2019 |newspaper= Times of Israel |date=14 May 2018}}</ref> as well as structures from ], ], ] and other sites conventionally dated to the 10th century BCE, are interpreted by many scholars to show that Judah was capable of accommodating large-scale urban societies centuries before minimalist scholars claim,<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Old Testament in Archaeology and History |last=Halpern |first=Baruch |publisher=Baylor University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-4813-0743-7 |pages=337–62 |editor-last=Ebeling |editor-first=Jennie R. |chapter=The United Monarchy: David between Saul and Solomon |editor-last2=Wright |editor-first2=J. Edward |editor-last3=Elliott |editor-first3=Mark Adam |editor-last4=Flesher |editor-first4=Paul V. McCracken}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Biblical World |last=Johnson |first=Benjamin J. M. |publisher=Routledge |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-317-39255-2 |edition=2nd |pages=498–519 |editor-last=Dell |editor-first=Katharine J. |chapter=Israel at the time of the united monarchy}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=Solomon, Scripture, and Science: The Rise of the Judahite State in the 10th Century BCE |journal=Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology |url=https://jjar.huji.ac.il/publications/solomon-scripture-and-science-rise-judahite-state-10th-century-bce |volume=1 |pages=102–125 |last=Dever |first=William G. |year=2021 |doi=10.52486/01.00001.4|doi-access=free }}</ref> and some have taken the physical archaeology of tenth-century ] as consistent with the former existence of a unified state on its territory,<ref>{{cite book |last= Kitchen |first= Kenneth |title= On the Reliability of the Old Testament |year=2003 |publisher= William B. Eerdmans |location= Grand Rapids, Michigan |isbn=978-0-80280-396-2 |page=158 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Kw6U05qBiXcC&pg=PA158 }}</ref> as archaeological findings demonstrate substantial development and growth at several sites, plausibly related to the tenth century.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kuhrt|first=Amélie|author-link=Amélie Kuhrt|title=The Ancient Near East, c. 3000-330 BC, Band 1|year=1995|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=978-0-41516-762-8|page=438|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V_sfMzRPTgoC&q=Kuhrt%2C+Amiele+%281995%29.+The+Ancient+Near+East.}}</ref> Even so, as for David and his immediate descendants themselves, the position of some scholars, as described by ] and ], authors of '']'', espouses that David and Solomon may well be based on "certain historical kernels", and probably did exist in their own right, but their historical counterparts simply could not have ruled over a wealthy lavish empire as described in the Bible, and were more likely chieftains of a comparatively modest Israelite society in Judah and not regents over a kingdom proper.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Israel |last1=Finkelstein |author1-link=Israel Finkelstein |first2=Neil Asher |last2=Silberman |author2-link=Neil Asher Silberman |title=David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible's Sacred Kings and the Roots of the Western Tradition |publisher=] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7432-4362-9 |author-mask=3 |url=https://archive.org/details/davidsolomoninse00fink}} p. 20</ref>
Subsequently, great rabbis such as ], who was a descendant of Judah haNasi, and the ] of Prague, were all considered to be from the Davidic line by ].


==Kingdom of Israel and Judah==
The future ] is expected to be from the "Davidic line" (The ]), see ]. Many prayers in the Jewish prayer book, the ] make fervent mention for the restoration of King David's monarchy, and the long-awaited Messiah who is referred to as ''Mashiach ben David'', "Messiah son of David".
{{Main|Kings of Israel and Judah}}
].]]
According to the ], upon being chosen and becoming king, one was customarily anointed with ] poured on one's head. In David's case, this was done by the ] ].


Initially, David was king over the ] only and ruled from ], but after seven and a half years, the other ] tribes, who found themselves leaderless after the death of ], chose him to be their king as well.<ref>Mandel, David. ''Who's Who in the Jewish Bible''. Jewish Publication Society, 1 Jan 2010, p. 85</ref>
At this time there are only three confirmed male-lines in existance, the Dayan, Charlap, and Schneerson families. There are two movements working for the restoration of the Malchut(Jewish Kingship) In Israel at this time ] led by Shmuel Avoqiah and ] led by ] himself a male-line descendant of King David.


All subsequent kings in both the ancient first united ] and the later ] claimed direct descent from King David to validate their claim to the throne in order to rule over the Israelite tribes.
==Christian view==
It is stated in the Christian ] that ] was descended from David and has been Head of his dynastic house since birth, and is thereby the lawful King of Israel. Although Christian faith has it that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary and, consequently, has no natural human father, he is nevertheless considered to be a Prince of Judah as though Mary's husband Joseph were in fact his father. According to Jewish law a man is presumed to be the natural father of every child his wife bears, unless the contrary is judicially proved. Alternatively he can unilaterally deny paternity, but not when he has already taken paternal responsibility for the child, such as by naming him.


=== Division after Solomon's death ===
Additionally, in many ancient cultures, including Israelites, genealogy was not considered the same as paternity. For instance, under the Mosaic law, if a man died without offspring and he had a brother, the brother was legally required to marry the widow and the dead brother was considered the father of their first child (Genesis 38). Under such broader views, Jesus could be the legal son of Joseph, and therefore be from the line of David, without being Joseph's biological son and without being adopted.
After the death of David's son, ], the ten northern tribes of the ] rejected the Davidic line, refusing to accept Solomon's son, ], and instead chose as king ] and formed the northern ]. This kingdom was conquered by the ] in the 8th century BCE which exiled much of the Northern Kingdom population and ended its sovereign status. The bulk population of the Northern Kingdom of Israel was forced to relocate to Mesopotamia and mostly disappeared from history as ] or intermixed with exiled Judean populations two centuries later, while the remaining Israelite peoples in Samaria highlands have become known as ] during the classic era and to modern times.


==The Exilarchate==
Also, the New Testament lists two different genealogies for Jesus, one at the beginning of Matthew and one in Luke 3:23-38. Matthew says "A was the father of B, B was the father of C", etc. Luke, however, uses a word that can mean either "biological son" or "descendant", in the form "C was the son of B, who was the son of A". Matthew shows a lineage from David, father of Solomon and Luke shows a lineage through Nathan, a son of David. A common explanation offered by Christian biblical scholars is that Matthew is stating Joseph's line and Luke is stating Mary's line. Under this interpretation, Jesus would be a biological descendant of David through his mother.
{{main|Exilarch}}
Later rabbinical authorities granted the office of exilarch to family members that traced its patrilineal<ref name="auto">Max A Margolis and Alexander Marx, ''A History of the Jewish People'' (1927), p. 235.</ref> descent from ], King of Israel. The highest official of Babylonian Jewry was the ] (], "Head of the Diaspora"). Those who held the position traced their ancestry to the House of David in the male line.<ref name="auto"/> The position holder was regarded as a king-in-waiting, residing in Babylonia in the ] as well as during the classic era. The ] attributes the office to ], a member of the Davidic line, who is mentioned as one of the leaders of the Jewish community in the 6th century BC, holding the title of Achaemenid Governor of ].


==Hasmonean and Herodian periods==
==Bahá'í view==
{{Further|Hasmonean dynasty|Herodian dynasty}}
], founder of the ], referring to himself stated, "The Most Great Law is come, and the Ancient Beauty ruleth upon the throne of David. Thus hath My Pen spoken that which the histories of bygone ages have related." (''Proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh '' ) His followers believe him to be the ] of Jesus.
The Hasmoneans, also known as the ], established their own monarchy in ] following their ] against the ] ]. The Hasmoneans were not considered connected to the Davidic line nor to the ]. The ] had always been excluded from the Israelite monarchy, so when the Maccabees assumed the throne in order to rededicate the defiled ], a cardinal rule was broken. According to scholars within ], this is considered to have contributed to their downfall and the eventual downfall of Judea; internal strife allowing for Roman occupation and the violent installation of ] as ] over the ]; and the subsequent ] of the ] by the future ].


During the Hasmonean period, the Davidic line was largely excluded from the royal house in Judea, but some members had risen to prominence as religious and communal leaders. One of the most notable of those was ], who moved to Judea from his birthplace in Babylon. His great-grandson ] became one of the Jewish leaders during the ].<ref>Wilhelm Bacher, Jacob Zallel Lauterbach (1906). "", ''Jewish Encyclopedia''. N.b.: the Jewish Encyclopedia speaks of "his grandfather Hillel", but the sequence was Hillel the Elder-]-]-Simeon ben Gamliel, thus great-grandson is correct.</ref>
The issue of Bahá'u'lláh being the heir of David is of substantial importance to a small group known as the ] (BUPC). This group holds that the Old Testament paints a picture of two different Messiah's from the House of David each coming on a separate occasion; not the same Messiah appearing twice. They believe Jesus was the "first" Messiah and Bahá'u'lláh is the "second" and the heir of David.


==Middle Ages==
For the ] this question is not of general interest, and most read the above reference to the throne of David as symbolic rather than literal. The ], the ], and the ], have taken no position on the matter and, therefore, members are free to hold their own personal interpretations. However, the ] use the term "Messiah" exclusively in reference to Jesus.
{{main|Exilarchate}}
]/])<ref>{{Cite web |title=: manuscript. - Colenda Digital Repository |url=https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p30c4t39x |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=colenda.library.upenn.edu}}</ref>|alt=Genealogy of the Exilarchs to David and Adam, Avraham ben Tamim, Cairo Geniza, 1100s (Katz Center/UPenn)]]
The Exilarchate in the ] was briefly abolished as a result of a revolt by the ] in the late 5th century CE, with his son ] being denied the office and relocating to ], then within the ]. Mar Ahunai lived in the period succeeding Mar Zutra II, but for almost fifty years after the failed revolt he did not dare to appear in public, and it is not known whether even then ({{circa|550}}) he really acted as Exilarch. The names of Kafnai and his son Haninai, who were Exilarchs in the second half of the 6th century, have been preserved.


The Exilarchate in Mesopotamia was officially restored after the ] in the 7th century and continued to function during the early ]s. Exilarchs continued to be appointed until the 11th century, with some members of the Davidic line dispersing across the Islamic world. There are conflicting accounts of the fate of the Exilarch family in the 11th century; according to one version ], who was the last Exilarch and also the last ], was imprisoned and tortured to death. Two of his sons fled to Al-Andalus, where they found refuge with Joseph, the son and successor of ]. However, '']'' mentions that Hezekiah was liberated from prison, and became head of the academy, and is mentioned as such by a contemporary in 1046.<ref>Jewish Quarterly Review, hereafter "J. Q. R.", xv. 80.</ref> An unsuccessful attempt of David ben Daniel of the Davidic line to establish an Exilarchate in the ] failed and ended with his downfall in 1094.
The question of whether or not Bahá'u'lláh is the actual heir of David is difficult to resolve. A few historians have traced Bahá'u'lláh's descent back to ]. References and documentation in English is scarce and there have been several claimants to the title over the centuries each with their own evidence of ancestry which adds to the difficulty.


In the 11th–15th century, families that descended from the Exilarchs that lived in the South of France (] and ]) and in northern Iberian peninsula (], ] and ]) received the title "]" in the communities and were called "free men". They had a special economic and social status in the Jewish community, and they were close to their respective governments, some serving as advisers and tax collectors/finance ministers.
This , attributed to Grover Gonzales and available on an online Bahá'í reference library, notes significant gaps in the line of descent from Bostanai to Bahá'u'lláh. A more complete and compiled by David Hughes, which discusses the various claims of Davidic ancestry, can be compared to the Gonzales chart and the prepared by the BUPC, and the various differences noted.


These families had special rights in Narbonne, Barcelona, and Castile. They possessed real estate and received the title "]" and&nbsp; ''de la Kblriih'' (''De la Cavalleria''). Among the families of the "Sons of the Free" are the families of ] and ].
One distinction between the Hughes genealogy and the BUPC's is that Hughes notes several generations where Bahá'u'lláh's line of descent was through younger sons.


In his book, '']'', Arthur J. Zuckerman proposes a theory that from 768 to 900 CE a Jewish Princedom ruled by members of the Exilarchs existed in feudal France. However, this theory has been widely contested.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book|last=Zuckerman|first=Arthur J.|title=A Jewish princedom in feudal France, 768-900|date=1972 |publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=0-231-03298-6|location=New York|oclc=333768}}</ref> Descendants of the house of exilarchs were living in various places long after the office became extinct. The grandson of Hezekiah ben David through his eldest son David ben Chyzkia, ], died in 1154 in ] according to ] and is the ancestor of the ] family. Several families, as late as the 14th century, traced their descent back to Josiah, the brother of ] who had been banished to Chorasan (see the genealogies in pp.&nbsp;180 et seq.). The descendants of the Karaite Exilarchs have been referred to above.
==References==

*{{cite book |author= Bahá'u'lláh |authorlink=Bahá'u'lláh |year=1991 |title=Proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh |publisher=Bahá'í Publishing Trust |location=Wilmette, Illinois, USA |id=ISBN 0-87743-064-0 |url=http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/PB/ }}
A number of Jewish families in the ] and within ] continued to preserve the tradition of descent from Exilarchs in the ], including the families of ], ] and Ben-David. Several Ashkenazi scholars also claimed descent from King David. On his father's side, ] has been claimed to be a 33rd-generation descendant of ], who was a fourth-generation descendant of ], who was reputedly descended from the Davidic line.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rabbi Yehiel Ben Shlomo Heilprin - (Circa 5420-5506; 1660-1746)|url=https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112344/jewish/Rabbi-Yehiel-Ben-Shlomo-Heilprin.htm|access-date=2020-06-28|website=www.chabad.org|language=en}}</ref> Similarly ] claimed 37 generations between him and ], who was also a fourth-generation descendant of Gamaliel.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Early Years|url=https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/107770/jewish/Early-Years.htm|access-date=2020-05-21|website=www.chabad.org|language=en}}</ref> Meir Perels traced the ancestry of ] to the ] through Judah Loew's alleged great-great-grandfather ] and therefore also from the Davidic dynasty; however, this claim is widely disputed, by many scholars such as Otto Muneles.<ref>See , by Chaim Freedman, published in ''Avotaynu'' Vol 22 No 1, Spring 2006</ref> Hai Gaon was the son of ], who claimed descent from ], who belonged to the family of the exilarch, thereby claiming descent from the Davidic line. Sherira's son-in-law was ].<ref>{{Cite web|title=SHERIRA B. ḤANINA - JewishEncyclopedia.com|url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13566-sherira-b-hanina|access-date=2021-05-17|website=www.jewishencyclopedia.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=HAI BEN SHERIRA - JewishEncyclopedia.com|url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7051-hai-ben-sherira|access-date=2021-05-17|website=www.jewishencyclopedia.com}}</ref> The patriarch of the ], Yitskhak Eizik Meisels, was an alleged 10th generation descendant of the Exilarch, ].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Meizels family tree|url=https://www.davidicdynasty.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/meizels.pdf|website=Davidicdynasty.org}}</ref> The ] of ] claim paternal descent from the Exilarch, ].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bar-Asher|first=Moshe|date=2010-10-01|title=Berdugo Family|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/*-COM_0004160|journal=Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World|language=en}}</ref> The Jewish banking family ] claimed descent from the Davidic Line<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishrefugees.org.uk/tag/jews-of-turkey|title=Jews of Turkey Archives • Point of No Return|website=Point of No Return|date=13 October 2024 }}</ref> Rabbi ], who is a modern-day claimant to the Davidic throne in Israel and the founder of the Monarchist party ], descends from the ] of ], who paternally descend from Hasan ben Zakkai, the younger brother of the Exilarch ] (d. 940). One of Hasan's descendants Solomon ben Azariah ha-Nasi settled in Aleppo were the family became Dayan's (judges) of the city and thus adopted the surname Dayan.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dayyan {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/dayyan|access-date=2020-11-27|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Harel|first=Yaron|date=2010-10-01|title=Dayan Family|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/dayan-family-SIM_000155|journal=Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World|language=en}}</ref>
*The Holy Bible: 1611 Edition (Thos. Nelson, 1993)

== In Judaism ==

=== Eschatology ===
In ], the term ''{{lang|he-Latn|mashiach}}'', or "]", came to refer to a future Jewish ] from the Davidic line, who is expected to be anointed with ] and rule the Jewish people during the ].<ref name="schochet moshiah ben yossef"/><ref name="JVL messiah"/><ref name="JVL The Messiah">{{cite web | url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/messiah.html | title=The Messiah | publisher=William Morrow and Co | date=1991 | access-date=2 December 2012 | last=Telushkin | first=Joseph}}</ref> The Messiah is often referred to as "King Messiah", or, in Hebrew, {{lang|he|מלך משיח}} (''{{lang|he-Latn|melekh mashiach}}''), and, in Aramaic, ''malka meshiḥa''.<ref name="JVL Flusser">{{cite web|last=Flusser|first=David|title=Second Temple Period|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0014_0_13744.html|work=Messiah|publisher=Encyclopaedia Judaica 2008 The Gale Group|access-date=2 December 2012}}</ref>

] views have generally held that the Messiah will be a ] descendant of ],<ref>See ]: {{cite web |url=http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/web/pdf/RealMessiahBookPages_v4ab.pdf |title=The Real Messiah A Jewish Response to Missionaries |access-date=2012-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529164304/http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/web/pdf/RealMessiahBookPages_v4ab.pdf |archive-date=May 29, 2008 }}</ref> and will gather the Jews back into the ], usher in an era of peace, build the ], father a male heir, re-institute the ], and so on. Jewish tradition alludes to two redeemers, both of whom are called ''{{lang|he-Latn|mashiach}}'' and are involved in ushering in the ]: ''{{lang|he-Latn|Mashiach ben David}}''; and '']''. In general, the term ''Messiah'' unqualified refers to ''Mashiach ben David'' (Messiah, son of David).<ref name="schochet moshiah ben yossef">{{cite web | url=http://www.moshiach.com/discover/tutorials/moshiach_ben_yossef.php | title=Moshiach ben Yossef | publisher=Moshiach.com | work=Tutorial | access-date=2 December 2012 | last=Schochet | first=Jacob Immanuel | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021220182918/http://www.moshiach.com/discover/tutorials/moshiach_ben_yossef.php | archive-date=20 December 2002 }}</ref><ref name="JVL messiah">{{cite web|last=Blidstein|first=Prof. Dr. Gerald J.|title=Messiah in Rabbinic Thought|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0014_0_13744.html|work=MESSIAH|publisher=Jewish Virtual Library and Encyclopaedia Judaica 2008 The Gale Group|access-date=2 December 2012}}</ref>

=== Modern legacy ===
In 2012, '']'' reported that philanthropist Susan Roth created Davidic Dynasty as subsidiary of her Eshet Chayil Foundation, dedicated to finding, databasing, and connecting Davidic descendants and running the King David Legacy Center in Jerusalem.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Are you a descendant of the House of David? |url=https://www.jpost.com/jewish-world/jewish-features/are-you-a-descendant-of-the-house-of-david |access-date=2020-10-15 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com|date=10 January 2012 }}</ref> In 2020, Roth chose Brando Crawford, a descendant from both grandfathers, to represent the organization internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leadership |url=https://www.davidicdynasty.org/leadership/ |access-date=2020-10-15 |website=Davidic Dynasty is dedicated to uniting the Jewish descendants of King David |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Twersky |first1=David |date=November 10, 2008 |title=We Are Family: King David's Descendants Gather for 'Reunion' |url=https://forward.com/news/8389/we-are-family-king-david-s-descendants-gather-f/ |access-date=2020-10-15 |website=The Forward |language=en-US}}</ref> The King David Legacy Center has seen support from ] Jews in Jerusalem.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grapevine: Yes, Prime Minister… |url=https://www.jpost.com/features/in-thespotlight/grapevine-yes-prime-minister |access-date=2020-10-15 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com|date=10 January 2012 }}</ref>

==In other Abrahamic religions==

=== Christianity ===
In the ] interpretation the "]" of a Davidic line in ] 7 is understood in various ways, traditionally referring to the ] in the ]. One Christian interpretation of the Davidic line counts the line as continuing to ] son of ], according to the genealogies which are written in ]:1-16 descendants of Solomon and ]:23-38 descendants of Nathan son of David through the line of Mary.

Because Jews have historically believed that the Messiah will be a male-line descendant of David, the lineage of Jesus is sometimes cited as a reason why Jews do not believe that he was the Messiah. As the proposed son of God, he could not have been a male descendant of David because according to the genealogy of his earthly parents, Mary and Joseph, he did not have the proper lineage, because he would not have been a male descendant of Mary, and Joseph, who was a descendant of ], because Jeconiah's descendants are explicitly barred from ever ruling Israel by God.<ref>This is what the LORD says: 'Record this man as if he is childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none of them will sit on the throne of David or rule in Judah anymore.— Jeremiah 22:30, NIV</ref>

Another Christian interpretation emphasizes the minor, non-royal, line of David through ]'s brother ] as it is recorded in the ] ] (entirely undocumented in the Hebrew Bible), which is often understood to be the family tree of Mary's father. A widely spread traditional Christian interpretation relates the non-continuation of the main Davidic line from Solomon to the godlessness of the line of ] which started in the early 500s BC, when ] cursed the main branch of the Solomonic line, by saying that no descendant of "Coniah" would ever reign on the throne of Israel again (]).<ref>H. Wayne House ''Israel: Land and the People'' 1998 114 "And yet, Judah has also been without a king of the Solomonic line since the Babylonian exile. Because of Jeremiah's curse on Jehoiachin (Coniah) in the early 500s BC (Jer. 22:30), the high priests of Israel, while serving as the ..."</ref> Some Christian commentators also believe that this same "curse" is the reason why ], the rightful Solomonic king during the time of ], was not given a kingship under the ].<ref>Warren W. Wiersbe -The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete Old Testament - 2007 p. 1497 "Zerubbabel was the grandson of King Jehoiachin (Jeconiah, Matt. 1:12; Coniah, Jer. 22:24, 28), and therefore of the royal line of David. But instead of wearing a crown and sitting on a throne, Zerubbabel was the humble governor of a ..."</ref>

The ] (a reference to David's father) is a traditional Christian artistic representation of Jesus' genealogical connection to David.

=== Islam ===
The ] mentions the House of David once: "Work, O family of David, in gratitude. And few of My servants are grateful."<ref>Quran 34:13</ref> and mentions David himself sixteen times.

According to some Islamic sources, some of the ] were of the Davidic line, Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi recorded: "A Jewish man from the Davidic line entered ] and found the people in deep sorrow. He enquired the people, 'What is wrong?' Some of the people replied: ] passed away".<ref>Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi, Bihār al-Anwār, Dar Al-Rida Publication, Beirut, (1983), volume 30 page 99</ref>


==See also== ==See also==

* ]
* ] * ]
* ] ** ]
* ] ** ]
* ] *** ]
* ], a Sephardic Jewish family claiming descent from David
* ]
* ], a Georgian dynasty claiming descent from David
* ]
** ]
* ]
* ], an Ethiopian dynasty claiming descent from David's son Solomon
** ]
* ], a Christian artistic depiction of Jesus' family tree beginning with David's father Jesse

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

;Sources
* {{Cite book |last1=Pioske |first1=Daniel |date=2015 |title=David's Jerusalem: Between Memory and History |series=Routledge Studies in Religion |volume=45 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1317548911 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IrKgBgAAQBAJ}}
* ''The Holy Bible: 1611 Edition'' (Thos. Nelson, 1993)

==Notes==
{{notelist}}


==External links== ==External links==
*
Jewish Encyclopedia.com:
* Jewish Encyclopedia.com:
* A genealogy of the Exilarchs:
*
*
* Rabbinic Sources and ''Seder Olam Zuta'': &


{{Rulers of Ancient Israel}}
]
{{Solomon}}
]
{{Dynasties of Ancient Israel}}
]


] ]
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Latest revision as of 21:41, 19 December 2024

Lineage of the Israelite king David "House of David" redirects here. For other uses, see House of David (disambiguation).
House of David
בֵּית דָּוִד‎
CountryKingdom of Israel and Judah (c. 1010 BCE–930 BCE)
Kingdom of Judah (c. 930 BCE–587 BCE)
Place of originTribe of Judah
FounderDavid (traditional)
Final rulerZedekiah
Titles
Estate(s)Land of Israel

The Davidic line refers to the descendants of David, who established the House of David (Hebrew: בֵּית דָּוִד Bēt Dāwīḏ) in the Kingdom of Israel and Judah. In Judaism, it is based on texts from the Hebrew Bible, as well as on later Jewish traditions.

According to the biblical narrative, David of the Tribe of Judah engaged in a protracted conflict with Ish-bosheth of the Tribe of Benjamin after the latter succeeded his father Saul to become the second king of an amalgamated Israel and Judah. Amidst this struggle, God had sent his prophet Samuel to anoint David as the true king of the Israelites. Following Ish-bosheth's assassination at the hands of his own army captains, David officially acceded to the throne around 1010 BCE, replacing the House of Saul with his own and becoming the country's third king. He was succeeded by his son Solomon, whose mother was Bathsheba. Solomon's death led to the rejection of the House of David by most of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, with only Judah and Benjamin remaining loyal: the dissenters chose Jeroboam as their monarch and formed the Kingdom of Israel in the north (Samaria); while the loyalists kept Solomon's son Rehoboam as their monarch and formed the Kingdom of Judah in the south (Judea). With the success of Jeroboam's Revolt having severed Israel's connection to the House of David, only the Judahite monarchs, except Athaliah, were part of the Davidic line.

In the aftermath of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem around 587 BCE, Solomon's Temple was destroyed and the Kingdom of Judah fell to the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Nearly 450 years later, the Hasmonean dynasty established the first independent Jewish kingdom since the Babylonian conquest, though it was not considered to be connected to the Davidic line nor to the Tribe of Judah.

In Jewish eschatology, the Messiah (מָשִׁיחַ) will be a Jewish king whose paternal bloodline traces to David. He is expected to rule over the Jewish people during the Messianic Age and in the world to come.

Historicity

The Tel Dan Stele, with mention of the "House of David" highlighted in white.

Very little is conclusively known about the House of David. The Tel Dan Stele mentions the death of the reigning king from "BYTDWD", (interpreted as "House of David") and thus far is the only extrabiblical explicit mention of David himself. The stele is dated to circa 840 BCE; however, the name of the Davidic king is not totally preserved, as much of the stele has not survived since the 9th century BCE. All that remains of the name is the final syllable, the extremely common theophoric suffix -yahū. Because the stele coincides the death of the Davidic king with the death of ram, the king of the Kingdom of Samaria, scholars have reconstructed the second slain king as Ahaziah of Judah, the only king contemporary to Jehoram with a name ending in -yahū.

The earliest unambiguously attested king from the Davidic line is Uzziah, who reigned in the 8th century BCE, about 75 years after Ahaziah, who is named on bullae seals belonging to his servants Abijah and Shubnayahu. Uzziah may also be mentioned in the annals of Tiglath-Pileser III; however, the texts are largely fragmentary. Additionally, a tombstone dated to the Second Temple Period claiming to mark the grave (or, reburial) site of Uzziah, was discovered in a convent on the Mount of Olives in 1931, but there is no way of determining if the remains were genuinely Uzziah's as the stone had to have been carved more than 700 years after Uzziah died and was originally interred, and the tablet's provenance remains a mystery. A controversial artefact called the Jehoash Tablet recalls deeds performed by Jehoash of Judah, who reigned about 44 years before Uzziah; however, scholars are tensely divided on whether or not the inscription is genuine. After Uzziah, each successive king of Judah is attested to in some form, with the exception of Amon of Judah: Jotham, Uzziah's successor, is named on the seals of his own son and successor, Ahaz, who ruled from 732 to 716 BCE. Hezekiah, Ahaz's son, is attested to by numerous royal seals and Sennacherib's Annals; Manasseh is recorded giving tribute to Esarhaddon; Josiah has no relics explicitly naming him; however, seals belonging to his son Eliashib and officials Nathan-melech and Asaiah have been discovered; and the kings Jehoahaz II, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah are never explicitly named in historical records but are instead alluded to; however, Jeconiah is mentioned by name in Babylonian documents detailing the rations he and his sons were given while held prisoner during the Babylonian captivity.

The origins of the dynasty, on the other hand, are shrouded in mystery. The Tel Dan Stele, as aforementioned, remains the only mention of David himself outside the Bible, and the historical reliability of the United Monarchy of Israel is archaeologically weak. The Stepped Stone Structure and Large Stone Structure in Jerusalem, assuming Eilat Mazar's contested stratigraphic dating of the structures to the Iron Age I is accurate, show that Jerusalem was at least somewhat populated in King David's time, and lends some credence to the biblical claim that Jerusalem was originally a Canaanite fortress; however, Jerusalem seems to have been barely developed until long after David's death, bringing into question the possibility that it could have been the imperial capital described in the Bible. In David's time, the capital probably served as little more than a formidable citadel, and the Davidic "kingdom" was most likely closer to a loosely-confederated regional polity, albeit a relatively substantial one. On the other hand, excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa and Eglon, as well as structures from Hazor, Gezer, Megiddo and other sites conventionally dated to the 10th century BCE, are interpreted by many scholars to show that Judah was capable of accommodating large-scale urban societies centuries before minimalist scholars claim, and some have taken the physical archaeology of tenth-century Canaan as consistent with the former existence of a unified state on its territory, as archaeological findings demonstrate substantial development and growth at several sites, plausibly related to the tenth century. Even so, as for David and his immediate descendants themselves, the position of some scholars, as described by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Silberman, authors of The Bible Unearthed, espouses that David and Solomon may well be based on "certain historical kernels", and probably did exist in their own right, but their historical counterparts simply could not have ruled over a wealthy lavish empire as described in the Bible, and were more likely chieftains of a comparatively modest Israelite society in Judah and not regents over a kingdom proper.

Kingdom of Israel and Judah

Main article: Kings of Israel and Judah
The genealogy of the kings of Judah, along with the kings of Israel.

According to the Tanakh, upon being chosen and becoming king, one was customarily anointed with holy oil poured on one's head. In David's case, this was done by the prophet Samuel.

Initially, David was king over the Tribe of Judah only and ruled from Hebron, but after seven and a half years, the other Israelite tribes, who found themselves leaderless after the death of Ish-bosheth, chose him to be their king as well.

All subsequent kings in both the ancient first united Kingdom of Israel and the later Kingdom of Judah claimed direct descent from King David to validate their claim to the throne in order to rule over the Israelite tribes.

Division after Solomon's death

After the death of David's son, King Solomon, the ten northern tribes of the Kingdom of Israel rejected the Davidic line, refusing to accept Solomon's son, Rehoboam, and instead chose as king Jeroboam and formed the northern Kingdom of Israel. This kingdom was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the 8th century BCE which exiled much of the Northern Kingdom population and ended its sovereign status. The bulk population of the Northern Kingdom of Israel was forced to relocate to Mesopotamia and mostly disappeared from history as The Ten Lost Tribes or intermixed with exiled Judean populations two centuries later, while the remaining Israelite peoples in Samaria highlands have become known as Samaritans during the classic era and to modern times.

The Exilarchate

Main article: Exilarch

Later rabbinical authorities granted the office of exilarch to family members that traced its patrilineal descent from David, King of Israel. The highest official of Babylonian Jewry was the exilarch (Reish Galuta, "Head of the Diaspora"). Those who held the position traced their ancestry to the House of David in the male line. The position holder was regarded as a king-in-waiting, residing in Babylonia in the Achaemenid Empire as well as during the classic era. The Seder Olam Zutta attributes the office to Zerubbabel, a member of the Davidic line, who is mentioned as one of the leaders of the Jewish community in the 6th century BC, holding the title of Achaemenid Governor of Yehud Medinata.

Hasmonean and Herodian periods

Further information: Hasmonean dynasty and Herodian dynasty

The Hasmoneans, also known as the Maccabees, established their own monarchy in Judea following their revolt against the Hellenistic Seleucid dynasty. The Hasmoneans were not considered connected to the Davidic line nor to the Tribe of Judah. The Levites had always been excluded from the Israelite monarchy, so when the Maccabees assumed the throne in order to rededicate the defiled Second Temple, a cardinal rule was broken. According to scholars within Orthodox Judaism, this is considered to have contributed to their downfall and the eventual downfall of Judea; internal strife allowing for Roman occupation and the violent installation of Herod the Great as client king over the Roman province of Judea; and the subsequent destruction of the Second Temple by the future Emperor Titus.

During the Hasmonean period, the Davidic line was largely excluded from the royal house in Judea, but some members had risen to prominence as religious and communal leaders. One of the most notable of those was Hillel the Elder, who moved to Judea from his birthplace in Babylon. His great-grandson Simeon ben Gamliel became one of the Jewish leaders during the First Jewish–Roman War.

Middle Ages

Main article: Exilarchate
Genealogy of the Exilarchs to David and Adam, Avraham ben Tamim, Cairo Geniza, 1100s (Katz Center/UPenn)
Genealogy of the Exilarchs to David and Adam, Avraham ben Tamim, Cairo Geniza, 1100s (Katz Center/UPenn)

The Exilarchate in the Sasanian Empire was briefly abolished as a result of a revolt by the Mar-Zutra II in the late 5th century CE, with his son Mar-Zutra III being denied the office and relocating to Tiberias, then within the Byzantine Empire. Mar Ahunai lived in the period succeeding Mar Zutra II, but for almost fifty years after the failed revolt he did not dare to appear in public, and it is not known whether even then (c. 550) he really acted as Exilarch. The names of Kafnai and his son Haninai, who were Exilarchs in the second half of the 6th century, have been preserved.

The Exilarchate in Mesopotamia was officially restored after the Arab conquest in the 7th century and continued to function during the early Caliphates. Exilarchs continued to be appointed until the 11th century, with some members of the Davidic line dispersing across the Islamic world. There are conflicting accounts of the fate of the Exilarch family in the 11th century; according to one version Hezekiah ben David, who was the last Exilarch and also the last Gaon, was imprisoned and tortured to death. Two of his sons fled to Al-Andalus, where they found refuge with Joseph, the son and successor of Samuel ibn Naghrillah. However, The Jewish Quarterly Review mentions that Hezekiah was liberated from prison, and became head of the academy, and is mentioned as such by a contemporary in 1046. An unsuccessful attempt of David ben Daniel of the Davidic line to establish an Exilarchate in the Fatimid Caliphate failed and ended with his downfall in 1094.

In the 11th–15th century, families that descended from the Exilarchs that lived in the South of France (Narbonne and Provence) and in northern Iberian peninsula (Barcelona, Aragon and Castile) received the title "Nasi" in the communities and were called "free men". They had a special economic and social status in the Jewish community, and they were close to their respective governments, some serving as advisers and tax collectors/finance ministers.

These families had special rights in Narbonne, Barcelona, and Castile. They possessed real estate and received the title "Don" and  de la Kblriih (De la Cavalleria). Among the families of the "Sons of the Free" are the families of Abravanel and Benveniste.

In his book, A Jewish Princedom in Feudal France, Arthur J. Zuckerman proposes a theory that from 768 to 900 CE a Jewish Princedom ruled by members of the Exilarchs existed in feudal France. However, this theory has been widely contested. Descendants of the house of exilarchs were living in various places long after the office became extinct. The grandson of Hezekiah ben David through his eldest son David ben Chyzkia, Hiyya al-Daudi, died in 1154 in Castile according to Abraham ibn Daud and is the ancestor of the ibn Yahya family. Several families, as late as the 14th century, traced their descent back to Josiah, the brother of David ben Zakkai who had been banished to Chorasan (see the genealogies in pp. 180 et seq.). The descendants of the Karaite Exilarchs have been referred to above.

A number of Jewish families in the Iberian peninsula and within Mesopotamia continued to preserve the tradition of descent from Exilarchs in the Late Middle Ages, including the families of Abravanel, ibn Yahya and Ben-David. Several Ashkenazi scholars also claimed descent from King David. On his father's side, Rashi has been claimed to be a 33rd-generation descendant of Johanan HaSandlar, who was a fourth-generation descendant of Gamaliel, who was reputedly descended from the Davidic line. Similarly Maimonides claimed 37 generations between him and Simeon ben Judah ha-Nasi, who was also a fourth-generation descendant of Gamaliel. Meir Perels traced the ancestry of Judah Loew ben Bezalel to the Hai Gaon through Judah Loew's alleged great-great-grandfather Judah Leib the Elder and therefore also from the Davidic dynasty; however, this claim is widely disputed, by many scholars such as Otto Muneles. Hai Gaon was the son of Sherira Gaon, who claimed descent from Rabbah b. Abuha, who belonged to the family of the exilarch, thereby claiming descent from the Davidic line. Sherira's son-in-law was Elijah ben Menahem HaZaken. The patriarch of the Meisels family, Yitskhak Eizik Meisels, was an alleged 10th generation descendant of the Exilarch, Mar Ukba. The Berduga family of Meknes claim paternal descent from the Exilarch, Bostanai. The Jewish banking family Louis Cahen d'Anvers claimed descent from the Davidic Line Rabbi Yosef Dayan, who is a modern-day claimant to the Davidic throne in Israel and the founder of the Monarchist party Malchut Israel, descends from the Dayan family of Aleppo, who paternally descend from Hasan ben Zakkai, the younger brother of the Exilarch David I (d. 940). One of Hasan's descendants Solomon ben Azariah ha-Nasi settled in Aleppo were the family became Dayan's (judges) of the city and thus adopted the surname Dayan.

In Judaism

Eschatology

In Jewish eschatology, the term mashiach, or "Messiah", came to refer to a future Jewish king from the Davidic line, who is expected to be anointed with holy anointing oil and rule the Jewish people during the Messianic Age. The Messiah is often referred to as "King Messiah", or, in Hebrew, מלך משיח (melekh mashiach), and, in Aramaic, malka meshiḥa.

Orthodox views have generally held that the Messiah will be a patrilineal descendant of King David, and will gather the Jews back into the Land of Israel, usher in an era of peace, build the Third Temple, father a male heir, re-institute the Sanhedrin, and so on. Jewish tradition alludes to two redeemers, both of whom are called mashiach and are involved in ushering in the Messianic age: Mashiach ben David; and Mashiach ben Yosef. In general, the term Messiah unqualified refers to Mashiach ben David (Messiah, son of David).

Modern legacy

In 2012, The Jerusalem Post reported that philanthropist Susan Roth created Davidic Dynasty as subsidiary of her Eshet Chayil Foundation, dedicated to finding, databasing, and connecting Davidic descendants and running the King David Legacy Center in Jerusalem. In 2020, Roth chose Brando Crawford, a descendant from both grandfathers, to represent the organization internationally. The King David Legacy Center has seen support from Haredi Jews in Jerusalem.

In other Abrahamic religions

Christianity

In the Christian interpretation the "Davidic covenant" of a Davidic line in 2 Samuel 7 is understood in various ways, traditionally referring to the genealogies of Jesus in the New Testament. One Christian interpretation of the Davidic line counts the line as continuing to Jesus son of Joseph, according to the genealogies which are written in Matthew 1:1-16 descendants of Solomon and Luke 3:23-38 descendants of Nathan son of David through the line of Mary.

Because Jews have historically believed that the Messiah will be a male-line descendant of David, the lineage of Jesus is sometimes cited as a reason why Jews do not believe that he was the Messiah. As the proposed son of God, he could not have been a male descendant of David because according to the genealogy of his earthly parents, Mary and Joseph, he did not have the proper lineage, because he would not have been a male descendant of Mary, and Joseph, who was a descendant of Jeconiah, because Jeconiah's descendants are explicitly barred from ever ruling Israel by God.

Another Christian interpretation emphasizes the minor, non-royal, line of David through Solomon's brother Nathan as it is recorded in the Gospel of Luke chapter 3 (entirely undocumented in the Hebrew Bible), which is often understood to be the family tree of Mary's father. A widely spread traditional Christian interpretation relates the non-continuation of the main Davidic line from Solomon to the godlessness of the line of Jehoiachin which started in the early 500s BC, when Jeremiah cursed the main branch of the Solomonic line, by saying that no descendant of "Coniah" would ever reign on the throne of Israel again (Jeremiah 22:30). Some Christian commentators also believe that this same "curse" is the reason why Zerubbabel, the rightful Solomonic king during the time of Nehemiah, was not given a kingship under the Persian empire.

The Tree of Jesse (a reference to David's father) is a traditional Christian artistic representation of Jesus' genealogical connection to David.

Islam

The Quran mentions the House of David once: "Work, O family of David, in gratitude. And few of My servants are grateful." and mentions David himself sixteen times.

According to some Islamic sources, some of the Jewish settlers in Arabia were of the Davidic line, Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi recorded: "A Jewish man from the Davidic line entered Medina and found the people in deep sorrow. He enquired the people, 'What is wrong?' Some of the people replied: Prophet Muhammad passed away".

See also

References

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  2. Falk, Avner (1996). A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-83863660-2. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  3. Schochet, Rabbi Prof. Dr. Jacob Immanuel. "Moshiach ben Yossef". Tutorial. moshiach.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2002. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  4. Blidstein, Prof. Dr. Gerald J. "Messiah in Rabbinic Thought". MESSIAH. Jewish Virtual Library and Encyclopaedia Judaica 2008 The Gale Group. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  5. Telushkin, Joseph. "The Messiah". The Jewish Virtual Library Jewish Literacy. NY: William Morrow and Co., 1991. Reprinted by permission of the author. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  6. Pioske 2015, p. 180.
  7. Corpus of West Semitic Stamp Seals. N. Avigad and B. Sass. Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1997, nos. 4 and 3 respectively; Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200–539 B.C.E. Lawrence J. Mykytiuk. SBL Academia Biblica 12. Atlanta, 2004, 153–59, 219.
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  9. Deutsch, Robert. "First Impression: What We Learn from King Ahaz's Seal Archived 4 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine". Biblical Archaeology Review, July 1998, pp. 54–56, 62
  10. Heilpern, Will (4 December 2015). "Biblical King's seal discovered in dump site". CNN. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  11. Cross, Frank Moore (March–April 1999). "King Hezekiah's Seal Bears Phoenician Imagery". Biblical Archaeology Review.
  12. Oppenheim, A. L. in Pritchard 1969, pp. 287–288
  13. Oppenheim, A. L. in Pritchard 1969, p. 291
  14. Albright, W. F. in Pritchard 1969, p. 569
  15. Weiss, Bari.The Story Behind a 2,600-Year-Old Seal Who was Natan-Melech, the king's servant? New York Times. March 30, 2019
  16. 2,600-year old seal discovered in City of David. Jerusalem Post. April 1, 2019
  17. Heltzer, Michael, THE SEAL OF ˓AŚAYĀHŪ. In Hallo, 2000, Vol. II p. 204
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  19. ^ Mazar, Amihai. "Archaeology and the Biblical Narrative: The Case of the United Monarchy". One God – One Cult – One Nation. Archaeological and Biblical Perspectives, Edited by Reinhard G. Kratz and Hermann Spieckermann in Collaboration with Björn Corzilius and Tanja Pilger, (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 405). Berlin/ New York: 29–58. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
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  23. Johnson, Benjamin J. M. (2021). "Israel at the time of the united monarchy". In Dell, Katharine J. (ed.). The Biblical World (2nd ed.). Routledge. pp. 498–519. ISBN 978-1-317-39255-2.
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  27. ———; Silberman, Neil Asher (2006). David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible's Sacred Kings and the Roots of the Western Tradition. Free Press. ISBN 978-0-7432-4362-9. p. 20
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  36. See The Maharal of Prague's Descent from King David, by Chaim Freedman, published in Avotaynu Vol 22 No 1, Spring 2006
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  38. "HAI BEN SHERIRA - JewishEncyclopedia.com". www.jewishencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
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  41. "Jews of Turkey Archives • Point of No Return". Point of No Return. 13 October 2024.
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  44. ^ Schochet, Jacob Immanuel. "Moshiach ben Yossef". Tutorial. Moshiach.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2002. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  45. ^ Blidstein, Prof. Dr. Gerald J. "Messiah in Rabbinic Thought". MESSIAH. Jewish Virtual Library and Encyclopaedia Judaica 2008 The Gale Group. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  46. Telushkin, Joseph (1991). "The Messiah". William Morrow and Co. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  47. Flusser, David. "Second Temple Period". Messiah. Encyclopaedia Judaica 2008 The Gale Group. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  48. See Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan: "The Real Messiah A Jewish Response to Missionaries" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 May 2008. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  49. "Are you a descendant of the House of David?". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 10 January 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  50. "Leadership". Davidic Dynasty is dedicated to uniting the Jewish descendants of King David. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  51. Twersky, David (10 November 2008). "We Are Family: King David's Descendants Gather for 'Reunion'". The Forward. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  52. "Grapevine: Yes, Prime Minister…". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 10 January 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  53. This is what the LORD says: 'Record this man as if he is childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none of them will sit on the throne of David or rule in Judah anymore.— Jeremiah 22:30, NIV
  54. H. Wayne House Israel: Land and the People 1998 114 "And yet, Judah has also been without a king of the Solomonic line since the Babylonian exile. Because of Jeremiah's curse on Jehoiachin (Coniah) in the early 500s BC (Jer. 22:30), the high priests of Israel, while serving as the ..."
  55. Warren W. Wiersbe -The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete Old Testament - 2007 p. 1497 "Zerubbabel was the grandson of King Jehoiachin (Jeconiah, Matt. 1:12; Coniah, Jer. 22:24, 28), and therefore of the royal line of David. But instead of wearing a crown and sitting on a throne, Zerubbabel was the humble governor of a ..."
  56. Quran 34:13
  57. Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi, Bihār al-Anwār, Dar Al-Rida Publication, Beirut, (1983), volume 30 page 99
Sources

Notes

  1. Jehoram's reign in Israel saw three kings of Judah — Jehoshaphat, his son Jehoram of Judah, and his son, Ahaziah
  2. 'Unambiguous' as Ahaziah's name on the Tel Dan Stele is incomplete, and there is no explicit confirmation that the apical ancestor David of Bayt-David was a king
  3. The name in the annals is Azariah, not "Uzziah". While Uzziah is called "Azariah" several times in the Bible, scholars consider this to be the result of a later scribal error. Thus it is unlikely that Tiglath-Pileser's scribes would have used this name to refer to Uzziah.

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Rulers of Israel and Judah
Israel
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(southern kingdom)
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Solomon
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reputed relations
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Dynasties of Israel and Judah
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