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Ask the Rabbi: answers from Project Genesis rabbis
Which of the kinds of Jewish people will the Messiah belong to — will he be a Levi or a Cohen? Thank you.
The Messiah will be a descendant of King David, from the tribe of Judah. There are several times in the Torah that it mentions that Judah and his descendants will be the kings (and the function of Messiah is to be a king of Israel). Therefore he cannot be a Levi or a Cohen (who are descended from the tribe of Levi).
Regards
Rabbi David Sedley
If the Messiah has to come from the tribe of Judah, and the lineage of King David, what’s about Jesus the son of Mary who was from the family of Jesse?
G-d set the system in motion where Jewish tribal lineage can only come from the father, never the mother. A Jewish woman belongs to her father’s tribe until she marries. She then takes on the tribe of her husband. In other words, a Jewish woman can move from tribe to tribe. Not so a Jewish man. A Jewish man will be a part of the tribe he is born into his entire life, and can never change.