Did Jesus exist?

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Generally speaking, they did not. However, there are four women mentioned in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus. However, Jesus a descendant of David on BOTH sides of his family.

Jesus was the adopted son of Joseph with all of the legal rights and privileges thereunto appertaining including being a legal heir to the Davidic throne.

Jesus was the biological son of Mary, herself a descendant of David, and therefore, a descendant of David. 

Because of the Levirate requirement for brothers to marry their deceased brothers' widows, Joseph's mother and grandmother both had two husbands. Matthan's son (Jacob) was Joseph's biological father, and Matthat's son (Heli) was Joseph's legal father. Matthew's account traces Jesus' primary (biological) lineage, and Luke's record would follow Jesus' legal lineage.

Here's a helpful diagram:

I love how 'God' gets slipped into the genealogy like some fictional scandalous mailman.

You're right, athrock. That makes things much clearer -- just not in the way you think it does. 

One of Jesus' ancestors was a hooker.  Maybe that's why he hung around them so much.

Paul got exasperated trying to reconcile the genealogies so he told his herd that it was worthless to argue about them.

1 Timothy 1:4 (CEB) = "They shouldn’t pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. Their teaching only causes useless guessing games instead of faithfulness to God’s way of doing things."

Titus 3:9 (CEB) = "Avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, and fights about the Law, because they are useless and worthless."