Day 17
28Jeconiah is dishonored like a worthless vessel, for he is cast forth and driven out into a land he did not know. 29“O land, land, hear the word of the Lord: 30‘Write this man as a banished man, for none at all from his seed shall be raised to sit on the throne of David, or still as a ruler in Judah.’ ” (Jeremiah 22:28-30)
As we look at the katavasia above, we see Christ referred to as the rod and flower of Jesse. So if Jesse's (King David's) line was cut off, how does Christ spring forth from it? We understand from Matthew's Gospel that Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus, comes directly from the line of David. The Virgin Mary is also a descendant of Jesse through Nathan, a son of King David who was not in the line of Kings. So Christ becomes the rod, or off-shoot, that comes from David. The imagery is continued in that Christ is the flower that springs from the stem (the ended line of kings) of Jesse.
This katavasia then speaks directly to the Virgin birth, to Christ's "legal right" to the throne of David and the fulfillment of the prophecy concerning the coming of the Messiah. The poetry and beauty of the Old Testament prophecies is undeniable!
In Christ