The people’s question whether Jesus was the Son of David (Mark 10:46–52) showed their hope that he was the Messiah (Matthew 9:27), the great king, like David, promised by the prophets and the psalms, whom they were waiting for.
The title Son of David
was the most common title for the Messiah (see Matthew 9:27).1 Here in Matthew 12:23 for the first time we hear the suggestion that Jesus is the Messiah or the Anointed of God. The prophets and psalms had promised the coming of a Messianic divine king from the line of David. People expected him to come as the Son of David.
With their question they therefore not primarily enquired whether Jesus actually belonged to David’s lineage, but whether he was the great king they had been awaiting (see Mark 10:46–52).2
23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?”