It's pretty clear from most of the Bible that descent follows the father's line. It was around the time of the Mishna that the decision was made to have descent for purposes of ethnic identity go by the mother. One theory is that the change was made in the wake of the Bar Kochba rebellion and the Hadrianic decrees, when so many men were killed and women raped that without the change the future of Judaism was in serious question.
In reply to <p>How can the sons of Joseph by Robert McDowell
It's pretty clear from most of the Bible that descent follows the father's line. It was around the time of the Mishna that the decision was made to have descent for purposes of ethnic identity go by the mother. One theory is that the change was made in the wake of the Bar Kochba rebellion and the Hadrianic decrees, when so many men were killed and women raped that without the change the future of Judaism was in serious question.