The
book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: Abraham
begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Judah
begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. Ram
begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. Salmon
begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and
Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. Matthew 1:1-6
NKJV
How
many of us at one time or another have read, or possibly skipped over, this
first chapter of the book of Matthew and wondered why it was even
included? Although placed first in the
New Testament, of the three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the book
of Matthew is generally agreed to have been written later than Mark, and
possibly Luke. These three books are
called synoptic (from two Greek words meaning to see together) because they all
tell of the same events of Jesus’ life.
The
book of Matthew, however, was written especially to the Jews by Matthew who was
himself a Jew, with the intent of convincing them that Jesus was indeed the
Messiah. As such, the very first thing
he does is list Jesus’ genealogy all the way back to Abraham. In the Jewish culture, nothing was more
important than a persons’ genealogy. If
one desired to be called a Jew, he must be prepared to prove it by his
lineage. Even Josephus, the well known
Jewish historian, lists his own genealogy when he wrote his personal biography.
So
if Matthew were to begin the task of trying to convince the Jewish people that
Jesus of Nazareth was in fact the promised Messiah, the natural beginning would
be to list His ancestors. As you read this list of names, though, you
may notice something quite unusual especially if you understand the Jewish
culture of that day. If not, let me give
you a hint by telling you there are a number of prayers of blessing in the
Talmud which are recited in the mornings by men, one of which thanks God for
not creating them a woman. With that in
mind, consider the response by a Jew when he was to read this passage from
Matthew and find the names of four different women listed in it!
If
that were not enough, it goes without saying that of all the women whose names
could have been listed, God instructed Matthew to list four that most Jewish
men would have taken great pains to exclude.
These four are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and the wife of Uriah
(Bathsheba). If these women are not
familiar to you, let me take a minute and introduce you to them.
The
story of Tamar can be found in Genesis 38 where we find her dressing as a
prostitute and having a sexual encounter with her father in law.
And
it was told Tamar, saying, “Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to
shear his sheep.”
So she took off her widow’s
garments, covered herself with
a veil and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place which was on the way to Timnah; for she saw
that Shelah was grown, and she was not given to him as a wife. When
Judah saw her, he thought she was
a harlot, because she had covered her face.
Then he turned to her by the way,
and said, “Please let me come in to you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. So she said,
“What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” Genesis 38:13-16 NKJV
Rahab
appears in Joshua 2 where we find she is a prostitute practicing her profession
in the city of Jericho.
Now
Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly,
saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went, and came to the
house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there. Joshua 2:1
NKJV
The
story of Ruth is detailed in the book of Ruth where we find she is a Moabitiss
from the country of Moab, a people hated by Jews because of their origin by
incest between Lot and his daughter, and their treatment of the children of
Israel on their journey through the wilderness after leaving Egypt as well as
hiring Balaam to curse them.
Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child
by their father.
The firstborn bore a son and called
his name Moab; he is the father
of the Moabites to this day. Genesis
19:36-37 NKJV
“An
Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth
generation none of his descendants
shall enter the assembly of the LORD forever, “because they did not meet you with bread and water on the
road when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the
son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. Deuteronomy 23:3-4 NKJV
Bathsheba
is probably the most recognizable of these women due to her adulterous
relationship with David, the King of Israel.
So
David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is
this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” Then
David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her,
for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. 2 Samuel 11:3-4 NKJV
I
have no doubt that the first question to cross the mind of any Jew who read
these words, and no doubt ours as well is “why include these names when it wasn’t
necessary”? Considering God deliberately
chose to do so should be a sign to us that we should consider that question in
order to find some of the possible reasons He did. The very first one that came to mind for me
is this;
for
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23
NKJV
Because
Jesus was born of man, all of His ancestors were sinners. There is no way around that fact. By making this clear, He is telling the Jews
that no matter how important they might consider their lineage to be, everyone
shares the same trait of the stain of sin.
No one's genealogy is any better than anyone else's in God's eyes. I will let you spend this week thinking of other reasons these four
women are mentioned, and next week I will share more of my thoughts on why God
felt it was so important to include them in His genealogy.
Keep
watching.