The one who announced the coming of the Messiah did not meet
anyone’s expectations. Neither did anything about the birth of the Messiah.
First, if you read the record of the ancestry of Jesus, you
find some unexpected entries. Especially, if you were living 2000 years ago. If
you read through the record in Matthew 1:1-16, you will find five women listed,
which may not seem strange to you, but, to a reader of the time, it would have
been strange and totally unacceptable. Women were not included in genealogical
records of the time. The
Old Testament has numerous records of families, but
only lists the fathers.
Matthew opens the New Testament “The book of the genealogy
of Jesus Christ”, and beginning with Abraham, traces the lineage of Jesus,
including the names of five mothers. This would have been quite shocking to his
early readers. Even more shocking would be who these women were.
1. Matthew 1:3
“and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar,”
Tamar was a woman who married Judah’s oldest son, an evil
man who died unexpectedly. According to the custom, Tamar was then given to
Judah’s next son, also an evil man who died soon after. Judah sent Tamar back
to live with her parents, which was a socially unacceptable and shameful thing
to do. After some years of living as a shamed and childless woman, not free to marry
outside of the family of her dead husband, Tamar used deceit and manipulation
to become pregnant…by Judah. Ugh. Horrible. But, here she is, listed with her
son. (Her story is in Genesis 38)
2. Next woman, Rahab
Matthew 1:5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab
Rahab, usually called Rahab the Harlot. Rahab was not of the
Jewish people. She was a Canaanite who lived in Jericho and helped the Israelites
who came as spies to check out the city and its defenses to prepare their
attack. She and her family were saved
because believed in the God of the Israelites and helped the spies. After the victory of Israel, she was allowed to
come live with the Israelites, married a good Jewish man, and became an
ancestor of Jesus. (Joshua 2 and 6)
3. Another outsider, Ruth
Matthew 1:5 … and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father
of Jesse,
Ruth was a good woman, but she was not an Israelite, in fact she was
from Moab, one of the sworn enemies of Israel, a people who worshipped idols
and practiced child sacrifice. She married
into an Israelite family. After the death of her husband and her father in law,
she went to Israel with her mother in law. Because of her faith and her care
for her mother in law, she married a respected man of Israel, was the great-grandmother
of David, and, eventually, in the lineage of Jesus. (The whole book of Ruth)
4. Next we have Bathsheba.
Matthew 1:6 and Jesse the father of David the king. And
David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah. Do you notice something
unusual about that sentence? “By the wife of Uriah” The great King David saw a beautiful
woman, Bathsheba, who was married to one of his army officers, Uriah, who was
away at war. David had Bathsheba brought to him, had sex with her, and, when he
found out she was pregnant, had her husband killed in battle so that he could
marry her to cover it up. That baby died, but they later had Solomon. When Matthew wrote the genealogy, he
mentioned her as the wife of Uriah. Because of the King’s sinful actions,
Bathsheba lost her husband and her child. However, she is honored as an
ancestor of Jesus. (1 kings 11)
5. The final woman in the story, of course, is
Mary.
Matthew 1:16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of
Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
Mary, the sweet, faithful young woman who became Jesus mother.
The only surprising thing about her was that she is mentioned at all.
If we read this list in the context of first century, we
would be shocked to see women in the list. To me, that says that this Jesus is
starting something very new, and beginning a new day for women in particular.
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