Of all the portions of the gospels that we might call boring, topping the list for most people would be the two genealogies of Jesus. Both Matthew and Luke include a record of Jesus’ ancestry, and while many of us might gloss over Jesus’ family tree, if we push ourselves to look for interesting details, we are able to find them – even in these boring lists of names.
For instance, if we push ourselves while reading Matthew’s version of Jesus’ genealogy, we might be surprised when we see a number of Old Testament women show up. Matthew includes Tamar, who was Judah’s wife (v. 3); Rahab, who was the wife of Salmon and who may have possibly even been the same Rahab who helped the spies in Jericho (v. 5a); Ruth was the wife of Boaz (v. 5b); Bathsheba was originally Uriah’s wife but then became David’s wife after Uriah’s death (v. 6); and last but far from least, Mary was Joseph’s wife and the mother of Jesus.
The interesting thing about these women comes when we ask ourselves the question: Why did Matthew include these women in a type of list that was usually limited to males?
Some of these women were born Jewish, while others left their own people and joined the nation of Israel. Each of these women lived in different time periods, and each woman came from a different background and a different social class. But with all this uniqueness, is there something that unifies all these women’s stories?
When I stop and think about it, one big unifying factor is that each of these women (except for Mary) was not in their first relationship:
Judah and Tamar’s story is far from ideal – or even within the realm of God’s original plan (Genesis 38).
If the Rahab that is included in this list is the same Rahab that helped the spies, then she becomes the only person (plus some members of her family) who was spared from Jericho when the Israelites entered the Promised Land. She was a prostitute, and also would have had a less than ideal past. (Joshua 6:22-25)
Ruth, who was Boaz’s wife, did not start with that as her first marriage. She was first married to one of Naomi’s sons while Naomi was living outside of Israel, and she was the only daughter-in-law who returned with Naomi when she came back. Her marriage to Boaz was a second marriage, and her story is one that emphasizes the woman pursuing the man. (The short book of Ruth includes her story.)
Bathsheba started out as Uriah’s wife, that is, until David took a liking to her. This was one of the biggest failures in David’s entire life, and one that God called him out on. (2 Samuel 11)
Mary, Jesus’ mother, had the opposite issue. Everything appeared as though she became pregnant because she was unfaithful to Joseph, and while Joseph understood after the visit from an angel, the situation still didn’t look good to those who were close to this young couple.
All these women, and the men they are connected with, had less than ideal circumstances. They all had had relationships with men prior to their relationships with the men that they were connected with (except Mary), and for some reason, Matthew chose to include them in his genealogy for Jesus.
However, even more amazing is this: God took these four women with non-ideal pasts, and He draws them into His story, and into key places within Jesus’ family tree. This tells us that God redeems sinners, and that even with our failures, He still has a place for us in His story!
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
Subscribe to this blog and never miss an insight.