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1 Chapter 1 : Jesusâ Female Ancestors Times & Seasons In,The Female Ancestors of Christ, Dr. Ulanov not only explores the Biblical stories of the lives of Tamar, Rehab, Ruth, Bethsheba, and Mary but she brings to life their importance in the 'making' of the Christ. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates. I read not, that ever any man did give unto Christ so much as one small coin, but the women followed Him, and ministered to Him of their substance. It was a woman that washed His feet with tears, and a woman that anointed His body to the burial. They were women that wept when He was going to the cross; and women that followed Him from the cross, and that sat by His sepulcher when He was buried. They were women that were first with Him at His resurrection morn; and women that brought tidings first to His disciples, that He was risen from the dead. Women, therefore, are highly favored. Their lives span the Bible from Genesis to Matthew. Four were probably Gentiles, brought into the commonwealth of Israel, while the last was definitely Jewish-born. Some had bad reputations before turning around, and some were virtuous. Most importantly, they speak today to every person who desires to bring forth fruit unto eternal life. In this genealogy, many men are listed, but only five women. But why would any women be mentioned at all, especially any of Gentile origin, in a paternalistic Jewish genealogy? God must have hidden something there for us to uncover. Tamar Tamar is mentioned in Matthew 1: She seems to have understood that the firstborn is essential, that he has pre-eminence over all others. Judah took Tamar, presumably a Canaanite also, as a wife for Er. After Er died in judgment for his wickedness, Onan was commanded to take Tamar as a wife to raise seed to the firstborn first mention of this policy later put into the Law of Moses. She veiled her true identity and disguised herself as a prostitute. Judah was deceived and went in unto her. God granted her conception with not one but two boys. When the twins were born, Zerah started to come out first and a scarlet thread was tied to his wrist, but he pulled his hand back in and Pharez came out first. Meanwhile, Shelah married someone else and called his firstborn Er 1 Chr. God further chose Pharez as the one through whom Christ came, who is the firstborn among many brethren Rom. She veiled who she was, humbling herself greatly, in order to preserve a lineage which would eventually open the way for all to gain eternal life. Similarly, Christ veiled His glory and humbled Himself greatly in order to produce a heavenly line, heirs of God and joint heirs with Him. Let us not be afraid to humble ourselves before men and put our trust in Him. Her story is found in Joshua 2 and 6. Her lifestyle perverted the image of the beautiful marriage relationship God designed as a reflection of His relationship with His people. Taking an opportunity God must have given her, she saved two Israelite spies from her king, an act of treason. Considering the curse of God Josh. For that trust she is catalogued with the examples of faith in Hebrews 11, and is on equal footing with Abraham himself in James 2. She typifies the way one brings forth fruit unto God by trusting in the Word of God. She gives hope to the worst of sinners, for her sinful past was wiped away. Her story, in the Book of Ruth, is contemporary with the first half of the Book of Judges. This faithful, obedient, satisfied woman lived during that time of strife and bloodshed. She was a Moabitess, cursed as one who would never enter into the congregation of the Lord even to the tenth generation â perhaps as many as years Dt. Yet she was graciously brought in by her allegiance to her mother-in-law Ruth 1: Boaz, a mighty man and apparently much older Ruth 3: This included taking Ruth as his wife. We can be like Ruth, for we, too, have a kinsman redeemer like Boaz â the Lord Jesus Christ, who purchased us with His own blood to raise us up to an inheritance undefiled, and that shall never fade away. We can be satisfied in Jesus, for God is satisfied as well. Her story is sad, yet it presents to us the tremendous grace of God. It unfolds in 2 Samuel He arose from his bed in the evening and walked out on the roof, from where he saw a very beautiful woman washing herself. David sent for her, and they apparently came together willingly. Bathsheba became pregnant by David. David thought that Uriah would surely take advantage of being home to engage with his wife. David, seeing his plan foiled, sent Joab a letter by Uriah, carrying his death sentence. As arranged, Uriah died in battle, and word was sent to David. Clearly God held David responsible for this sin. No responsibility was laid on either Bathsheba or Uriah. Mary Perhaps the only Jewish woman in our list Mt. The great promise to the Serpent in the garden, that the seed of the woman would bruise his head, was fulfilled Page 1

2 through her. The great promise to the house of David, that a virgin would conceive and bring forth a son, was fulfilled in her Isa. Thus she was highly favored, the Lord was with her, and she was blessed Lk. She hid many things in her heart, considering them to be of God, and meditated on them Lk. She was at the cross Jn. So Mary was a very thoughtful, understanding, and consistent woman. More importantly, if Mary, as a sinner in need of a savior Lk. Tamar speaks of the fervent desire to bring forth fruit unto God. Rahab speaks of the way to bring forth fruit by faith in His promises. Ruth speaks of enjoying this good fruit. Bathsheba speaks of being careful not to lose the enjoyment of this fruit. Mary speaks of the perfection of this fruit unto God. Surely He is a God of grace and mercy, as these five notable women of the genealogy of Jesus Christ display. By Tom Steere With permission to publish by: Page 2

3 Chapter 2 : Download [PDF] The Female Ancestors Of Christ Free Online New Books in Politics Female Ancestors of Christ by Ann Belford Ulanov The spiritual power of the Feminine shines forth in this psychological study of four Old Testament heroines from Jesus' family tree. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba are the only women mentioned by name in the Gospels' genealogies and, for Ann Belford Ulanov, this indicates that they impart. The birth of Jesus was irregular: This was an obstacle if Jesus was to be accepted as the Messiah. Why mention women ancestors? When Matthew wrote the opening chapters of his gospel, he was setting the scene. He was about to describe the birth of Jesus, and this posed a problem, especially for conservative Jews. Joseph and Mary were not legally married at the time Jesus was conceived - betrothed but not married. This fact was apparently well-known at the time the gospels were written. To conservative Jews, this made Jesus unacceptable on three counts: He was from a poor, unfashionable area, not from Jerusalem, the religious centre, or even from Judah, but from provincial Galilee, which many Jews considered to be not truly Jewish anyway. Galileans were comparatively recent converts Judaism, and they had converted under duress. Compared to the rabbinic class, Jesus was poorly educated. The story of the finding of Jesus in the Temple Luke 2: Worst of all, Jesus seemed to be illegitimate. There was some shadow over his birth, and lineage and descent were extremely important to Jews in 1st century Israel. The first of these was Tamar, daughter-in-law of Judah, whose husband practised a form of birth control that prevented her becoming pregnant. She resorted to seducing her father-in-law Judah so that she could conceive. Her story shows that irregular unions had been part of the Jewish ancestry. For her full story, with Bible text, see Tamar and Judah The second woman named in the genealogy was Rahab, who reputedly helped Joshua capture the city of Jericho. She is always called Rahab the Prostitut e, but she may have simply been an inn-keeper in a sleazy part of town. Whatever she was, prostitute or inn-keeper, she was not someone you would call respectable - and yet the city of Jericho might not have fallen without her help, and the whole invasion of the Canaanite states later Israel would have been impeded. For some information on her story see Rahab of Jericho The third woman was Ruth who, God help us, was not even Jewish but a Moabite, and thus a foreigner from an enemy nation. Despite this she became the grandmother of King David, the great Jewish hero. The story of her loyalty to Naomi her mother-in-law is often quoted as the ideal family relationship. For her full story, with Bible text, see a Bible love story: Ruth and Boaz The fourth woman was Bathsheba, the mother of King Solomon and thus eventually Queen Mother, which meant she was the most powerful woman in the country at the time Israel was at its zenith. For the full story of this shrewd and beautiful woman, with Bible text, see Bathsheba and her son Solomon Summary Taken together, Matthew was making the following points: Page 3

4 Chapter 3 : Special Christian Ed: "Women in the Genealogy of Christ" - Clen-Moore Presbyterian Church What the Gospel says. Matthew 1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Ammin'adab, and Ammin. Because of that, this is a portion of Scripture that we tend to overlook. The structure is simple: But even that may not help you because some of the names in Matthew 1 are completely unknown to usâ particularly the ones in the last few verses. Since most of these men lived in the intertestamental period, we know nothing about them except their names. That strange word has given rise to many strange interpretations. One day a little boy came home from Sunday School excited about his lesson. The Jews routinely paid close attention to questions of genealogy. For instance, whenever land was bought or sold, the genealogical records were consulted to insure that land belonging to one tribe was not being sold to members of another tribeâ and thus destroying the integrity of the ancient tribal boundaries. You also had to prove that your ancestors came from the same tribe. Genealogy was also crucial in determining the priesthood. The law specified that the priests must come from the tribe of Levi. Genealogy also helped determine the line of heirship to the throne. That helps explain why Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7 contain lengthy listings of the various people returning from captivity. As the Jews re-established themselves in Israel, it was crucial that they know which families had historically held which positions in the nation. But that same principle applies directly to the Christmas story. But the only way you could be sure about your ancestral hometown was to know your genealogy. Which is why Mary and Joseph had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem in the ninth month of her pregnancy. Although it was important years ago, what relevance does it have today? Let me suggest three answers to that question. It establishes Jesus as part of the royal family of David. This is no doubt the central purpose of Matthew 1: To a skeptical Jewish reader, no question would be more central in his mind. How would the people know who to believe? We can see the same principle at work in the recent controversy concerning Prince Charles and Princess Diana. This week Buckingham Palace announced that they were separatingâ a prelude to a possible divorce. Beyond the personal tragedy involved lies a much greater constitutional crisis for the royal family. Because the sovereign is also the head of the Church of England, no divorced person may sit on the throne. When Queen Elizabeth steps down, who will take her place? Who is next in line? Genealogy gives the answer. The oldest child of Charles and Diana would be second in line, their second son would be third in line. But the monarchy itself has been called into question by this crisis. The rulers of England must come from the house of Windsor, and those rulers are determined strictly by genealogy. The same is true for Jesus Christ. It demonstrates that Jesus Christ had historical roots. That is, when God had perfectly prepared every detail of history, he sent his Son into the world. The now-extinct religions of Greece and Rome held out hope that a deliverer would come from heaven. The Jews themselves knew that the Messiah would come according to the prophecies. The Persians studied the heavens and knew the time was at hand. There was a desire, a hope, a yearning, a deep feeling throbbing in the heart of humanity that someone must appear who would radically change the world. And into that expectant world God sent his Son. At just the right time. In just the right way. Matthew 1 is telling us that Jesus Christ had roots. He had a family tree. Jesus had a human family. He had a mother and a father and a history. No, he was a real person born into a real family. With that meager information, he began to put the story together. Across the generations, a few syllables of the original African language had been repeated. He went from one linguist to another, repeating those few syllables, asking if they knew what language they came from. No one seemed to know, until one day he met someone who identified the words as belonging to a tribal language from the small West African country of Gambia. When he went to that area, he found the name Kinte in the breeding records of a family that had owned slaves a century and a half earlier. Eventually Alex Haley made the trip to Gambia. There he visited tribe after tribe, listening to the tribal historians tell their stories. These were old men who had memorized hundreds of years of birth, death, marriage and war. One day he sat for hours listening as a man told the story of his tribe. They had Page 4

5 so-many children and lived so-many years. They had a son. In such-and-such a year he was taken away and never seen again. The year was My family came from somewhere. He had a history. He had a family. He came from somewhere. But of the ones we know about, nearly all of them had notable moral failures on their spiritual resumes. For instance, Abraham lied about his wife Sarah. Isaac did the same thing. Jacob was a cheater, Judah a fornicator. David was an adulterer and Solomon was a polygamist. Manasseh was the most evil king Israel ever had. And on and on we could go. This is not a list of plaster saints. The best of these men had flaws and some were so flawed that it is impossible to see their good points. How does that show the grace of God? A murderer is on the list, a fornicator is on the list, an adulterer is on the list, a liar is on the list, a deceiver is on the list. Most of these men were very great sinners. Four Unusual Women That brings me to my second major observation about this list: It includes four women. They just traced the family tree from father to son. They are Tamar 3, Rahab 5, Ruth 5, Bathsheba 6. All of them are very unlikely people. With the exception of Ruth, none possessed an exemplary character. Tamar Her storyâ unknown to most of usâ is found in Genesis Tamar was the daughter-in-law of Judah who was the son of Jacob, grandson of Abraham. All you need to know is that Judah had a son named Er who married a Gentile woman named â Tamar. Er died and his brother Onan rose up to do his brotherly duty by marrying Tamar. But he, too, suddenly died, leaving Tamar both husbandless and childlessâ a kind of twin curse in those days. So because she was impatient and unwilling to wait for God to supply her need, she hatched a scheme to cause her father-in-law Judah to sleep with her. Her plan was simple: Dressing up as a shrine prostitute, she seduced Judah into sleeping with her, whereupon she became pregnant and gave birth to twin boysâ Perez and Zerah. But what she did was evil, wrong and immoral. The story of her encounter with Judah is a story of human frailty and weaknessâ of the sinfulness of human flesh. That people like Judah and Tamar would be included in the line of the Messiah sends a strong message about the pure grace of God. Neither one deserved it, but both are on the list. Rahab We pass now to the second woman on the listâ Rahab. Most of us know more about her. In fact, she is almost always mentioned by a certain phrase in the Bible, a phrase most of us know by heart: Rahab was also a Canaaniteâ who were the hated enemies of Israel. Page 5

6 Chapter 4 : The Women in the Genealogy of Christ Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Los Angeles The female ancestors of Christ. [Ann Belford Ulanov] -- The spiritual power of the feminine shines forth in this psychological study of four Old Testament heroines from Jesus' family tree. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba are the only women mentioned by. He had given Adam dominion over all the earth. Traditionally, this phrase has come to be interpreted as meaning a servant or helper, suggesting that Eve was inferior to Adam. However, a closer look at the phrase as it is written in the original Hebrew Bible casts new light on the very nature and calling of women. Ezer is most often used in the Bible in reference to a king, an army, or even to God Himself. Thus the word connotes superior benevolence or godly help from above, not inferiority or servitude. Woman is meant to be a benefactor, a rescuer, and a savior. In fact, the authors of Eve and Adam: The women who are identified in the Bible as direct ancestors of Jesus Christ are ezers as well. Each demonstrated courage, intelligence, and valor as she took charge of her life. Here are just a few of them. She possessed many heroic qualities that added to His heritage. When Eve reached for the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and then shared the fruit with Adam, she did so as an ezer, not as a temptress or as a sinner. This was a reason for celebration. Becoming more like God should be seen as a step up in existence, not a fall downward. In fact, she was the first to transgress the law that brought mortality into this world. But through the atoning sacrifice of her perfect descendant, Jesus Christ, she will be redeemed. Because of her choices, we are all given the chance to progress and become more like God. Described as a harlot living in the worldly crossroads city of Jericho, she nevertheless felt the Spirit of God when she met the Israelite spies who were sent by Joshua to scout the Promised Land. Shortly after meeting them, she bore a fervent testimony that may have come from the light of Christ that dwells within each of us: Although the spies had been warned to make no covenants with the residents of Jericho Deut 7: Rahab was literally an ezer, saving the lives of the men of God by hiding them on her rooftop and rescuing her own family from destruction by sharing her faith with them. Rahab provides a powerful example of risk taking, sacrifice, promise, and redemption. Some people are hardened by sin, others are humbled and softened when they finally recognize it in themselves. This humility makes them open to the influence of the Spirit. Even when the Israelite spies expressed distrust, she was not offended. She persevered to get what she desiredâ safety in this life and redemption in the next. The scarlet line the men gave her suggests the scarlet blood of Christ and the lifeline He provides. Rahab accepted this scarlet thread, and in so doing, she would become an ancestor of Jesus Christ through her marriage to Salmon. She remained with the community of the Israelites for the rest of her life. Her son Boaz would be the great-grandfather of King David, and the husband of another fascinating ancestor of Jesus: Through Ruth, an entire people that had been cut off from the Abrahamic covenant would be restored to the ancestral lineage of Jesus Christ. Ruth risked more than homesickness when she chose to accompany her mother-in-law, Naomi, to Bethlehem. As a Moabite, she knew the Israelites harbored a particular resentment toward her people. Moab had been the son of Lot and his own daughter, born as the result of an incestuous relationship that was abhorrent to the Israelites Gen Ruth could expect more resentment than friendship as she made her way toward Bethlehem, and this makes her loyalty toward Naomi that much more poignant. Nevertheless, the sting of that resentment would be soothed by the healing balm of kindness expressed by nearly every character in this story. Ruth sought grace as she went into the fields to glean, and she found that grace in Boaz, who had heard of the kindness Ruth had shown to Naomi. Again and again the word is used, wiping away sorrow, wiping away hurt, wiping away sin. Like the story of Rahab, the story of Ruth is also a story of redemptionâ the redemption of an entire people. The Moabites had been scorned by the Israelites and cut off from the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant, but through the marriage of Ruth and Boaz, Moab would be reabsorbed into the larger family of the Israelites. Three generations later, the Moabites, who had once refused to sell water and bread to the Israelites, would provide safe haven for the parents of King David 1 Sam She too was an ezer. These strong women provided examples that would influence the life of the Savior of the world by influencing the woman who bore him. Mary did not raise Jesus entirely by herself; she had the wisdom of the matriarchs to help her. The women Page 6

7 who form the maternal lineage of Jesus Christ were ezerim kenegdoâ rescuers and saviors who made wise choices that helped guide their posterity toward righteousness. Available now at Deseret Book and deseretbook. Page 7

8 Chapter 5 : Women in Jesus' Genealogy - The Good Book Blog It has become quite popular in America, especially in the last ten or fifteen years, to search out one's rootsâ genealogyâ and to take it back as far as one can, with the information that is still available. You can read the rest of our Christmas Bible study posts here. So with all these lively happenings, it makes you wonder: You can read them all in Matthew 1: Matthew is very intentional as he lists out 42 men father by father; he even skips over a few men like Joash and Amaziah. But Matthew goes out of his way to include five women in this timelineâ Mary, plus four other women you might not expect. Long and rather disturbing story short: Tamar disguises herself as a prostitute, sleeps with her father-in-law, and has twins. One of these twins, Perez, is the ancestor of Salmon, who married the next woman in this genealogy. Rahab is better known by her occupation: But all that changed when the nation of Israel moved to the Promised Land. Check out what she said to the two spies sent to Jericho: Rahab turns her life around, joins Israel and has a son by an Israelite man. That son grows up and becomes very important to the next lady in this lineup. But we know how the story ends: Which brings us to Bathsheba, the woman with whom David committed adultery in 2 Samuel I used it to access all this information about these women within a few secondsâ it rocks! Many of these women represent what might be the genealogical plot twist. But God kept his promises to Abraham and David: Messiah came through their lines. And this principle extends beyond the women in this list: Judah, David, Solomon, Manasseh, Amonâ these men have plenty of biblically documented mistakes, too. Right from the get-go, Jesus is identified with us. Merry Christmasâ our God is good! Page 8

9 Chapter 6 : Three Women Ancestors of Christ Who Saved Their People LDS Living THE FEMALE ANCESTORS OF CHRIST Download The Female Ancestors Of Christ ebook PDF or Read Online books in PDF, EPUB, and Mobi Format. Click Download or Read Online button to THE FEMALE ANCESTORS OF CHRIST book pdf for free now. The holy fathers of the Orthodox Church state that both accounts are true. The offspring, therefore, belonged by nature to the second, that is, to him that begat it, but by law to the dead. Panther begat Barpanther, so called. This Barpanther begat Joachim: Joachim begat the holy Mother of God. And of the line of Solomon, the son of David, Mathan had a wife of whom he begat Jacob. Then Heli of the tribe of Nathan died childless, and Jacob his brother, of the tribe of Solomon, took his wife and raised up seed to his brother and begat Joseph. Joseph, therefore, is by nature the son of Jacob, of the line of Solomon, but by law he is the son of Heli of the line of Nathan. Brown says the genealogies "tell us nothing certain about his grandparents or his great-grand-parents". The pre-exilic series Levi, Simeon, Judah, Joseph consists of the names of tribal patriarchs, far more common after the exile than before, while the name Mattathias and its variants begin at least three suspiciously similar segments. Augustine, for example, attempted on several occasions to refute every criticism, not only because the Manichaeans in his day were using the differences to attack Christianity, [35] but also because he himself had seen them in his youth as cause for doubting the veracity of the Gospels. At the end of the same letter, Africanus adds: After the death of Matthan, Melki [must be: Matthat], a descendant of Nathan, begat Heli by the same woman. Therefore, Heli and Jacob must be uterine brothers. So, we can say that Joseph was the son of them both â Eusebius of Cesarea. The History of the Church, 1,7 This error, however, is uncritical: The explanation offered by Africanus is correct, though he confused Melki with Matthat. The genealogy in Matthew lists births according to the flesh; the one in Luke is according to the Law. It must be added that the levirate links between the two genealogies are found not only at the end, but also in the beginning. This conclusion is obvious because both genealogies intersect in the middle at Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel see Mt 1: Nathan was the older brother; Solomon was younger, next in line after him see 2 Sam 5: The Old Testament is silent on whether Nathan had children, so we may very well conclude that he had none. Solomon, however, had much capacity for love: If this is so, Mattatha is the son of Solomon according to the flesh and the son of Nathan according to the Law. In light of the above-mentioned circumstances, the differences between the two genealogies no longer present a problem. Torrey, the reason Mary is not implicitly mentioned by name is because the ancient Hebrews never permitted the name of a woman to enter the genealogical tables, but inserted her husband as the son of him who was, in reality, but his father-in-law. It has been suggested that Eli is short for Eliakim, [46] which in the Old Testament is an alternate name of Jehoiakim, [56] for whom Joachim is named. The theory neatly accounts for the genealogical divergence. It is consistent with the early tradition ascribing a Davidic ancestry to Mary. Modern scholars discount this approach: Brown called it a "pious deduction"; and Joachim Gnilka "the desperation of embarrassment". It does not accept maternal ancestry as applying to lineage claims, which go through the father alone. See on this the discussion in the section "Legal inheritance," below, and the footnote reference provided on this subject there. Maternal ancestry in Matthew[ edit ] A minority view holds that while Luke gives the genealogy of Joseph, Matthew gives the genealogy of Mary. A few ancient authorities seem to offer this interpretation. Blair sees the various extant versions as the predictable result of copyists repeatedly attempting to correct an apparent mistake. For she was a woman, of the race of David, born to Anne her mother and Joachim her father, who was son of Panther. Panther and Melchi were brothers, sons of Levi, of the stock of Nathan, whose father was David of the tribe of Judah. Each of these texts then goes on to describe, just as in Julius Africanus but omitting the name of Estha, how Melchi was related to Joseph through a levirate marriage. Page 9

10 Chapter 7 : 4 Unlikely Grandmothers in Jesusâ Family Tree Faithlife Women Matthew included five women in his genealogy of Christ. This is notable since it was not customary for Jews to include women in their records. Even more remarkable is the fact that Matthew included some women who had disreputable histories. In fact, it even seems to highlight several rather shady characters. And they are women. There are five women in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. And what does their presence imply? The list begins prestigiously enough with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But then the genealogy begins to falter. Wait a minute, what is Tamar doing here? Judah, fearing for the life of his third son since the Lord had struck the other two dead, delayed giving him to Tamar. So she took matters into her own hands. Much of what follows is difficult for the modern reader to understand. She wanted a Judah offspringâ Shelah was preferable, but denied that, she would have a child through the tribal chief himself Gen. He soundly condemns Tamar when her pregnancy is revealed, and even intends to have her burned to death in a shocking case of a double standard. Finally, we see some good action from Judah when he acknowledges his paternity and proclaims that she is more righteous than he is Gen. He was seeking an irresponsible sexual encounter; she was seeking to responsibly protect her future and even his, by providing a child who would live and produce offspring. She was indeed more righteous than he. In a culture when women had few rights, Tamar thoughtfully invested in the future Gen. The Lion of the tribe of Judah needed this determined woman to form his earthly genealogy. A second surprising inclusion is Rahab. Rahab clearly was a prostitute, and a Gentile, living in Jericho Josh. Despite her occupation, she seems to be a woman with kindness in her. She provides financially for her parents and siblings and she is quite willing to hide the Israelite spies who have come to search out a way to attack and defeat Jericho. She has a compassionate heart and hides the spies on her roof. Rahab wants a way out of the life she is living. She believes that the people of God will take her city because the fear of the Lord and what he is doing has fallen on her and the people in her land. She has heard the stories of how the Israelites came out of Egypt and how the Red Sea dried up to allow them passage across. She realizes that Jericho is the gate to Canaan and she wants to survive the attack she knows is coming. She, like Tamar, has cords that signify belonging. It happened as planned. Later, Rahab marries Salmon, a Jew whom tradition says was one of the spies she hid. They have a son, Boaz, who grows up to become a righteous and godly man Ruth 2: In fact, the highest words of praise are spoken by Boaz in identifying her as a woman of virtue, a woman of noble character Ruth 3: And little did Naomi and Ruth know, but this tiny son of theirs would be grandfather to King David Ruth 4: She married David, but she did not properly belong to him. He instigated the adultery with the beautiful wife of one of his finest generals. Later, to protect himself, David has General Uriah placed in battle where he is sure to be killed. The story is full of death, for the child from the adulterous union dies, too. And God grants a son, Solomon, to him and his now legitimate wife, Bathsheba. And through Solomon, the line to the Messiah flowed. The fifth and final woman in the genealogy is Mary, officially married to Joseph, and mother of Jesus who is called the Christ Matt. Mary is Jewish, Mary is a virgin to whom no taint of sexual scandal had come. Mary is a devout believer in Yahweh. To him she entrusts herself: When the angel tells her she will be pregnant by the Holy Spirit, she believes Luke 1: Where did this slip of a girl, just recently come into womanhood, get this kind of faith and trust? She comprehended in an instant, what generations of Jewish women had never understood: And so the genealogy concludes. Five women are included, mostly poor, mostly misfits, widows, unimportant, unknown, sinful women who changed the course of history by their simple, obedient lives. And except for Ruth and Mary, they had tarnished sexual histories. They were ordinary women, trying to get life right, but missing the goal. In other words, they were women just like us: He came from a lineage of sinners to save sinners. But He remained sinless. He offers to give our simple lives great significance as we follow him. Like the women of the genealogy who put their hope in the coming Messiah, following him is worth far more than we will know until eternity. Page 10

11 Chapter 8 : Female Ancestors of Christ Genealogies rarely contain interesting tidbits about our ancestors, especially the more unacceptable ones. But Jesus' genealogy does. In fact, it even seems to highlight several rather shady characters. And they are women. There are five women in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. In a time when. This is notable since it was not customary for Jews to include women in their records. Even more remarkable is the fact that Matthew included some women who had disreputable histories. The five women included were: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. By this marriage, her offspring would continue the name and inheritance of the deceased. Such a union was later called a Leverite marriage Deut God killed him for this. Afterwards, Judah would not give Tamar to any of his other sons. So Tamar disguised herself as a harlot and seduced Judah. Through him, she became the mother of Perez. She hid the spies of Joshua. Because of this, the Israelites spared her life when they conquered Jericho. She later became the wife of Salmon, and the mother of Boaz. She was the widow of a Jew. Her mother-in-law, Naomi, also lived in Moab. Naomi journeyed to Israel after her family died. She left her own country to follow Naomi. Ruth later became the mother of Obed, the grandfather of David the King. She and David had an adulterous affair. When David discovered Bathsheba was pregnant, he tried to cover it up by summoning Uriah home from war, hoping that Uriah would have intercourse with his wife. Uriah came home to Jerusalem, but refused to lay with Bathsheba as long as the armies of Israel were at war. So, David sent Uriah back into battle, with orders that Uriah should be withdrawn from when the fighting became fierce. After Uriah was slain in this manner, David took Bathsheba as his own wife. God punished them for this by killing their first child. Bathsheba later became the mother of Solomon. She was a virgin when Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Joseph was betrothed to Mary when he discovered she was pregnant. He intended to put her away secretly because this was shameful. However, an angel told Joseph what had happened. So Joseph took Mary as his wife, and kept her as a virgin until she gave birth to Jesus. During her pregnancy, Mary spent time with her relative Elizabeth, who was the mother of John the Baptist Luke 1: Mary was not a perpetual virgin, as she later became the mother of other sons and daughters Matthew While on the cross, Jesus committed her to the care of John, his apostle John Page 11

12 Chapter 9 : 5 Women in the Lineage of Christ unfoldedhearts The first chapter of Matthew includes five women in Jesus' genealogy. Why? First, some opening thoughts before we get to the real question: (1) Including women in a genealogy is unusual, but not unique (see Genesis, à â "24, and 1 Chronicles à â "21, ). Introduction 1 We are all familiar with these wonderful words from the pen of the Apostle Paul: The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament, and his genealogy of Jesus Christ is found at the very beginning of this gospel. This means that we have a genealogy here which serves as the introduction to the Book of Matthew, and which also serves as the introduction to the entire New Testament. I have agonized over the introduction of nearly every one of my sermons. I try to tell a story that somehow captures the interest of the audience and prompts them to pay attention to the Scripture text and sermon that will follow. In all of my years of preaching, it has never once occurred to me to use a genealogy as the introduction to one of my messages. Since Matthew and I see things differently, it is surely safe to assume that it is I who have failed here, and not the inspired writer of this magnificent gospel. I must therefore give some careful thought as to why Matthew believes a genealogy makes a good introduction, while I have thought otherwise. In this lesson, I will seek to show why Matthew began his gospel with the genealogy of our Lord. In real life, most of us do believe that genealogies are profitable. If I were to read in the newspaper that a wealthy man named Deffinbaugh had died, and that no heirs had been found, I could get very interested in genealogies. A number of people have gone to considerable effort to trace their own genealogy because they want to know who their ancestors were. There are many reasons for people to be interested in genealogies. Genealogies were especially important to the Jewish people. Later on it was revealed that he must be a descendant of David 2 Samuel 7: When the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity, it was important for these returned exiles to show that their roots were Jewish and could be traced through the genealogies. No one could serve as priest whose name could not be found in the genealogical records Ezra 2: Bruner writes that the famous rabbi Hillel was proud that he could trace his genealogy all the way back to King David. He further indicates that Josephus began his autobiography with his own pedigree. Then there was Herod the Great, who was half-jew and half-edomite. Obviously his name was not in the official genealogies, and thus he ordered that the records be destroyed. The first we immediately encounter in Matthew 1; the second is found later on in Luke 3: It begins with Abraham and goes forward, ending with the Lord Jesus Christ. But these two Gospel genealogies also differ over some of those who are named in the genealogy: This would be all right if we were dealing with the ancestries of two entirely different people, but these are both genealogies of Jesus. James Montgomery Boice outlines the two most likely solutions. The first is that which was posed years ago by J. Reconciliation might conceivably be effected in a number of different ways. But on the whole we are inclined to think that the true key to a solution to the problem â is to be found in the fact that Matthew, in an intentionally incomplete way, gives a list of incumbents actual or potential of the kingly David throne, whereas Luke traces the descent of Joseph back through Nathan to David. Thus the genealogies cannot properly be used to exhibit contradiction between the Matthean and the Lukan accounts of the birth and infancy of our Lord. In my judgment, a better solution involves viewing the two lines as the lines of Joseph and Mary respectively, each thereby identified as a descendant of King Davidâ. I will begin by making an observation from the genealogy in verses, and then I will attempt to draw some conclusions from this observation. More literally from the Greek: When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God Genesis 5: In Genesis 5, Adam has just sinned. God warned Adam that if he they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he they would die Genesis 2: Now, in almost identical words, Matthew introduces his Gospel with the first genealogy of the New Testament. Genealogies almost always contain the record of those who have died. Here is an exciting genealogy indeed! Many of the names in this genealogy are names that we recognize. These are the names of real people, people who lived many years ago, but real people nevertheless. Jesus was a human being as well as divine, a real person, born of a line of real people. It separates those who hold to the truth from those who are heretics: Every spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God 1 John 4: Page 12

13 Here is one of the problems with genealogies â they inform us that some of our forefathers were not such fine people. You and I may find some skeletons in our genealogical closets. Even the best of those listed in this genealogy were far from perfect. We only need to remind ourselves of the lives of these folks. David and Solomon were great men, but they also failed miserably. Abraham first sought to convince God that the son of one of his servants must be his heir Genesis He and Sarah then sought to produce an heir through Hagar, the Egyptian slave Genesis He did this not only with Pharaoh Genesis And when Abimelech rebuked Abraham for his actions, he told Abimelech that he and Sarah did this wherever they went Genesis There are many skeletons in this genealogical closet! The blessings of God on His people had nothing to do with the good works of men, but can only be explained in terms of the mercy and grace of God. The genealogy of our Lord underscores the doctrine of the depravity of man. I like the way Frederick Bruner summarizes this: Matthew includes four women in his genealogy. This is indeed a rare thing, especially for a Jewish genealogy. These women would not generally be regarded as the most noble women of the Old Testament. Three of them were Gentiles by birth, and the fourth â Bathsheba â was a virtual Gentile by her marriage to Uriah the Hittite Matthew 1: These four women are conspicuous by their absence here. Their husbands are all here, and so there was opportunity for Matthew to include the good wives. But Matthew gives the church four new matriarchs, and all of them preach the gospel of the deep and wide mercy of God. God did not begin to stoop into our sordid human story at Christmas only; he was stooping all the way through the Old Testament. But this first genealogy in the New Testament has the surprising office of teaching us that the line that led from Abraham to Jesus, the Son of David, was intersected again and again by gentile blood. Abraham and David are the two Old Testament men with whom God made the most important covenants of all time, so far as the coming Messiah was concerned. The Lord declares to you that he himself will build a house for you. When he sins, I will correct him with the rod of men and with wounds inflicted by human beings. In the first of these covenants, the Abrahamic Covenant, God promises the then childless Abram a son. Through the seed of Abraham, God promised to make a great nation. When a covenant has been ratified, even though it is only a human contract, no one can set it aside or add anything to it. In the second covenant, the Davidic Covenant, God promises David that his dynasty will be eternal. Jesus is the legitimate heir to the throne of David; He is the king of Israel. What He says, He will do. God always finishes what He starts Philippians 1: Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, ends with a prophecy which looks ahead to the coming of Jesus Christ and His forerunner, John the Baptist: Matthew, the first book of the New Testament, begins by looking back to the Old Testament by means of a genealogy. This genealogy informs us that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament. No matter where we turn in the Old Testament, Christ is there. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ 1 Corinthians What an amazing way to start a Gospel â with a great long list of names! But for the Jew that was not surprising at all, as we shall see. It sets Jesus of Nazareth in the context of what God had been doing for his people from the earliest days. It ushers in the theme of fulfilment which is so prominent in this Gospel. He has more Old Testament quotations and allusions than Mark and Luke together. Moreover, since Matthew and only he writes primarily for the Jews, is he not the true leader-in of the New, as well as the obvious link-back with the Old? In his genealogy, however, Matthew shows fulfillment not only of particular passages in the Old Testament but of the Old Testament as a whole. Jesus is the fulfillment of the whole Old Testament story and of all its events taken together in their totality. The point I wish to make here is that Matthew wanted us to view his genealogy as very neat and orderly. Things just seem to get better and better. David, followed by his son Solomon, are as good as it gets in this genealogical sequence. And thus Bruner p. We see this, for example, in the inclusion of the Gentile women in the genealogy. After Solomon the United Kingdom is divided. The northern kings are consistently evil, and the kings of Judah are a mixture of good and bad. The third section is once again ascending. God delivers His people from Babylon and brings a remnant back to the land of Israel. There are dangers and disappointments, but Israel has good cause for hope. Page 13