December 3
Scandalous begetting
Matthew 1:5-6
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.
Evidently, Matthew had access to a lot of material from which to compile the genealogy of Jesus. It remains an amazing accomplishment to cram thousands of years of human and redemption history into the first seventeen verses of the New Testament. The evidence demonstrates clearly that, while he gave himself limited space to cover it, he was extremely focused on his goals for using the genealogy in the first place.
Mark begins his Gospel account with John the Batist in action in the shallows of the Jordan River, and his Backstory about Jesus was a two-verse prophecy from Isaiah. John waxes warm with prose worthy of the opening lines of Genesis and then quickly gets to the action on the banks of the Jordan River like Mark did.
Luke, who has a full narrative of the events and people in the story of the birth of Jesus, also has a genealogy included, Luke 3:23-38. However, his genealogy is quite different, it includes some different characters, but lacks the beauty and symmetry of Matthew’s, and seeks to prove that Jesus is the son of God.
Brother Matthew’s curated his, carefully selecting elements of the genealogy that fitted the story he was planning on telling, and that contributed to the literary symmetry he was constructing. It therefore ends with this affirmation, “So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.” Matthew 1:17.
For Jewish people of that time a man’s genealogical record would sometimes have some explanatory notes, this feature could be seen if we took the time to review some of the many genealogies that appear throughout the Old Testament, for example, Genesis 5:1, 10:1, 11:27, and I Chronicles 1-9, Ezra 2 & 8.
The purity of your lineage was all important to these Jews, there should be no foreign blood mixed in, and if, perchance, there was foreign blood identified the person whose genealogy was being examined could face consequences, including, sometimes, being put in a place where they are no longer considered to be a fit and proper Jew.
A priest, for example, needed to have his lineage stretch all the way back to Aaron, and his wife must be able to show her genealogy stretching back for at least five generations. Look at what Ezra did when he was reorganizing worship after the exiles had returned from captivity in Babylon, the children of Habaiah, Koz and Barzillai were barred from serving because their genealogical records could not be found, Ezra 2:62.
With this in mind, here comes the scandal of the family of Jesus. Matthew, careful as he was, includes women in this genealogy. Matthew includes these women at a time in history when socially, politically, religiously, and culturally, women had no legal rights. Often at that time a woman was hardly even regarded as a person.
But not only did Matthew include women, the women he included were not like the blessed virgin Mary, these women who were included were some of the most colourful characters of the Old Testament.
Rahab a whore from Jericho, Joshua 2:1-7. Ruth was a Moabite, a foreign woman, Ruth 1:4. (check Deuteronomy 23:3,4 to see what the law says about Moabites) Tamar was a seducer and an adulteress, her story is told in Genesis 38. And then there is the gorgeous Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, the woman who was Uriah’s wife and who was the woman seduced by David.
Today, Bathsheba, as a woman, would be able to accuse David of sexual harassment, misconduct, and abuse of power and office. He would have been humiliated in the court of public opinion and would have to leave the throne in disgrace. But, we are talking about thousands of years ago.
Think on these things:
- Are there any secrets and scandals that your family tries to hide?
- Do you carry any fears about your family’s scandals or your own secrets ever coming out?
- Is there anyone in your family to whom you should reach out and help then get included again?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today for our family, especially the older generations who might still need to get to know Jesus.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex
