The Five Women in Matthew's Genealogy of Jesus

During the last two weeks of not writing any blog posts I was still thinking of topics that I

wanted to write for today. I even came up with one in particular that I had settled on and woke up this morning with the goal of doing just that. But as is often the case with my odd brain, I am instead writing on something totally different. 😉

A few hours ago I was reading the genealogy that is found in Matthew 1. I was struck particularly with verse 6b: 

                          "And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah..."

I began wondering what David would have thought if he had known that his great sins of adultery and murder would be recorded forever in the Word of God. I certainly wouldn't want the world to be reminded of my worst sins every time they chose to read Matthew's Gospel.

So this led me to investigate why these details were inserted into the genealogy, and I found some fascinating interpretations as to the inclusion of the 5 women referenced in the list. Here are 3 streams of thought about these women:

From the Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible:

Women are not usually named in Near Eastern genealogies, but they were intrinsic to God's purpose in bringing forth the Christ. The five explicitly named all remind us that God often does the unexpected and chooses the unlikely. Tamar reminds us of Judah's failures (Gen. 38: 6-30); Rahab was a Gentile prostitute (Joshua 2); Ruth was a Moabitess and thus under a special curse (Deut. 23:3-5); Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, was David's downfall (2 Sam 11), Mary, the virgin, not only fulfilled Isaiah 7:14, but also the even more important promise of Genesis 3:15.

From the ESV Study Bible:

The inclusion of five women in Jesus' geneaology -- Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary -- is unusual since descent was usually traced through men as the head of the family. Rahab and Ruth were Gentiles, and Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba were women of questionable character. The lineage is comprised of men, women, adulterers, prostitutes, heroes, and Gentiles -- and Jesus will be Savior of all.

From Matthew Henry's Commentary on Matthew:

There are four women named in this genealogy (not including Mary the mother of Jesus); two of them were originally strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, Rahab a Canaanitess, and a harlot besides, and Ruth the Moabitess; for in Jesus Christ there is neither Greek, nor Jew; those that are strangers and foreigners are welcome, in Christ, to the citizenship of the saints. The other two were adulteresses, Tamar and Bathsheba; which was a further mark of humiliation put upon our Lord Jesus, that not only he descended from such, but that his descent from them is particularly remarked in his genealogy, and no veil drawn over it. He took upon him the likeness of sinful flesh and takes even great sinners, upon their repentance, into the nearest relation to himself. Note, We ought not to upbraid people with the scandals of their ancestors; it is what they cannot help, and has been the lot of the best, even of our Master himself. David’s begetting Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah is taken notice of to show that the crime of David, being repented to, was so far from hindering the promise made to him, that it pleased God by this very woman to fulfill it. 

Candy's thoughts: Wow. So many wonderful words are in these three references. There is much hope for men and women from every background of guilt and shame. No people group will be excluded, and no sad story from our past will be used to deny us entrance into God's family. If He has become our Father through faith in Jesus his Son, then nothing can separate us from his love. 💞