Jesus’ Genealogy, Part 1
TRANSLATION
(1) The book of the generations of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (2) Abraham was the father of Isaac; and Isaac was the father of Jacob; and Jacob was the father of Judah and his brethren; (3) and Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah of Tamar; and Perez was the father of Hezron; and Hezron was the father of Ram; (4) and Ram was the father of Amminadab; and Amminadab was the father of Nahshon; and Nahshon was the father of Salmon; (5) and Salmon was the father of Boaz of Rahab; and Boaz was the father of Obed of Ruth; and Obed was the father of Jesse; (6) and Jesse was the father of David the king.
OBSERVATIONS
Matthew repeated the phrase, “the son of,” referring to the ancestry of Jesus Christ, twice in the opening verse (vs. 1). In the following verses (vss. 2-7), the author used “was the father of” thirteen times in five verses. In this portion of his genealogy Matthew traced Jesus’ lineage from Abraham to David, two of Israel’s greatest historical figures.
OUTLINE
I. Matthew opened his Gospel with the genealogy of Jesus Christ. (1)
II. Matthew traced Jesus’ genealogy from Abraham to David. (2-6)
IDEA STATEMENT
Jesus’ genealogy leads us back both to Abraham and David, two of Israel’s greatest historical figures.
APPLICATION
Matthew’s chief purpose in opening his Gospel with a genealogy was to establish Jesus’ right to rule on David’s throne. As one who was directly linked to both Abraham and David through his adopted father, Joseph, Jesus could rightfully lay claim to being Israel’s long-awaited Messiah. Three of the five women named in Jesus’ genealogy appeared in these opening verses, namely Tamar (vs. 3), Rahab, and Ruth (both in vs. 5). In the following segment, Matthew also mentioned “the wife of Uriah,” Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba (vs. 6). Much later he named Mary, Jesus’ actual mother. Each of these women apart from Mary was marked by a serious character flaw which should lead us to ask, “Why would such blatantly sinful women be included in the ancestry of Israel’s Messiah?”
Tamar according to Genesis 38 was first the wife of Er, Judah’s firstborn son, whose mother was a Canaanite woman named Shua. Tamar became a widow because Er “was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death.” (Gen. 38:5). Following this Judah gave her to Er’s brother, Onan, his second born son. Of him we read, “And what (Onan) did was wicked in the sight of the Lord (that is, refuse to raise up a family for Er) and he put him to death also” (Gen. 38:10). When Judah balked at giving Tamar to his third son, Shelah, for fear of his dying also, Tamar resorted to trickery to induce her father-in-law to impregnate her so she might bear offspring for Er, namely, Perez and Zerah. Out of this incestuous relationship was born one who would become a direct ancestor of the Messiah (vs. 3). Few chapters in the Bible are as sordid as Genesis 38.
Rahab (vs. 5) was the Canaanite prostitute who protected Israel’s spies in Jericho and subsequently married Salmon (Joshua 2). Ruth, a foreigner from Moab (also vs. 5), married Naomi’s son, Chilion, who died and left her a childless widow (Ruth 1). After returning to Israel with her mother-in-law, she married Salmon’s son, Boaz (Ruth 4), David’s great-grandfather. Finally, Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, for whom David murdered her Hittite husband, became the mother of Solomon (Mt. 1:7).
Not one of these women appears suitable to be part of the messianic line. Tamar was a scheming woman who tricked her father-in-law into sleeping with her so she could have the children Jacob’s sons should have given her. Rahab had worked as a prostitute in Jericho. Ruth was a childless widow, a gentile from Moab. Finally, Bathsheba gave birth to Solomon as the result of her adultery with David. From a line which was marked by sinfulness and shame came the Messiah, the Savior of the world. Embedded in this genealogy were four women whose lives proved that there is no sin too great for God to forgive nor any person too foreign for God to include in the company of those for whom Christ would die.