Advent 2015
Welcome again to Grace Outpost. Well Christmas season is well underway, it
seems that this year it didn’t even wait for Thanksgiving to come! For some this is the best time of the year,
it brings found memories of gathering as a family and the excitement of
presents. For others this is a deeply
painful time of year that is a reminder of rejection and hurt. For the Christian our minds turn to a
specific part of the Gospel during this time of year and we wholly focus on the
coming of Jesus into the world. Most of
us know the account; even most Non-Christians have a rough idea of the
story. Often when we look at the coming
of Jesus, or what we call the Advent, we generally skip over Matthew
1:1-17. I must admit I too often skip
over the genealogies found in Scripture, it can be tedious, but I have found
the longer I have been a Christian and the deeper I have come to know Scripture
the more I see that there are things to be learned from them.
So today if I can, I want to kick off our look at Advent by beginning
with that often skipped over section of 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 Amminadab, and
Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon
the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the
father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.
And David was the father of Solomon
by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the
father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of
Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of
Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and
Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the
father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to
Babylon.
12 And after the deportation to
Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of
Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of
Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and
Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the
father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of
Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was
born, who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from
Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation
to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the
Christ fourteen generations.
(Matthew
1:1-17 ESV)
There are many things that can be highlighted in this
genealogy, but perhaps the first thing we can notice is that there are five
women who are mentioned. When this was
written it would have been odd to include women in a Jewish genealogy and
though some of these may be familiar to you, they are probably not the women
that immediately jump to mind.
3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the
father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,
5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the
father of Obed by Ruth,
and Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of David the
king.
And David was the father of Solomon
by the wife of Uriah,
16 and Jacob the father of Joseph
the husband of Mary,
of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
So we can see the five women mentioned are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth,
Bathsheba, and Mary. Perhaps you know
the history of each of these women, but I am willing to bet most of you don’t,
or at least only recognize the name, but not why. Let’s look at each woman’s story briefly and
see what it can suggest to us in the context of being included in the genealogy
of Jesus.
The account of Tamar and Judah is found in Genesis 38. Perhaps the first thing you will notice is
that Tamar is not Judah’s wife, she was married to his wicked son Er. As we read on we see that Er died because he
was wicked and Er’s brother Onan did not fulfill his duty as a brother, which
was to give her children and raise them as his brothers children. 38:9 tells us that he did not just refuse,
but he would have sex with her, but would make sure to “pull out” ensuring that
she would not get pregnant. We see as a
result of his wickedness Onan dies as well.
Judah tells Tamar to remain a widow until his last son is grown and then
his son Shelah, but Judah did not give her to Shelah when he was grown as a
wife.
We see that while she is staying at her father’s house as a
widow, she gets word that her father in law who had recently lost his wife was
going to Timnah and he had not kept his word to her. So she traveled and disguised herself as a
prostitute and waited at the entrance to Enaim, which was along the road to
Timnah. When Judah comes along and sees
her, he thinks she is a temple prostitute associate with Canaanite worship and
propositions her. She gets him to leave
his signet, cord, and staff with her as collateral until he can pay her with a
goat as he promised. She knows that
these are three prominent identifying marks of Judah, which are unmistakably
his. He goes on his merry way after
leaving the items with her and she returns home. When Judah sends the goat to her, he finds
out that he has been deceived but he doesn’t know who it was and he dropped the
issue to keep it quiet.
Three months later we find that Judah is informed that Tamar
is pregnant and it happened outside of marriage. Upon finding out, he demands that she be
brought before him and burned for her sin.
When she came to him, she brought his three items and asked him to
identify to whom they belonged. Judah
admits that they are his and acknowledges his failure to up hold his word and
the inheritance rights that were due to Tamar.
He did not punish her and she had twins, one of which was Perez, who
would be of the linage from which the Messiah would come.
5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and
Obed the father of Jesse,
Rahab’s story is found in Joshua 2 in the city of
Jericho. Rahab was a prostitute and the
spies whom Joshua had sent into Jericho for information found themselves hiding
in her home. They likely went there as
an inconspicuous place to find information.
Word reached the king of Jericho and he sent word to Rahab to send the
men to him because they were spies. She
lied and said that she did not know their purpose and she lied saying that the
men had left the city. She hid the men
and helped them to escape. She asked
them to spare her and her household, because she had heard of what the Lord had
done and knew that the city was about to fall.
They promised to spare her and her household, which they did. We read in Joshua 6:25 that Rahab came to
live in Israel.
5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab,
and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,
Now we come to Ruth.
There is an entire book, consisting of 4 chapters, devoted to the story
of Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite from the
land of Moab. She married one of Naomi’s
sons, who were Israelites who had moved to Moab. Naomi husband died and her sons died leaving
only Naomi and her daughter in laws.
Naomi told her daughter in laws, Orpah and Ruth, to go back to their
parents homes because she was going back to Israel and they would have no
inheritance going with her. Ruth refused
to leave her mother in law; she adopted the Israelites as her own people and
God as her God (Ruth 1:16).
So Naomi and Ruth go to Bethlehem, as widows and Ruth as an
outsider. They are scrounging for food
as can be seen by Ruth gleaning from the fields behind the harvesters in Boaz’s
fields. Boaz redeems her and Naomi back into the family of Naomi’s husband by
taking Ruth as his wife.
6 and Jesse the father of David the
king.
And David was the father of Solomon
by the wife of Uriah,
The mention of Bathsheba as the wife of Uriah rather than by
name hints at the scandal of her story.
Her story is found in 2 Samuel 11.
Kind David was strolling about his roof one night and saw Bathsheba
bathing. When he saw her he was enticed
and asked who she was, his advisors told him that she was the wife of Uriah the
Hittite. He told his men to bring her to
him and he slept with her. Shock of all
shocks, she became pregnant and sent word to King David that she was.
David attempts to cover up his affair by recalling Uriah
home, because he was a soldier of David’s out on the battlefield. David planned to have Uriah go home and sleep
with his wife, so that when she had the child he would believe it was his own
child, but Uriah refused to go home to his wife when his fellow soldiers were
still in the field unable to do so. David
having failed to get Uriah to go sleep with his wife, decides that he will get
him killed on the battlefield and he does.
After Bathsheba is done mourning her husband, David takes
her as his wife. After this the prophet
Nathan comes to David and confronts him of his sin and deceit. David repents, but he is told that the child
he conceived with Bathsheba in adultery will die. After the child dies, David and Bathsheba
have another child, Solomon who would one day become King and carry on the
lineage that ultimately would lead to the Messiah.
16 and Jacob the father of Joseph
the husband of Mary,
of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
And the last of the five women mentioned is Mary, the mother
of Jesus. Her story is the most well
known of the five woman. She was chosen
to carry the Messiah and to have a child as a virgin. When she was found to be pregnant her
betrothed, Joseph, almost divorced her and yet God sent an angel to him in a
dream telling him that Mary was carrying the Messiah for which all of Israel
had been waiting.
Each of these women had a stigma to them, something that
would have put firmly in the list of sinner either by society or deed. Mary was seen by those around her to have
conceived a child outside of marriage, Tamar as well would have been seen this
way, Rahab was a prostitute and a foreigner, Ruth was a foreigner, and
Bathsheba had a child with a man who was not her husband (not that she had much
choice, as David was the king). These
are not the typical stories one would highlight in a genealogy and yet that is
precisely what God chose to include in Scripture. In Matthew 1:21 the angel tells Joseph that
Jesus will take away the sins of his people.
21 She will bear a son, and you
shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Of course we know that Jesus takes away the sins of all who
believe, but perhaps this is also referring to his direct lineage. Jesus had Jews and Gentiles in his family
line, kings and foreign-born widows with nothing to their name. In contrast to the kings of the world, Jesus’
lineage included all people from all walks of life. God used imperfect sinners, everyday people
like you and me to bring Jesus into the world through the promises made to
Abraham and David. The people of Israel
were so proud to be children of Abraham, to be children of the covenant and yet
the lineage of the Messiah was Jews and Gentiles. It is a nod to his mission as savior to the
world, to redeem all of mankind to God.
There is much to be seen from the stories of each of the persons
mentioned in the genealogies provided in Matthew and in Luke, and yet the thing
we will likely see the most is that sin is present in each of their
stories. It is the sickness of mankind
that Jesus came to overcome and set us free from.
Each of these women had a theme of redemption in their story
in some way. Perhaps yet another reason
to highlight them and their stories. I
think the biggest thing we can see in their stories is that though by human
terms this drama seems like a mess, (and it is), God works in the midst of it,
weaving his beautiful purpose and letting us be a part of that through our
choices. It is in our daily interactions
and choices that God is working in our lives.
I always seem to find myself waiting for that defining moment to shine
in and accomplish God’s will, but the reality is that it is in our daily living
that we do that. I hope you all have a
blessed week.