The birth of Jesus was
irregular: his parents were unmarried when he was conceived. This
was an obstacle if Jesus was to be accepted as the
Messiah. Matthew's gospel shows that several women in Jesus'
lineage had questionable backgrounds, but were essential to God's plan.
Why
are women listed among the ancestors of Jesus?
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. Matthew, for example, made it clear that Joseph was not
the father of Mary's unborn child.
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 2:41) is designed to show that, had he been given the chance, Jesus could have shone in the Temple schools. But he had not attended any of the colleges/schoo
ls attached at that time to the Jerusalem Temple, and his early education must have come from an obscure provincial rabbi.
-
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.
Cleverly, Matthew does not try to hide the doubts surrounding Jesus' birth.
Instead, he subtly presents them as a plus by tying Mary's irregular pregnancy
and Jesus' ancestry in with Jewish heroines whose own ancestry was irregular.
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. So, respectable or not, she was an
essential element in the unfolding of God's plan. For some information on her
story see RAHAB
OF JERICHO
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. So, respectable or not, she was an
essential element in the unfolding of God's plan. 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:
-
Great heroes, people who furthered God's plan (like Jesus of Nazareth) were not necessarily from high-born priestly families
-
God had a plan that was not apparent to people at the time
-
The presence of certain women in the ancestry of Jesus gave legitimacy to doubtful events surrounding Jesus' birth and Mary's marriage status
Taken separately,
Matthew was saying that certain features of the stories of these women
could be seen in the life of Jesus: -
Tamar: her dogged determination to have justice done, even when it meant her life was threatened
-
Rahab: an unlikely heroine from a low rung of the social ladder, who nevertheless helped in the quest for a Promised Land
-
Ruth: a woman who was not even Jewish, as Jesus was not a Judahite but a Galilean, she was the grandmother of King David
Custom Search
What the Gospel says Matthew 1:1-17
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'adab the father of Nahshon,
and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon
the father of Bo'az by Rahab, and Bo'az 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 Uri'ah, 7 and
Solomon the father of Rehobo'am, and Rehobo'am the father of Abi'jah,
and Abi'jah the father of Asa, 8 and Asa
the father of Jehosh'aphat, and Jehosh'aphat the father of Joram, and
Joram the father of Uzzi'ah, 9 and Uzzi'ah
the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father
of Hezeki'ah, 10 and Hezeki'ah the father
of Manas'seh, and Manas'seh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of
Josi'ah, 11 and Josi'ah the father of
Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. 12
And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoni'ah was the father of
She-al'ti-el, and She-al'ti-el the father of Zerub'babel, 13
and Zerub'babel the father of Abi'ud, and Abi'ud the father of Eli'akim,
and Eli'akim the father of Azor, 14 and
Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the
father of Eli'ud, 15 and Eli'ud the father
of Elea'zar, and Elea'zar 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.