Scandalous

This morning I was a guest at gathering of men who meet once a week to fellowship, read a chapter from the Bible, and pray together. While deciding which chapter to read this morning one of the men joked that they were going to make the oldest member (who's 90 btw) read Matthew 1. Of course, the joke was that it would be funny to hear him (or anyone) try to pronounce all the ancient Hebrew names in the genealogy of Jesus found in that chapter. But that's not to say there's nothing of value in this long list of names.

Matthew's record of the lineage of Jesus is very strategic, though not exhaustive. He intentionally leaves some kings out and structures his account so that there are 3 sets of 14 generations. 14 from Abraham to David; 14 from David to the exile; 14 from the exile to Jesus. Much can be said about this, but what should be made clear is that this was not a mistake or lack of diligent research, but rather a literary device making a case for the royal ancestry of Jesus.

There are interesting technical features to be studied up on, but what has really stood out to me as I've been reading the Christmas story this season is the scandalous women found in the genealogy in Matthew 1! Women were not typically cited in genealogies anyway, let alone the brand of woman that are mentioned here. So, why on does Matthew draw attention to these four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheeba (who, btw, doesn't even get named). What do these women have in common, if anything, and what do they have to do with the Christmas story? Let us consider ...

Tamar - posed as a prostitute and slept with her father in law, Judah, the tribe from which the Messiah would come.

Rahab - a lying gentile prostitute, she lied to the soldiers in Jericho, hid the Hebrew spies and helped them get away. And for this, she and her family were spared. She ended up marrying a Hebrew, Salmon, and having a son named Boaz, which brings us to ...

Ruth - a gentile who stayed in Israel after the death of her husband, and used less than chaste means (though this is debated) to attract and secure a husband, Boaz. In spite of the scandalous origin of this relationship, they bring the grandfather of King David into the world.

"Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife" - I mean really?! There had to be a better way to say that, a less scandalous way to say that! Poor girl doesn't even get named. In fact, the very thing that made her relationship with David scandalous is what is used to describe her: she "had been Uriah's wife." Bathsheeba was taken to be the wife of King David as a result of his lust, adultery, and murder. Hardly the sort of proud family line you want to trace your heritage back to.

So, four scandalous women (though it should be noted, Judah and David were way more scandalous than the women mentioned in association with them) ... but wait, those aren't the only women mentioned in this genealogy ...