Have you ever read the genealogy of Jesus? It is found in the first chapter of Matthew which is the first book of the New Testament. I am not going to list it all here, but I have always found it interesting that four women listed besides Mary, as his mother. Tamar. Rahab. Ruth. The wife of Uriah.
Luke 1:26-33 states that the angel, Gabriel, visited Mary and announced God’s plan to make her the mother of the Messiah. Twice, Gabriel told Mary she was favored by God; so, I am going to go out on a limb and testify that Mary was a “good girl”. I say girl, as most scholars believe Mary to have been 14-16 years of age when she became a mother. Girls reached the age of maturity at their bat mitzvah which was celebrated at the age of 12. Maturity in this sense of the word means developing enough understanding to be responsible for your actions. Boys matured one year later at the age of 13.
It’s not a giant leap to see that this whole scenario was scandalous. Mary was already betrothed to Joseph. Betrothal was a year-long process but from the moment the marriage was agreed up, you WERE married for all practical purposes though you did not live together. We do not know how far into the betrothal Mary and Joseph were when Mary fell pregnant, but we do know as it is mentioned in Luke 2:5 that they were still only betrothed when Jesus was born.
Squirrel! Jesus was not born on December 25th. Shepherds don’t graze their flocks in winter. Additionally, scripture gives us some big hints based upon when John the Baptist was conceived by Elizabeth and Zechariah. CS Lewis Institute explains below:
The Bible doesn’t give us the exact date of Jesus’ birth, however, there are a number of clues that enable us to make an educated guess as to the month of His birth. Luke tells us that God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth to announce the conception of Jesus to the virgin Mary “in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy.”
The conception and birth of John the Baptist by his mother, Elizabeth, provides us with one way of calculating the month of Jesus’ birth. Zechariah, Elizabeth’s husband was performing his once in a lifetime priestly duty in the temple when the birth of John the Baptist was foretold by the angel Gabriel.
Jewish priests were divided into 24 orders which ministered in the temple throughout the year. The order of Abijah, of which Zechariah was a part, was the eighth priestly division (1 Chronicles 24:6-19) and served in the temple during the tenth week of the priestly cycle. The start of the 10th week coincided with the second Sabbath in the Jewish month of Sivan, which runs approximately from mid-May to mid-June. Soon after Zechariah returned from his temple duties Elizabeth became pregnant with John the Baptist.
Therefore, using the biblical
texts above we can guess the month of Jesus’ birth to be around the month of
Tishri (mid to late September). To arrive at this date, we start at the
conception of John the Baptist, Sivan (June), count forward six months to arrive
at Gabriel’s announcement of the conception of Jesus, Kislev (December), then
count forward nine more months, the time for a normal human pregnancy, to reach
Tishri (September), when Jesus was most likely born.
Yet other scholars suggest the month
of Nisan as it signifies redemption and is associated with Exodus and Passover.
There is an extraordinary amount of significance around the month of Nisan. I
will let you go down that rabbit hole all by yourself. Side note…Nisan (March-April)
and Tishri (September-October) are oddly enough both months considered the
first month of the year dependent on which Jewish calendar you are observing
(religious or civil).
Back to my initial point, Mary was favored, i.e. preferred or recommended by God. So, what about the rest of those other chicks listed in family tree of the Messiah? Tamar (Genesis 38). Rahab (Joshua 2). Ruth (Ruth). The wife of Uriah (2 Samuel 11).
Tamar was the daughter-in-law of Judah. Judah is the fourth son of Leah and Jacob. Tamar married Judah’s eldest son, Er. God kills Er because he is wicked. According to custom, the second son which in this case is Onan, is to be a surrogate for his dead brother and impregnate Tamar with a son so the Er’s lineage can continue. In doing so, Tamar is solidified into this family instead of being left alone with nothing. Onan isn’t hip to this plan due to the economics of it all. Hence for constantly spilling his seed on the floor and refusing Tamar a child, God too takes the life of Judah’s second son for wickedness.
Obviously, besides being a terrible brother Judah is not a great father nor is he terribly observant. Judah, not knowing it was God punishing his sons decides Tamar is a black widow. He refuses her his third son but does not declare her a widow leaving Tamar in limbo, both childless and without the ability to remarry. Tamar knows the laws, customs and her rights. She devises a plan to secure her future. She tricks Judah on his way home from a festival into having sex with her, posing a veiled prostitute. I said he wasn’t observant (insert snort laugh here). He offers Tamar his seal, cords and staff as a pledge to pay. Judah does try to pay but SHOCKER the “prostitute” is nowhere to be found when he returns.
Fast forward a bit and rumor has it that Tamar is pregnant. Even though Judah is giving her the runaround with regards to the customs of either securing her place in the family via a surrogate or releasing her as a widow, Tamar is to remain chaste. As the head of the family, Judah’s honor is at risk if Tamar is pregnant out of wedlock. His intention is to burn Tamar alive believing the rumors that she has, in fact, become a prostitute and worse, gotten herself knocked up. When she is brought before him for judgement, she has his seal, cords and staff in hand. Judah instantly recognizes the items as his own. He also points out to those present that she is more righteous than he because he failed her in his duty as father-in-law. She delivers twins, Perez and Zerah. Perez is in the line of Jesus.
Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho. Joshua secretly sends out two spies to explore the land but especially Jericho. These spies somehow happen right into the home of Rahab. She, being no stranger to strange men allows these spies to stay with her. Weirdly, the King of Jericho sends word to Rahab asking about the men that were seen entering her home as he believes them to be spies. Rahab tells the King’s men, yeah, they came to me, but I did not know where they were from; they left before dark when the gates closed plus, I have no idea where they went. She encourages the King’s men to pursue the spies on the road to the Jordon River which they do but Rahab has hidden the spies on her rooftop.
Rahab not unlike the centurion
from Capernaum had faith in God without an up close and personal experience. She
believed the stories she’d heard about Adonai, King of the Universe and her
faith in Him allowed Him to put her in the right place at the right time not only
help the Israelites defeat Jericho but also save her family from certain destruction.
When the spies left her, they instructed her to gather her family into her
father’s house and tie a line of scarlet cord in the same window she had helped
them escape. When the walls of Jericho finally fell, the spies were ordered by
Joshua to rescue Rahab and her family from the rubble. Joshua spares their
lives as the spies had promised. Rahab marries Salmon, believed to be one of
the two spies. They have a son named Boaz, who becomes the kinsman redeemer of
Ruth (and Naomi).
Ruth is a Moabite (from the land of Moab who was Lot's son) that marries the son of Naomi and Elimelech. Naomi and Elimelech were Judeans that had settled in Moab to escape famine. The husbands of Naomi and Ruth both die (and Orpah, who was married to Naomi’s other son). Ruth stays with Naomi instead of returning to her father’s house as a window. Naomi takes them back to her homeland specifically to Bethlehem (home of King David) and cunningly straight to Boaz. Boaz is from Elimelech’s (her husband’s) family, a man of substance and a landowner. Naomi knows that in Bethlehem they will not be homeless nor starve.
Naomi also knows Boaz needs a wife. Ruth likely was physically beautiful because Boaz notices her straight away. He orders his men to purposely drop extra grain for her, allow her to drink from the jars of water or wine provided for the workers and importantly to keep their hands to themselves where she is concerned. He seeks Ruth out and tells her to not stray and glean only from his fields. When she asks him why such favor to a foreigner, he tells her that he has heard how she has cared for Naomi, leaving behind family and all she had known. He then blessed her, May Adonai repay you for what you have done, and may you be fully rewarded by Adonai, God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge” (Ruth 2:12). When the harvest was over it was time for threshing. Naomi tells Ruth to bathe and perfume herself. She further instructs Ruth to keep herself hidden from Boaz during the workday but after supper when everyone is laying down for the night, place herself directly at Boaz’ feet.
Boaz wakes in the middle of the night startled to find a woman at his feet. Groggy, he asks who are you? Ruth declares herself calling him “goel” (kinsman redeemer). He again blesses her. Boaz praises Ruth’s loyalty and valor AND he extols her for not chasing after a man because of age or status. He tells her there is another kinsman redeemer, closer than himself but if this man is not willing to marry her, he would take her as his wife. It is a Disney perfect happily ever after and their son is Obed, father of King David who defeated Goliath and arranged for murder of Uriah.
Bathsheba is the wife of Uriah, the Hittite. The Hittites were from an area called Anatolia in modern day Turkey. Uriah is a soldier in the army of King David though is a not Hebrew. I think it is important to make mention that Bathsheba’s name is omitted from the lineage of Messiah although anyone that knows the stories of the Bible would instantly understand the reference. There is much speculation as to why and I am not going to answer that question but rather leave the resolution of that mystery between you and the Holy Spirit.
To set the stage, David is king,
and it is a time of war. For whatever reason, David is not out fighting with
his men as he should be but instead in Jerusalem roaming around his palace, obviously
bored. One night, he gets up from his bed and strolls onto his rooftop. From
his vantage point he can see a woman bathing and she is very beautiful
(direct quote from the Bible). Lust rises in David. He sends someone to retrieve
her, has sex with her, and BOOM she is pregnant. Uriah is at war, so getting pregnant
is indeed a problem.
As king, David commands the entire army. He calls Uriah in from battle, questions him about the troops and the battles yada yada then orders him to go home (wink, wink) but Uriah does not obey. He sleeps in the doorway of the palace. In the morning, David’ servants inform him that Uriah never left the palace grounds. David questions Uriah as to why he did not go home as he was commanded. Uriah states that the Ark (of the Covenant) and armies of Israel and Judah (two kingdoms initially united by Saul) are camping in open fields while at war and as a brother in arms, he was not going to allow himself the creature comforts of home.
David NEEDS Uriah to go home…at the very least be in the same place as his wife so that David’s sin can be covered. Uriah is uncompliant. Keeping him away from the battlefields another day, David ups the ante. Spending all day with Uriah in the palace, David gets Uriah drunk, hoping in his wine daze he will finally go home to his wife. Uriah being righteous spends another night in the doorway.
Desperate now, David decides to cover evidence of his adultery with Bathsheba with the murder of Uriah. He writes a letter to Joab, the commanding officer of his army instructing Joab to put Uriah at the front of the most intense battle so that his life would be lost. Adding insult to injury, David has Uriah himself deliver this letter to Joab when he returns to the front. Joab did as he was instructed by his king. Bathsheba and David are the parents of Solomon.
Forty-one men are listed from Abraham to Messiah in the genealogy of Jesus and those five women.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “well behaved women rarely make history” and this is totally true in ancient times. If you know the name of a woman that lived in antiquity, it is because she was exceptional or peculiar. I have learned to take notice of the women mentioned throughout the Bible both good and bad as there is always something to learn under the surface of the text.
Mary was good and favored by God. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba were - not so good - YET also favored by God as evident in them being not only in the ancestry of Jesus but mentioned as such in the Bible. I guess you could argue that Ruth was good, but she knew uncovering and lying at Boaz’s feet was a risk because while there was cultural significance to this act (seeking protection, provision and effectively initiating a proposal for levirate marriage), it certainly wasn’t kosher.
My point being THIS: a schemer, a prostitute, an opportunist and an adulterer are found among the few women mentioned in the direct lineage of Jesus. As believers you and I were adopted into His family (2 Corinthians 6: 18). Our past never had the ability to disqualify our adoption. We never had to be good or Jewish just forgiven. Forgiveness brings with it the favor of God (Romans 4:7-8).
Adonai looked at our mess and said…So
what? Who cares?