Rooster's Crow

Last week before Christmas, I started reading the book of Matthew. Starting there had nothing to do with it being the week of Christmas, that’s just where I was at in my reading. Matthew starts with the genealogy of Christ. If I’m being honest, I do not find reading a long genealogical list fascinating, and I’ve skipped them many times; however, I read through the list Matthew recorded. A couple of names stood out to me – Rahab and Ruth.

I knew that Rahab and Ruth were part of Jesus’s family tree, but I started looking into the genealogy more. Three other women are mentioned – Tamar, Bathsheba, and Mary. Three more totally different stories with each, but all part of the family tree. It is an abnormality for women to be mentioned in a genealogy, but Matthew deemed it important to include these five.

We find the story of Tamar in Genesis 38. She’d been selected by Judah to marry his son, Er. Because of his wickedness, God killed Er; so, Judah sent Er’s brother, Onan, to raise up children with her in his brother’s place. God killed him because of his wickedness, leaving Tamar a widow. Judah promised her that she would be able to marry his son, Shelah, once he was old enough; however, Judah failed to follow through on his promise for fear of that son dying too.

In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua’s daughter, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” she took off her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—”He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood (Gen. 38:12-19).

When Judah attempted to honor his agreement with a goat, no one knew who Tamar was. Tamar had deceived her father-in-law by portraying herself to be a prostitute, and ultimately gave birth to his twin sons. When Judah found out she was pregnant, not knowing that it was his offspring, he ordered that Tamar be killed for her immorality; however, she presented his signet, cord, and staff. His response was, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah” (Gen 38:26).

The next woman mentioned in the genealogy is Rahab. Her story is written in the book of Joshua, which starts when two spies were sent by Joshua into Jericho. When the king of Jericho learned about the two men, he sought them out to kill them, but Rahab, a prostitute at the time, hid them on her roof and told the king’s men that they had already left. Once the pursuers left, she asked the spies that her family be spared when Israel conquered the city as payment for sparing their lives.

Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she lived in the wall. And she said to them, “Go into the hills, or the pursuers will encounter you, and hide there three days until the pursuers have returned. Then afterward you may go your way.” The men said to her, “We will be guiltless with respect to this oath of yours that you have made us swear. Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household. Then if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be guiltless. But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head. But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless with respect to your oath that you have made us swear.” And she said, “According to your words, so be it.” Then she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window (Josh. 2:15-21).

When the children of Israel marched around the city of Jericho, God miraculously brought the walls down, killing everyone in the city except for Rahab and her family. Joshua sent the spies in to bring her and her family out, and she lived in Israel for the rest of her days, marrying Salmon, the sixth generation after Tamar.

Rahab and Salmon had a son named Boaz, who ultimately ended up marrying Ruth. Ruth was another woman who was not born in the tribes of Israel, but was born in Moab. A family from Bethlehem had moved to Moab to survive the famine that Israel was dealing with, and one of the sons married Ruth. However, the son and his father died, and when Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi, decided to move back home, Ruth went with her. The book of Ruth describes the beautiful account of Boaz redeeming her. Ruth and Boaz had a son named Obed, who had a son named Jesse, who was the father of King David. Ruth married into the family and had King David as a grandson.

And then we get to David’s affair with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.

It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant” (II Sam. 11:2-5).

David attempted to cover up his adultery by bringing Uriah home from the war. David thought that if Uriah slept with his wife, he would assume the child was his, and all would be right with the world; however, Uriah would not go home to his wife when his commander and brothers were in the field fighting. So, David sent Uriah back to the front lines with a letter for the commander to put Uriah in the worst section of the fighting and then pull the troops back from him. Though David did not commit the act himself, he designed the plan to make sure Uriah was killed in combat. Once Bathsheba had finished her mourning period, David brought her to the palace to be his wife.

The son, born out of the adultery, later died because of their sin; however, Bathsheba bore another son, Solomon, who would succeed David to the throne. God promised David that his lineage would be established forever.

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever (II Sam. 7:12-16).

After Bathsheba, the next woman in the genealogy is Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary played a vital role genealogically in Jesus being able to be the King of the Jews. The lineage of kings from David ended with Zedekiah, when he was taken to Babylon (II Kings 25:7). Jehoiachin (also known as Jechoniah or Coniah) was king before Zedekiah, but his lineage had been cursed. “Thus says the Lord: ‘Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah’” (Jer. 22:30). Matthew records the lineage of Joseph coming from Jechoniah, but God had cursed the blood line from ruling over Judah. So how could Jesus claim David’s throne?

Luke 3:31 gives us the answer, as Jesus did not claim David’s bloodline through Solomon and his lineage, but through another son of David and Bathsheba, Nathan. It was through Mary’s bloodline that Jesus claimed his physical lineage from David. It was through Joseph’s lineage the Jesus claimed his legal right to the throne.

Five women with extreme variances in backgrounds, that each played a vital role in the story of the Messiah’s lineage; a woman who got pregnant by her father-in-law by acting like a prostitute, an actual prostitute from an enemy city, a widow from a foreign country, a girl used adulterously by a king that murdered her husband, and a young virgin, who’s world was turned upside down in a miraculous conception. Even Jesus’ family tree had some stories to tell, but God used each person to bring about the Christmas miracle.

God doesn’t care what you’ve done, who your parents were, or what happened to you; He only cares about your soul. Once you accept the gift of salvation from his son, Jesus, who died on a cross to pay your debt, then God only sees you in the light and righteousness of his son. God knows your past, your struggles, your weaknesses, and your failures, but more importantly he knows your future, your victories, your strengths, and your successes. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer. 29:11).

Whenever you hear that voice telling you that you’re not good enough or you’ve messed up too badly, remember that voice is not your loving Father’s voice. That voice is the enemy, the father of lies, desperately trying to thwart the course God has set for your life. Jesus’ voice says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).

Don’t allow the enemy to convince you of a lie. Jesus said you were worth dying for and that he has a purpose for your life. Claim God’s promises for your life and walk out your destiny.