Righteous Women
Genealogies
are often overlooked gems in God’s Word. You will not find them cross stitched
on pillows or overlayed on scenic backgrounds on Instagram. However, Matthew’s genealogy
has become a passage of deep meaning and significance to me. It stands out among
genealogies in Ancient Israel for its inclusion of five women, at least two of
whom were certainly Gentiles and two with unknown lineage. Though Matthew was
not written first chronologically, its canonical placement means the genealogy
bridges the gap between the Old Testament’s expectation of the Messiah, and his
arrival in the New Testament. After 400 years of silence the words jump off the
page to pick up the Messiah’s story and proclaim, “This is the one we have
waited for!”
The
main message of Matthew 1:1–17 is that Jesus is the promised Son of David, the rightful
king in the line of Judah, and the seed of Abraham through which all the
nations would be blessed. Matthew breaks the family tree down into three sections,
each one highlighting 14 generations for each period. The rest of Matthew’s gospel
continues to revolve around the Kingdom of God, so the genealogy sets the stage
early to prove Jesus’s right to the throne.
Woven
throughout the Old Testament is a promise that one is coming to conquer evil
and save God’s people. At the fall, God declares that Eve’s offspring will
strike the head of the serpent. The scope of the promise narrows from there to
Abraham’s line as God assures blessing to all nations through his offspring. The
tribe of Judah was prophesied to include a lineage of kings from whom we see
David arise and receive the promise of an everlasting kingship. Since so many
false kings had arisen in Israel’s history, Matthew firmly establishes Jesus’
lineage to show he is the Son of David from Jeremiah 23:5, and the time for the
promise to be fulfilled is now. The ancestry is an important component that reinforces
a key New Testament belief that Jesus is the Messiah.
Over thousands of years and in hundreds of ways, God was
revealing his plan. Another title for the Son of David is the Root of Jesse. Isaiah
11:10 states, “In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the
peoples; the nations will rally to him.” When the Messiah came, he would bring
back exiled Israelites and draw in people from other nations as well. This is
foreshadowed in the inclusion of women like Rahab and Ruth, not simply becoming
a part of the nation of Israel but brought into Christ’s lineage. Rahab was a
foreigner who heard the reputation of Israel’s God and put her life on the line
awaiting salvation from the evil city she resided in. The Moabitess Ruth
pledged her allegiance to Naomi and her God at great risk to her safety and
future. These daring acts of courage from Rahab and Ruth earned them praise as
they found protection from Yahweh. Rahab is lauded for her faith (Heb. 11:31)
and Ruth is called a worthy woman (Ruth 3:11).
Since Jesus’s right to the throne of David had to be
established through his Jewish roots, the inclusion of women is essential to
remind the reader the Messiah would also draw the nations to himself. A second key
New Testament belief affirmed in this passage is the obedience of faith among
the nations. Similarly, incorporating the women in the genealogy also displays
how Jews and Gentiles are “one in Christ.” Paul explicitly declares, “There is
neither Jew or Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28 NIV). Yet Matthew asserts these
same concepts implicitly by including women and foreigners in the genealogy.
In my research on this passage and experience in
discussions these key beliefs often go unnoticed. Commentators instead seem to use
the women to make the case that God can take sinful people and bring his
kingdom no matter their failures and poor character. While that claim is true,
it seems this argument would be a stronger if one simply pointed to those in
the genealogy that had committed murder (Amon) or sacrificed their child to
idols (Manasseh) rather than to Bathsheba who was taken from her home and
compelled to sleep with the king. The ESV study Bible remarks that, “Tamar,
Rahab, and Bathsheba were women of questionable character.” [1] Yet Judah says of Tamar,
“She is more righteous than I” (Gen 38:26). James says Rahab was “considered
righteous for what she did” (Jas 2:25). Even Ruth, a worthy woman, has not been
safe from critique in the genealogy. The HarperCollins Study Bible calls her ‘a
sexually aggressive widow.’[2]
It
is disappointing that these women are framed so negatively in terms of their
perceived sexual misdeeds. Stories highlighting women are not given as much
space in the Bible to begin with so when the primary focus is not on their
great faith and character, we come to wrong conclusions and misjudge them. The
only questionable thing about these women was they carried the shame of men who
used them, and today they are still being used to prove a lesser point in
commentaries instead of being heralded for their courageous faith.
These
negative comments obfuscate the larger objective Matthew is aiming for: Jesus
is the promised Messiah and drawing all nations to himself in unity. Each woman
in the genealogy should be highlighted for her faith and courage in looking to
him for refuge. I take comfort that God sees and uses women to bring his kingdom
and am thankful that Matthew chose to include them in his unique genealogy.
[2] Society of Biblical Literature. The HarperCollins Study Bible : New Revised Standard Version, Including the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books with Concordance. Edited by Harold W Attridge, et al. Fully revised and updated ; 1st ed. (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006), 1668.
(Would appreciate any help in finding the artist of the included image!)
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