1 Samuel 16:7 b “The Lord doesn't see things the way you see
them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
In Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus Christ, he lists 5
women. It is interesting to note that Matthew
leaves out names of male ancestors but includes the 5 women; Tamar (Matt 1:3; Gen 38; 1 Chr
2:4), Rahab (Matt 1:5; Josh 2, 6:15–27; Heb 11:31; Jas 2:25), Ruth (Matt 1:5;
Ruth 1–4, especially 4:13–22), Bathsheba (the wife of Uriah; Matt 1:6; 2 Sam
11–12; 1 Kgs 1–2), and Mary (Matt 1:16).1
Why were they included?
Three possible answers may include:
1.
They were sinners. Three of the four Old Testament women were
involved in some sort of sexual sin. Their inclusion foreshadowed the role of
Jesus as the Savior of sinful humanity.2
2.
Four of the five women were Gentiles, only Mary
was a Jew.
3.
They all had irregular and unexpected stories.
This theory draws attention to the fact that in each case, there is something
unusual and controversial about their union with their partner. However, the
women showed initiative in playing an important role in God’s plan.3
Each
Woman’s Story
1.
Tamar (Gen
38)
Tamar married into the family of Judah,
first to Judah’s son Er and then, after his death (Genesis 38:7 “But Er was a
wicked man in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord took his life.”), to Onan his
brother. Because Onan sinned by spilling his semen on the ground, Tamar did not
become pregnant. This meant disgrace for
a Jewish woman because people thought a childless woman was being punished by
God. God punished Onan with death for
sinning against Tamar.
Jewish law said Tamar was to be given Judah’s
next available son as her husband in order
to bear a son in her dead husband (Er’s) name.
This son would inherit all that should have been his father’s.
Tamar waited for Judah to fulfill his
responsibility under the Levirate law.
She watched at Selah grew into adulthood, but he was never given to her
as a husband. When she realized that Judah was going to
leave her a childless widow, she took matters into her own hands.4
Genesis 38: 14-19
Tamar was aware that Shelah had grown up, but no arrangements had been made for
her to come and marry him. So she changed out of her widow’s clothing and
covered herself with a veil to disguise herself. Then she sat beside the road
at the entrance to the village of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. Judah
noticed her and thought she was a prostitute, since she had covered her face. So
he stopped and propositioned her. “Let me have sex with you,” he said, not
realizing that she was his own daughter-in-law. “How much will you pay to have
sex with me?” Tamar asked. “I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” Judah
promised.
“But what will you
give me to guarantee that you will send the goat?” she asked. “What kind of
guarantee do you want?” he replied. She answered, “Leave me your identification
seal and its cord and the walking stick you are carrying.” So Judah gave them
to her. Then he had intercourse with her, and she became pregnant. Afterward
she went back home, took off her veil, and put on her widow’s clothing as
usual.5
When Judah’s friends went to make the
payment to the prostitute they could not find her. To prevent Judah from
looking like a fool, they returned home without retrieving his seal, cord, and
staff.
When is became known that Tamar was
pregnant, Judah accused her of playing the whore. He as the male head of his household
pronounced that she be burned to death.
However, when the men came to bring her out to be burned she sent a
message to her father-in-law that the man who owned the seal, cord, and staff
was the father of her child.
Judah realized that while her method was unorthodox,
she was more righteous then he was.
Judah took her as his wife but never slept with her again. She gave
birth to two Perez and Zerah. Perez would be an ancestor of King David.6
2.
Rahab (Josh 2, 6:15–27)
Rahab was a “businesswoman” from the city
of Jericho. When Joshua and the Israelites
came close to Jericho, Joshua sent out two spies to check out the city. The two men entered the city and eventually
ended up at Rahab’s inn/home.
The city itself was surrounded by an inner
and an outer wall, as most cities were at the time. The outer wall surrounded
the whole city; the inner wall enclosed a central administrative compound for
palace, temples, and large-scale food storage. Well-do-do people lived in the
central compound; poor and disreputable people lived in the outer compound,
between the two walls.
Somewhere in this outer compound lived a
woman called Rahab, with her extended family. They made their living by running
a tavern: down- rather than up-market. It was a rowdy place, frequented by men
who were not troubled by scruples. Rahab 'comforted' her customers from time to
time.7
When the spies arrived Rahab knew who they
were and why they were there (Joshua 2:9 “I know the Lord has given you this
land.”) She took them to her roof and
hid them under bundles of flax she had laid out to dry.
The king heard that the men had come to her
inn/home and sent soldiers to find them.
Rahab lied to the soldiers and said that the spies had been there but
had left by the city gate just before it had been closed.
After the soldiers left, Rahab went up to the
roof to make a “deal” with the spies.
She offered to lower them out her window (which was in the outer wall of
the city) in exchange for her life and the lives of her family.
The spies agreed to this deal under the
conditions that Rahab hang a scarlet cord out the window through which she had
lowered them and that her family all be inside her house and not leave it until
they came to bring her out after they had destroyed the rest of the city. Rahab and her family were the only survivors
in Jericho.
In the genealogy of Jesus, Rahab is listed
to as being the wife of Salmon, one of the two spies she sheltered. She became the mother of Boaz.8
One final point of interest, Paul lists
Rahab in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11:31 “It was by faith that Rahab the
prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey
God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.”
3.
Ruth (Ruth 1–4; especially 4:13–22)
Ruth’s story is cast against the backdrop
of an ancient patriarchal culture, where a woman’s identity and security
depended on her relationships with men (especially her father and/or husband).
Her value as a wife and contributor to society was measured by counting her
sons. Under these cultural standards, it is puzzling that a Gentile outsider
like Ruth—who for most of the story is widowed, childless, and barren—became a
luminary of biblical history. Yet she is unquestionably one of the most
significant women in the Bible.
Ruth’s story forms a historical and
theological bridge from the era of the judges (Ruth 1:1), when the people of
Israel did evil in God’s sight (Judg 2:10–19), to Israel’s monarchy. In
contrast to Israel’s unfaithfulness to God, Ruth embodies the courageous,
sacrificial character that God’s image bearers are supposed to possess. The
historic significance of her actions is established by the genealogy (Ruth
4:18–22)—a surprising ending that reveals the family line she struggles to save
is the royal line of King David (Ruth 4:18–22). Matthew expands Ruth’s
significance by naming her in Jesus’ genealogy (Matt 1:5).
Ruth enters the story on the arm of Mahlon
(Ruth 1:3–4; 4:10). Her mother-in-law, Naomi, has suffered a series of
calamities, including the untimely death of her husband. Mahlon’s marriage to a
pagan Moabite girl compounds Naomi’s grief, for no believing Israelite rejoices
over such a union (Ruth 1:1–5). In a world where men negotiate their daughters’
marriages to elevate their family’s social standing, it is a chilling statement
of Ruth’s value that her father marries her off to a famine refugee. God has a
very different view of His daughters. Suffering engulfs Ruth as well, with 10
long years of barrenness followed by the death of her husband. Widows without
sons drop to the bottom of the social ladder and are defenseless against abuse
and exploitation.9
After the deaths of her sons, Naomi hears that
the famine is over in Israel. She decides
to return to her homeland. Ruth and Orpah
travel with her for a time. Naomi then
tries to get the younger women to return to their father’s homes. Orpah turns back to head home; however, Ruth
makes a plea to be allowed to go with Naomi.
Ruth 1: 16-17 But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn
back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people
will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die,
and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything
but death to separate us!”
When they arrive in Bethlehem they set up
housekeeping and then Ruth asks permission to go glean in the fields. She finds the field of a man named Boaz and gleans
there. Boaz takes notice of her and is
kind to her. He offers her protection as
long as she gleans in his fields with his women. He also provides her with food
enough that she takes some home to Naomi.
Upon hearing Ruth’s story, Naomi comes out
of her depression and begins instructing Ruth on how to respond to Boaz. Ruth obeys and eventually Boaz claims his
right as a near kinsman redeemer (after the nearest one renounces his claims)
and buys the property that belonged to Mahlon (Ruth’s husband). Boaz chose to
claim the land in order to marry Ruth.
We see in Ruth 4 that Ruth became the mother
of Obed who is listed in the genealogical record of Christ. Her faithfulness not only saved Naomi and provided
for her needs, but she also became the great grandmother of King David!
4.
Bathsheba (the wife of Uriah; 2 Sam 11–12; 1 Kgs
1–2)
The sad story begins with the
significant phrase, “But David tarried still at Jerusalem” (2 Samuel 11:1). The
Israelites were at war with the Ammonites, and the king who had shown himself
brave and victorious in battle should have been with his army. But now a mature
man, and veteran of many wars, and ruler over Israel for some twelve years now
David had become somewhat soft and self-indulgent. He had had his day of hard
campaigning and war weariness. Now it was time to leave the rigors and risks of
battle to his officers, and sit back and take things easy. But no longer
fighting the battle of the Lord, David was open to attack and so found himself
involved in the triangle drama of passion, intrigue and murder.10
Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah the
Hittite, the most loyal of David’s men. While the Israelite army was at war
with the Ammonites, David stayed home in Jerusalem. One afternoon, while David was out on his
roof, he saw a beautiful woman bathing herself on her roof.
David was attracted to her and had
her summoned to the palace. Once she was
there, David slept with her and she became pregnant. When she found out that she was with child,
she sent a message to the King.
David at once sent to have Uriah
return from the battle. When he arrived
David tried to get him to go home so he would sleep with his wife and then
everyone would think the baby was his.
Uriah refused to go home as long as the other soldiers had to sleep in the
open.
When David realized what a
righteous man Uriah was he sent orders to the commander of the Army of Israel
to set Uriah up to die on the front line of the battle. After her time of mourning was over David
took Bathsheba as his wife.
As a punishment for their sin, the child
she was carrying died shortly after birth.
However, they went on the have other sons, Solomon, Shimea, Shobub and
Nathan. Solomon is listed in the genealogical
record of Jesus. Bathsheba is listed
there as well as the widow of Uriah.
5.
Mary (Luke 1:26-38)
The final member of our list is Mary. According to the sacred record, Mary was a
humble village woman who lived in a small town, a place so insignificant as to
lead Nathanael to say, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John
1:46), but out of it, and from the womb of the peasant woman came the greatest
Man the world has ever known. Mary was of the tribe of Judah, and the line of
David. She became the wife of Joseph,
the son of Heli (Luke 3:23). Apart from Jesus, called her “first-born,” a term
implying that other children followed after the order of natural generation
(Luke 2:7). Later Mary was married to
Joseph the carpenter and she bore him four sons and several daughters, the
former being named—James, Joses, Judas and Simon, and the daughters unnamed
(Matthew 13:55, 56; Mark 6:3).
Among all the godly Jewish maidens of that
time in Palestine why did God select such a humble peasant young woman as Mary?
Her choice by God to be the mother of the Incarnate Son is as mysterious as her
conception of Him within her virgin womb. When the fullness of time had come
for Jesus to be manifested He did not go to a city, but to a remote and
inconsiderate town—not to a palace but a poor dwelling &--;not to the great
and learned but to lowly partisans—for a woman to bring the Saviour into a lost
world. The gentle and lowly Mary of Nazareth was the Father’s choice as the
mother of His beloved Son, and that she herself was overwhelmed at God’s
condescending grace in choosing her is evident from her song of praise in which
she magnified Him for regarding her lowly estate, and in exalting her.
Mary, then, was selected by divine wisdom
from among the humblest and it was in such an environment that the Father
prepared His Son to labor among the common people who heard Him gladly. The one
of whom He was born, the place where he was born were arranged beforehand by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Centuries before Mary became
the mother of the Saviour of mankind, it was prophesied that it would be so
(Isaiah 7:14-16; 9:6, 7; Micah 5:2, 3). Born of a peasant maiden, and having a
foster-father who eeked out a frugal living as a carpenter, Jesus was best able
to sympathize with man as man, and be regarded by all men as the common
property of all.11
After
looking into the lives of the 5 women who each played a vital role in the family
line of the Messiah I am both humbled and comforted at the thought of God
choosing to use my life for his kingdom.
We
see in the lives of these women that God has a job/ministry/calling for every
willing person. He doesn't play
favorites or use only the “holy” but he uses anyone who will obey and step out
in faith.
Tamar
believed the law must be upheld and put that belief into action in order to
preserve her dead husband’s family line.
Rahab
was far from righteousness, yet she had faith in God’s power. This faith saved the
lives of the two spies and saved her entire family from destruction.
Ruth,
having heard the stories about God from her husband and mother-in-law, chose to
leave all she knew and accompany her Naomi to a foreign land. She chose to work with her hands to provide
for Naomi and God honored her loyalty and love by giving her a family of her
own and making her the grandmother of King David.
While
Bathsheba started off badly with the King, God blessed her and she became the
mother of the wisest man to every live.
Mary
was a young peasant girl who believed God could do what he said he would do and
was willing to face shame and ridicule to carry the Son of God.
Are
we willing to believe God is who he says he is and to obey as he leads?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
1Anderson, K. G. (2012, 2013, 2014). Genealogy of
Jesus Christ. In J. D. Barry, L. Wentz, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair-Wolcott, R.
Klippenstein, D. Bomar, … D. R. Brown (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary.
Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
2Anderson, K. G. (2012, 2013, 2014).
3Anderson, K. G. (2012, 2013, 2014
4http://www.womeninthebible.net/1.5.Tamar_and_Judah.htm
5Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright©
1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of
Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.
6http://www.womeninthebible.net/1.5.Tamar_and_Judah.htm
7 http://www.womeninthebible.net/Rahab-prostitute.htm
8 https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/all-women-bible/Rahab
9 Barry, J. D., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M.,
Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham,
WA: Logos Bible Software.
10 https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/all-women-bible/Bathsheba
11 https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/all-women-bible/Mary
