Bible Reading: Deuteronomy 26; Psalms 117 & 118; Isaiah 53; Matthew 1
And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; (Matthew 1:3) And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; (Matthew 1:5) And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias; (Matthew 1:6)
There are four women listed in the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1. It is interesting that not all the women of this genealogy are listed, but these four only.
Thamar was the wife of Er, Judah's firstborn son. The Bible tells us that Er was wicked and the Lord slew him. The next brother of Er was Onan and he was to marry Thamar and raise up a child for Er. But he would not.
And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also. (Genesis 38:9-10)
Judah promised Thamar that when the next son was old enough, he would be her husband, but nothing ever came of it. Apparently, Judah was not willing to give her another son because they kept dying. So Thamar disguised herself as a harlot and sat by the way she knew Judah would go. He hired her and went in unto her. When she knew that she would conceive, she had taken a token from him and she used it to prove that he was the father of her twin boys.
Rachab is Rahab the harlot who hid the spies in Jericho when Israel invaded Canaan.
Ruth is a Moabite that became the wife of Boaz, the great-grandmother of King David.
Urias' wife was Bathsheba and David committed adultery with her then had her husband put in a place in battle where he was sure to die.
This sounds like a soap opera, doesn't it! It surely doesn't sound like a group of people who would be the lineage of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! And yet, God is careful to include these women in the lineage of Jesus Christ for us. Why? Because God can make something good out of something bad! God made a covenant with Abraham to bring forth the seed – Jesus Christ from his descendants. If God does not use sinful people in his purposes, he will have no one to work with! What about you? Have you thought your past made you useless to God? Just think about these circumstances God used to bring the Messiah into the world. God can use you if you will surrender to him! He will forgive you. He will cleanse you! Trust him!
In Christ,
Rody
