The Genealogy Of Christ Series

This opening was written and preached by a different preacher, truthfully, I can’t remember anything more than that, I lost the name of the preacher from whom I got this material.

My sincere apologies to the author, who must remain nameless. Under other circumstances I would not have included this message, but as this is a series it must be included.

The Scripture reading for this morning is found in the first seventeen verses of the New Testament in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew chapter 1 verse 1 through verse 17. I am sure you have often wondered how the names in the genealogies should be pronounced, and so I wish you would listen very carefully this morning. We’re giving the official pronunciation of each one of these names.

Matthew 1:1-17 (NKJV)

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: {2} Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. {3} Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. {4} Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. {5} Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, {6} and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. {7} Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa. {8} Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah. {9} Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah. {10} Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah. {11} Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon. {12} And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel. {13} Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor. {14} Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud. {15} Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob. {16} And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ. {17} So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.

Please take note of the five women mentioned in the line of the Messiah:

The first mentioned is Tamar in verse 3; Tamar was the wife of Judah’s oldest son, Er. By the direction of Judah, in accordance with the society of the time, And later, in the law of Moses, The deceased’s brother was to take his dead brother’s wife and give her a son to inherit the dead brother’s property. Judah’s second son was Onan. And Judah instructed Onan to give Tamar a son for his dead brother, an heir to inherit Er’s property. Onan went in to Tamar but allowed his semen to spill on the ground. For this act of disobedience Onan died.

Judah had a third son, but he was too young. Judah promised Tamar that she would be given to the third son, Shelah, when he was old enough. However, that never happened. So Tamar tricked Judah into giving her a son to be Er’s Heir. In the end, Judah acknowledged that Tamar was more righteous than he. Tamar had two son’s by Judah; Perez and Zerah. The line of Christ goes through Perez.

The second woman mentioned in the line of Christ is Rahab. She was the prostitute, of Jericho, that hid the Israelite spies. She asked the spies to save her family when the Army came to destroy Jericho. You see, she was a believer in the God of Israel.

The third woman named in the line of Jesus is Ruth. Ruth was a woman of Moab. She had married the son of Naomi who had moved to Moab from Bethlehem because of a drought. While in Moab Naomi's two sons married women of Moab. After a while Naomi's husband and her two sons died. Naomi thought to return to Bethlehem. Ruth and her other daughter-in-law thought to go with Naomi. But, Naomi convinced the one woman to go back home, but Ruth would not. Eventually Ruth married Boaz a well to do relative of Naomi. It is a beautiful story in the little book of Ruth.

The fourth woman is not named, only alluded as her who had been the wife of Uriah. We know her name was Bathsheba, she committed adultery with King David. David had her husband, Uriah the Hittite, killed. But she eventually became the mother of Solomon.

The last woman named in the line of the Messiah is Mary.

These then are the women named specifically in the line of Christ.

Note: a woman of virtue who set out to do as the commandment of God said and brought forth a son to inherit Er’s property and line.