The Scandalous Women In The Genealogy Of Jesus - Bathsheba Series

The scandalous women in the genealogy of Jesus - Bathsheba.

Scripture References—2 Samuel 11:2, 3; 12:24; 1 Kings 1:11-31; 2:13-19; 1 Chronicles 3:5 ; Matthew 1:1-16.

In Matt. 1:1-16 we find “the forgotten chapter of the Christmas story.” It is a genealogy—a list of names, most of them unpronounceable. Because of that, this is a portion of Scripture that we tend to overlook. We don’t know what to do with it. It’s not often read in public. For that matter, we don’t even read it in private unless we’re following one of those “read the Bible in a year” plans and hardly anyone ever memorizes this passage.

It’s just a long list of names starting with Abraham, moving on to David and ending with Jesus. In between are some names we recognize—Jacob, Solomon, Jehoshaphat—and many more we’ve never heard of—Hezron, Abiud and Azor.

The structure is simple: “So-and-so was the father of so-and-so, who was the father of so-and-so, etc.” One name after another, a listing of the generations of the Hebrew people from their father Abraham to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. As history, the list is fascinating, but for most of us, that’s about as far as it goes.

God had said 1000 years earlier that the Messiah must come from the line of David (II Samuel 7). In the time of Christ, Jesus wasn’t the only one claiming to be the Messiah. Other men—imposters—claimed to be Israel’s Messiah. How would the people know who to believe? One answer: Check his genealogy. If he’s not from the line of David, forget it. He can’t be the Messiah.

That’s why Matthew 1 begins this way: “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” David is listed first, even though chronologically Abraham came first in history. Why? Because the crucial issue was not, “Is Jesus a Jew (a son of Abraham)?” but rather, “Is he a direct descendant of David?” In order for Jesus to qualify as the Messiah, he must be a literal, physical descendant of David.

Jesus’ genealogy appears in two places in the New Testament: Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38. In Matthew, Jesus’ genealogy is presented in a descending order: it goes from Abraham to Joseph. In Luke, Jesus’ genealogy is in an ascending order: it goes from Joseph to Adam.

Both genealogies are given, not to emphasize biological connection, but to emphasize that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s purpose of redemption. The focus of the genealogies is theological. The genealogy of Jesus is designed to show that Jesus is the Messiah, a descendant of David, and also a descendant of Abraham.

As a descendant of Abraham, Jesus fulfills God’s covenantal promise to Abraham. God promised Abraham that he would be a blessing to the nations: “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).

As a descendant of David, Jesus fulfills God’s covenantal promise to David. God promised David that his throne would be established forever (2 Samuel 7:16). God also promised him that a successor will always be available to sit on the throne of Israel (1 Kings 2:4).

Since the monarchy ended with the Fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C., as a descendant of David, Jesus becomes an inheritor of God’s promise to David. As such, Jesus’ genealogy proves that he was a direct descendant of David and a legitimate heir to the throne.

Matthew’s genealogy is the only one that makes reference to four women in Jesus’ family tree: Tamar, Rehab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. Bathsheba’s name is not explicitly mentioned by Matthew; she is only identified as Uriah’s wife. A fifth woman, Mary, is mentioned by name. However, since she is a New Testament personality, Mary falls outside of the purview of the Old Testament because she was not one of Jesus’ great-grandmothers.

In a time when genealogies didn’t normally contain even a single female name, why are these women included? And what does their presence imply?

In other words, they were women just like us: ordinary, tarnished by sin, unlikely to shape the course of history. They are in the Savior’s genealogy to give us hope, and to foreshadow the kind of people Jesus the Messiah came to save.

He came from a lineage of sinners to save sinners.

But He remained sinless.

And we will be like the women from Jesus’ genealogy as we put our whole future into the hands of our God, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He offers to give our simple lives great significance as we follow him. Like the women of the genealogy who put their hope in the coming Messiah, following him is worth far more than we will know until eternity.

We have looked into the lives of Tamar, Rehab and Ruth in earlier studies and in this study we will look into the life of the fourth and final woman of Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus Christ - Bathsheba, who is not named directly but is referred to as " the wife of Uriah." This elegant description is a reminder of David’s most famous sin. In stark contrast to Ruth, whose longing to marry as a godly widow is to be praised, Bathsheba is almost certainly an inspiration of Proverbs’ continual warnings against adultery and the destructive fury that result from that particular sin. Given the destruction wrecked in David’s own life as a result of his affair with Bathsheba, it would be likely that Solomon would have received numerous warnings about these matters.