GOING BENEATH THE SURFACE WITH MATTHEW'S GENEALOGY

Most of us who read or have read the bible at some point complain to someone about the genealogies.  I have done this on numerous occasions.  However, the more time I spend reading the bible and the more I pay attention to details the more things just come to life.  Today I started reading Matthew and I was stunned by the language of its genealogy in the first chapter--two verses in particular:

vs5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, vs6 and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

Of course, I am no bible scholar, but wow!  It is rare that women particularly mothers are mentioned in genealogies and here we have three mentioned in two short verses.  The first is a prostitute, Rahab, that hid Hebrew spies; the second is a Moabite woman, Ruth, who demonstrates endearing loyalty to her mother-in-law after her husband dies. 

Interestingly, the genealogy mentions both Rahab and Ruth by name yet Bathsheeba is not mentioned by name.  Rather, the genealogy states, “David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife.”  This language completely draws the reader to David’s sins of not just adultery but to Uriah’s murder which David arranged.  And all of this is to show the genealogical line that Jesus comes from—a genealogical line that is far from perfect—a genealogical with questionable a past to say the least, with perhaps the exception of Ruth.  However, Ruth could still be considered an outsider being a Moabite woman.  Moabites were excluded from the assembly of worshippers being descendants of an incestuous relationship between Lot and one of his eldest daughters.

Writing this reminds me of the Steve Taylor song, “Jesus Is For Losers”.  I remember buying the album and seeing the song title and being offended.  Then I listened to the song and said to myself, “Man, this is brilliant!”  I leave you with the last couple of versus:

Just as you are
Just a wretch like me
Jesus is for losers
Grace from the blood of a tree

Just as we are
At a total loss
Jesus is for losers
Broken at the foot of the cross

Just as I am
Pass the compass, please
Jesus is for losers
I'm off about a hundred degrees

Just as I am
In a desert crawl
Lord, I'm so thirsty
Take me to the waterfall