Advent: December 3rd
The next woman mentioned is Ruth. Ruth was also graphed in. She was a Moabite woman who married one of the sons of Naomi. She was a widow, like Tamar, who also lost two sons before following her mother-in-law back to Israel. In Ruth’s famous words she tells Naomi, “Where you will go I will go, where you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried.”
Essentially, may nothing but death part me from you.
Ruth works very hard to provide little for herself and Naomi. She eventually finds favor under the watchful eye of Boaz, not just because she is beautiful but mostly for her fine character as shown through her care of her mother-in-law. Ruth also finds out that Boaz is a Kinsman Redeemer to her(as we talked about earlier with Tamar). Ruth is told to go and uncover Boaz’s feet, to lie down, and wait for his instruction. Ok…what does all of that mean?
Boaz had just finished threshing barley. There would have been a celebration after weeks of hard work with some of the men staying overnight with the grain to prevent theft. This would allow a time for her to go to him privately but in a way that would not bring into question her integrity as others would likely be close by. The custom of uncovering the man’s feet and laying down was an invitation for Boaz to become Naomi and Ruth’s kinsman redeemer. He could find someone else to marry Ruth, or do it himself, but this act would make her wishes and needs known to him. In the end, he did marry Ruth and they had a son, Obed.
Bathsheba Is the next woman alluded to on the list. She was the one that David committed adultery with when he was supposed to be out at war. Bathsheba was married to Uriah the Hittite, a disciplined and loyal soldier. When David found out that Bathsheba was pregnant, he tried to manipulate circumstances in an effort to save face. When that didn’t work, David had Uriah killed and even made it look like an accident. He then took Bathsheba as his wife, as if he’d done nothing wrong. While the child she carried died right after birth, they did have another son, Solomon, who is in the line of Jesus. Interestingly, the list breaks from its usual “begat” pattern to state it this way, “And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah.”
Ouch.
Can you feel the shame? These women are named particularly because the circumstances that surround their induction into the lineage of Jesus were unsavory and unbelievable. It highlights the many people in Jesus’s past who are prostitutes, aliens, adulterers, and even murderers. How is it that THESE people can be part of the line that will produce the Savior of the world?
I think that this is the very point Matthew is making. We could not, and can not, save ourselves. The Patriarchs had faith and in many ways were celebrated for that faith, but they were broken and sinful people too. David, who was known for being “A man after God’s own heart.” Was even capable of adultery and murder!
Are we not the same? We have great potential for faith and good works as well as sin and death? Even in this genealogy our need is clear. We need a Savior. The world was eagerly waiting for the long foretold Savior…… And in the last woman’s name we see that he is almost here.
“And Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Christ.”
* Genealogy found online.
