3 And Judas begat Phares and
Zara of Thamar;
There are few women mentioned in
genealogies so it is very significant which ones are included in the lineage of
Jesus. The first we see is Tamar. She was the Judah’s daughter in law whom he
slept with (not knowing she was but thinking she was a prostitute, either way
it shed’s doubt on his integrity) and she bare a son by him who then went on to
get married and have his own son. Judah, however, made things right once he
discovered his wrong and never came into Tamar again.
and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom
begat Aram; 4 And Aram begat Aminadab; and
Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; 5 And
Salmon begat Booz of Rachab;
The next
woman we see is Rehab. Now get this, the prostitute Rehab marries into Israel!
And she becomes the mother of Boaz!
and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and
Obed begat Jesse; 6 And Jesse begat David the
king;
Boaz then marries the Ruth, a Moabite!
Ruth is a Canaanite, whom God forbid the Israelites to marry; however, Ruth
converts herself to Judaism as she devotes herself to Naomi. Ruth then bares
the privilege of becoming the mother of Obed, who begat Jesse—the father of King
David!
and David the king begat Solomon of
her that had been the wife of Urias; 7
Then we see David. Even King David, the
man who God himself said was a man after His own heart, committed adultery with
Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. It is interesting to me that Bathsheba’s name, at
least in the English language identifies how David saw her (taking a bath). But
even though David committed a grievous sin, in Psalm 51 we have the record of
David’s repentance. And we see God’s forgiveness yet again in that Bathsheba goes
on to have a son named Solomon who is also named Jedidiah (2 Samuel 12:25,
“Beloved of the Lord”—Hitchcock’s) by Nathan the Prophet.
