Disreputable Women

The genealogy of Jesus found in Matthew chapter 1 is a rather interesting document that chronicles the ancestry of our Savior. This week I memorized, at least for the short term, the entirety of the chapter.

While memorizing I once again noticed that while most of the genealogy mentions only the fathers and sons there are five women mentioned. Upon further study and discussion with the rest of the Bible Quiz team we found that all of these women led rather controversial lives.

The first woman mentioned was Tamar, the mother of Judah’s sons Perez and Zerah. She was originally married to Judah’s sons but they died and when Judah’s wife also died, she, working as a prostitute conceived twins by him. (Genesis 8)

The second woman, Rahab was also a prostitute. She was a resident of Jericho before it was destroyed and was instrumental in helping the Israelite spies when they performed their reconnaissance before the attack. She is mentioned occasionally in other places in the Bible, usually negatively. (Joshua 6, Psalms 89:10, Isaiah 51:9)

Ruth, mentioned third, was not quite as notorious as those above. She merely seduced the rich relative of her late husband after she became a widow (by seduced I don’t mean all that seduction has come to mean). (Ruth 3)

The fourth woman referred to is Bathsheba. She is not even named in the chapter and is mentioned only as “Uriah’s wife”. She committed adultery with Kind David while her husband was away as a commander in the army. (2^nd Samuel 11)

The last woman is of course Mary. Mary, unlike the women above did not achieve her notoriety from her own wrong actions but rather God worked through her in a way that undoubtedly brought her great disgrace on earth. As most people know she conceived a child while still an unmarried virgin through the Holy Spirit. That child grew up to be the Messiah. (Matthew 1:18-25)

I didn’t have any reason in particular for writing this up. I just thought it was interesting and one of the many parts of scripture that I do not understand. Maybe some of you might comprehend it a little better than I.