A Message of Hope in the Women of Jesus’ Family Tree

In Matthew 1, Jesus’s family tree is listed, as traced from Joseph, his earthly father. We find five women listed as part of the tree, each of which offer insight into who is important to God and why Jesus came to us. These women offer hope, as each one lived in circumstances that none of us would wish for. Yet God redeemed them, redeemed their lives and the ladies led fulfilled lives.

Tamar

Tamar, from Genesis 38, is the first lady listed in the genealogy. She was the wife of Er, son of Judah. Yes, this is Judah, the brother who sold Joseph into slavery. Er was found to be wicked in God’s eyes and died, so Tamar was given to the second son, as was tradition. The second son was also wicked and died. Now Tamar is twice a widow. Judah had a third son who was too young yet for marriage. Tamar went home to her father and waited. Eventually she decided she would wait no longer. She heard where her father-in-law was and went to that area, pretending to be a prostitute and Judah availed of her ‘services’. Tamar hid her identity through the exchange, and she was found to be pregnant, it caused a scandal. She was unmarried and supposedly waiting for her husband to grow old enough to marry. Instead of continuing in scandal, Judah recognizes his part in the ‘services’ exchanged and that he was wrong in denying Tamar her rightful place in his family. He says she is ‘more righteous’ than him.

Tamar lost two husbands. She was sent home a widow with no child. She must have gotten rather desperate to deceive her father-in-law. I can see no other word for this than sin. Such loss, pain, and sin were then redeemed in Tamar by inclusion in the bloodline of Jesus. Jesus can redeem us from our sins as well, this is the hope we see in Tamar.

Rahab

Rahab too has a rather dramatic story which is found in Joshua 2. She lived in the town of Jericho which was about to be destroyed by God and his armies. When the advance scouts arrived, she housed them and hid them from those who wanted to kill these spies. Tamar pretended to be a prostitute, while Rahab apparently was one (though I recently read something that said she may have only run an inn and the word was mistranslated. True? Who knows?). Rahab was also Canaanite, a group that was cursed and despised. Yet Rahab had heard of all that God had done for his people and recognized that, ‘the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below,’ (Joshua 2:11). As an enemy of Israel, she embraced God and was saved.

We too were enemies of God before we recognized who he was, all that he has done and accepted him as our Lord, forsaking our sin. There was hope for us through Rahab who is a model of enemies reconciled to God. His plan for salvation includes even enemies; that is the hope of Rahab.

Ruth

Ruth was another widow in the line of Jesus; her tale is found in the book of Ruth. She was a Moabite woman, so a foreigner. She was dedicated to her mother-in-law and accompanied her mother-in-law home to Bethlehem. Ruth too chose the Lord. I suppose she saw the goodness of God despite the widowhood of herself, her mother-in-law and her sister-in-law. She expected nothing but received much. The women left Moab with little and had no close family to call upon for support. She followed her mother-in-law’s guidance and was married (to the son of Rahab) and had a son who is also in the line of Jesus.

This foreigner was included in the line of Jesus, a non-Jew whose name is recorded in the lineage of Christ just as your name is now recorded in the book of life. The hope of Ruth is for all foreigners to find their home in Christ, just as she did.

Bathsheba

Bathsheba’s tale is of a downtrodden and broken woman found in 2 Samuel 11-12. We know little of what she felt or how she handled David’s advances. What we know is that she was involved in a forbidden and unequal relationship. She was a married woman who was summoned by the king of the land who slept with her. It is likely she had no choice in the matter. I’m not calling it rape, but I think it is more likely that she submitted to David than willingly participated. And when she too was found to be pregnant, she put the problem squarely in David’s court. To me, this indicates that she was not a partner in the relationship but was obedient to David’s commands. She was stepped on by a man with more power and great wealth. She was lifted from this powerless position (by the man who had her husband killed) and became the David’s wife. They lost their first son but the second son that she bore was Solomon, also in the lineage of Jesus.

She lost her husband and her son, suffering grief, but was redeemed like the other women. Bathsheba was lifted from her powerless and downtrodden position, just as Jesus lifts us to righteousness and fills us with his power in the Holy Spirit. The hope of Bathsheba is that God lifts us from our downtrodden position and places us in his kingdom and righteousness, under his protection and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Mary

Mary was the mother of Jesus and also listed in the genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1, despite it being the lineage of Joseph. We surmise much of Mary but are told little of her early years. She was likely poor or of very modest means and was young. She got pregnant out of wedlock, though she was engaged at the time. This would have still been enough to make her an outcast of the small town of Nazareth. Yet, she was chosen to be the mother of Christ.

An outcast in her hometown, the hope of Mary that Jesus came for all outcasts and those who don’t belong or fit in. He accepts us as we are, not because of what we have done but because he loves us and took care of our debt for us.

The Hope of Christ

Each of these women provide us a glimpse of the plan of God. From the beginnings he set out to redeem each one of us. A quick look at the stories of the five women show us the heart of God, the heart that longs to redeem the widows, the poor, the outcasts, the sinners, the enemies, the powerless, the grieving. These women were simple women who made an impact on those around them. They didn’t reach for the notice of the whole world, but others have now taken notice. The hope of Christ is for us. The hope of Christ lives in us.