The 12 Days of ChristmasSýnishorn

Royal Pedigree

Two Gospels, Matthew’s and Luke’s, include genealogies of Jesus Christ—the family tree of our Tree of Life. Luke traces Jesus back through Abraham, while Matthew provides the Messiah’s Davidic lineage. But another key difference between the lists is that Matthew’s, unlike most such lists in the first century, includes five women. And while many commentators view these women as examples of scandal and grace, Matthew may have intended something different.

With the first four—Tamar (v. 3), Rahab (v. 5), Ruth (v. 5), and “the wife of Uriah” (v. 7)—Matthew shows Jesus’ fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham that through Christ “all nations” would be blessed (Gen. 22:18). All four were Gentiles or married into Gentile families. The historian Philo (Virt. 220–22), who lived during Matthew’s time, said Tamar was from Syria Palestina, a Canaanite city. And we know Rahab was from Jericho. Ruth was a Moabitess (Ruth 1:4). And the “wife of Uriah,” a phrase perhaps designed to remind readers of the word “Hittite,” indicates Bathsheba’s possible identity. Mary, the fifth woman, was fully Jewish. Her inclusion demonstrates that Jesus is the promised son of David’s line. So together these five women show that Jesus is Lord of the nations and King of the Jews, the promised son of Abraham and the promised son of David. There are others in Jesus’s genealogy, but these are highlighted. 

Our Lord had to be both Jew and Gentile. To be the all-inclusive Messiah, Mary had to be Jewish, but Jesus also had to have gentiles in His pedigree. And Matthew could not have made the case for Gentile inclusion with any of the men, as these all had to be descendants of Abraham. The only way to include Gentiles in our Lord’s pedigree was to include His Gentile foremothers.   

This King is different from all others. Prior pedigrees of royalty in Israel stressed the king’s Jewishness through his male ancestors. But this pedigree, by highlighting these five women, establishes Jesus simultaneously as the king who sits on David’s throne and the ruler of all nations—King of kings and Lord of lords!  

Give thanks that Christ is Lord of all the earth.

Photo credit: Emma Gossett and Unsplash; used with permission.