Advent Journey - Following the Seed From Eden to Bethlehem Àpẹrẹ

Day 14

FAMOUS MOMS

Salmon (29), Boaz (30), Obed (31), Jesse (32)

Bible Trivia Question: What three women are mentioned in the genealogy found in Matthew Chapter 1? 

To kick off his gospel account, Matthew established a history of Jesus going all the way back to Father Abraham. (Genealogies were important to the gospel writers.) 

Matthew’s genealogy includes mostly names of fathers – but three famous mothers are mentioned as well. One of course is Mary, the mother of Jesus and husband to Joseph. 

The other two women are Rahab and Ruth, the wives to Salmon and his son Boaz. 

Salmon (son of Nahshon) married Rahab the harlot. Wow! 

For background, read Joshua Chapters 2 & 6 about the story of Rahab. She was instrumental in allowing Joshua’s spies to penetrate the walls of Jericho, setting up its eventual fall. That was the beginning of the Israelite’s entry into the Promised Land (Canaan).

Salmon and Rahab had a son, Boaz. Boaz married a lady named Ruth, the Moabite (not one of the 12 tribes). Ruth was widowed and found herself in a similar predicament as the widow Tamar (remember, the mother of Perez). 

So Ruth accompanied her mother-in-law, Naomi, back to Naomi’s homeland (tribe of Judah). Ruth eventually got remarried to Boaz. Since Ruth was not an Israelite, her role in the line of the Seed is stunning as well.  

That’s two straight generations of non-Israelite mothers! 

And what’s around the corner is quite special as well. Ruth and Boaz had a son named Obed. And Obed had a son Jesse. And Jesse had a son named… David! 

What a legacy! 

Reflections:

If your children are old enough and have spent years in church, they likely know the stories of David and also the stories of Ruth. But did they know how these characters are related?

Take time to reinforce the big picture of this Advent Journey. The Bible is about a Seed that travels 4,000 years, covering 64 generations. 

The Bible unfolds the family history of Jesus. We started in Eden with Adam, and we’re working our way forward… to Bethlehem.