Wednesday Bible Blurb “Genealogies” 7 30 2025
Many people are very excited to study their family genealogies. Where did we come from? Are we related to anyone famous? I know several people who spend much of their time studying family history. The discoveries are amazing and sometimes disheartening. My wife has been trying to figure out my family history for years and the only conclusion she has come to is my family is not who we thought we were. However, we are distantly related to Humphrey Bogart and Tom Brokaw. After much research it turns out her family and mine come from the same Canton in Switzerland about 300 years ago. Genealogy studies can be exhilarating, exhausting and disappointing. One never knows what dark secret the family is going to find in its past.
Matthew and Luke both delve into the genealogy of Jesus. Jesus, the son of God was perfect. The people He descended from were not so perfect. Fortunately, we have a loving forgiving savior in Jesus who is reconciling not only His family but all of us back to God. Let’s look at the five women listed in the genealogy of Jesus. Could your family history be like this?
Tamar, (Matt. 1:3) The daughter in law of Judah, son of Jacob (Israel). Her story is found in Genesis 38. First, she was married to the eldest son of Judah, Er. He died and she was then given to Onan, who died. She was then asked to wait for the younger son, Shelah, to grow up so she could become his wife. Instead, Judah ignored her and did not fulfill his promise. Tamar then secretly played the harlot with Judah (Her father-in-law) and became pregnant with twins.
Rahab, (Matt. 1:5) lived in Jericho and realized they would be destroyed by Joshua and Israel. Her story is found in Joshua 2:1-24. The Hebrew אשה זונה isshā zonā, used to describe Rahab, literally means “a prostitute woman “.She is also possibly described as an Inn Keeper. Culturally at the time of Jericho, Inn keepers and Harlots often had dual careers in the same home. Rahab saves the two spies sent by Joshua and is rewarded with God saving her entire family.
Ruth (Matt. 1:5) was not even Israelite, but her faith was beyond measure. When her mother-in-law left Moab to return to Israel, she insisted on going along to a foreign nation with completely different customs and culture. When Naomi told her to stay in Moab the answer of Ruth echoes love to this very day. “Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall by my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.” (Ruth 1:16-17 [NKJV]). God blessed her and this foreigner became the great grandmother of King David.
The wife of Uriah, the Hittite, [Bathsheba]. (Matt. 1:7). Kind David saw a beautiful woman bathing and his lust got the better of him. As King, he had her brought to his bedroom and impregnated her. Her husband, Uriah the Hittie, was a loyal faithful servant warrior of David. David had him killed and then married Bathsheba (II Sam. 11 and 12). Adultery, murder, palace intrigue and eventually Bathsheba becomes the mother of Solomon.
We look to Jesus for forgiveness so He can reconcile us back to Him through His grace by our faith. Faith and belief is the common factor between these women. Of the four women mentioned so far in the genealogy of Jesus, we have two foreigners, two harlots, an adulteress complicit in murder and a wonderful loving daughter in law.
Mary, the mother of God (Matt. 1:16). Chosen by God Himself, Mary became pregnant by the Holy Sirit having never known a man. “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel. Which is translated ‘God with us.’” (Matt. 1:23). Her cousin Elizabeth said to Mary “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Luke 1:42b). Jesus, God with us, the creator of all was born to the human Mary.
In the realm of genealogy we are all descended from Adam. Luke gives us the lineage of Jesus and concludes with “… the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.” (Luke 3:38). Jesus, the son of Mary, was the creator of Adam the son of God. In His own genealogy we recognize Jesus to be both fully man and God in the flesh.
Who’s in your lineage? Studying genealogy can be fun and exhausting. Full of twists and turns and unexpected discoveries. No matter what we find, the good, bad or ugly, we are being adopted into the family of Jesus (Rom. 8:14-17) and that is all that really matters.
