Four Women
I had one of those moments last night that affirms my faith and the reality of my relationship with Jesus as I read Day 25 of The Purpose Driven Life.

Did you know that the Gospel of Matthew mentions four women in the human genealogy of Jesus? Rick Warren talks about it in the book, but it's something that's been an inspiration and source of hope to me for years.

Why, you ask?

Two reasons actually.

First, Matthew's Gospel is traditionally considered to have been written for a distinctively Jewish audience, often quoting Old Testament prophecy to prove that Jesus is indeed the Messiah. Considering the Hebrew patriarchal culture of the time, including women's names in a genealogy would have jumped off the page. Part of that point doubtless would be to point out that although the genealogy of Christ had to be culturally understood from the paternal side, the great men in that line -- Judah, David, Solomon -- passed along absolutely NO DNA to the Lord's human incarnation. Furthermore, the participation of the men mentioned above in the paternal 'heritage' of Christ was not such as to be held up as a shining example of righteous behavior.

Which brings me to the second reason, which is how God placed these women and their messy situations into this royal bloodline. Prostitution, adultery, murder and mixed marriages marred the lives of these women, yet God chose to show grace, forgiveness and mercy to those involved as a foreshadowing and example of how He would reconcile the human race to himself.

Let's meet these women, shall we?

First is Tamar, who was the daughter-in-law of Judah, one of the 12 sons of Jacob (aka Israel). This head of the tribe destined to produce the Savior was not always the best moral example. He sold his brother Joseph into slavery, suggesting to his brothers that it would be more profitable than just killing him and lying to their father about it. Apparently, he wasn't the best father in the world, either. Er, the husband of Tamar was struck down by God because he was wicked. Onan, the second born, was required by law to do the nasty with Tamar until she gave birth to an heir. However, he didn't like that idea, so he pulled out before delivering the payload, angering God and being struck down as well. Judah, seeing that he was running out of sons, blew Tamar off with a perfunctory 'your child's in the mail'.

Tamar decided that was a no-go and disguised herself as a prostitute to take advantage of Judah's weakness in the wake of the death of his wife. She took a couple of personal items from him in lieu of payment for services rendered and got herself knocked up. Three months later, the village wags came to Judah saying, "Dude, guess what? Your daughter-in-law's been a ho and got herself knocked up. Judah said, "Bring the bitch here, and we'll burn her for bringing shame on my family name." So Tamar is brought up to Judah to get hers, and Judah demands that she name the father -- presumably to get some vengeance on him as well. Tamar smiles a little smile, holds up Judah's personal effects and announces to the bloodthirsty crowd, "The guy who owns these is the father."

Uh-oh. After Judah picks his jaw up off the floor, he tells the disappointed crowd that Tamar is more righteous than he is, and she is restored to her rightful standing in the family.

Well, I'm getting into this way more than I anticipated, so we are going to have to go the installment route.

Next: The Ho of Jericho
- posted by The Drake @ 6:55 AM