When Matthew wrote his account of Jesus’ life, he did something extremely rare – he included women in Jesus’ genealogical record.  Generally only men were recorded in genealogies and counted among crowds.  For example, in the feeding of the 5,000, which is recorded in all four Gospels, each writer specifically mentions that there were 5,000 men present.  Matthew even says, “there were about 5,000 men, besides women and children.”  Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Matthew purposefully lists five women in Jesus’ genealogy.  These women are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary.  It’s no surprise that of all the women included in the account, Mary was listed.  After all, she had the esteemed honor of bearing the Messiah, and Gabriel assures her that she would be called “blessed among all other women.”  But why the other four?  These four women have two characteristics in common.  First of all, they were Gentiles.  Secondly, they all had some sort of sexual sin or at least the appearance thereof.  Their inclusion is a lesson not only about the nature of God but also God’s calling to each individual.

Tamar, a Canaanite, was the daughter-in-law of Judah – one of Jacob the Patriarch’s sons.  He is the line from which the Messiah would come forth.  Tamar’s story (recorded in Genesis 38) is a twiste,d drama.  After becoming a widow, she is used by her kinsman redeemer* for sex, and after he dies, she dresses up like a prostitute to lure Judah (her own father-in-law) to sleep with her.  Her son Perez is Jesus’ ancestor.  In Joshua 2 and 6, we read of Rahab and her role in helping Israel to capture Jericho.  Though she was a Canaanite prostitute from that city, she is assured of the Lord’s sovereign plan to give victory to Israel, so she hides the Jewish spies in her home.  Because of her help, the spies instruct Rahab to tie a scarlet cord outside her window, and she and her household are spared when Israel attacked Jericho.  Rahab later marries a Jewish man named Salmon, and together they have Boaz.  Boaz eventually marries Ruth, a Moabite widow, as he is her kinsman redeemer.  While there is discrepancy as to whether Boaz and Ruth had sexual relations outside of marriage, Ruth 3 tells us that she slipped into the place where he was sleeping and laid down at his feet.  When he awoke, she told him to spread his garment over her.  Although there is speculation as to what went on, we are told that they both tried to hide the fact that she had spent the night with him.  They would soon after get married and have a son named Obed – the grandfather of King David.  The story of David and Bathsheba, the Hittite, found in 2 Samuel 11, is David’s greatest mistake.  After seeing Bathsheba bathing, he lusts after her and commits adultery with the married woman.  When she conceives, he schemes a cover up, which results in the death of her husband Uriah.  Their son Solomon would succeed David as King and be an ancestor to the Messiah.

Mary, also included in the genealogy, is neither a Gentile nor guilty of sexual impropriety.  However, the appearance of this unwed, pregnant woman, engaged to Joseph, most certainly generated rumors.  Joseph himself wanted to divorce her quietly because he suspected that she was unfaithful, but after the angel revealed that she was conceived by the Holy Spirit, he changed his mind.  Imagine all of the ridicule she must have received or the whispers that sparked as she walked down the street or how she was shunned by those who thought her guilty of sexual sin.  Perhaps, this is one of the reasons why Jesus was sensitive to adulterous women who found themselves ostracized in their society.  But Jesus was also aware of a double standard among the Jewish people that existed long before his time.  We learn more about this in the story of Tamar.  Although Judah slept with her, he thought she was merely a common, shrine prostitute.  However, later, when the town revealed to Judah that they suspected Tamar got pregnant from prostitution, Judah immediately says, “Bring her out, and we’ll throw her in the fire.”  How is it that he was so condemning of a practice, which he himself was immersed in?

Some of the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ time were also known for their sexual deviancy and involvement in divorce, prostitution, and other adulterous sins.    Jesus was well aware of all of this when the Jewish leaders interrupted him by forcing a woman “caught in adultery” to stand in front of Jesus and the crowd listening to him.  In John 8, we read of this ploy meant to trap Jesus.  While their suggestion of stoning her correlates with the punishment for sexual immorality outlined in Deuteronomy 22, the Roman governing law of the time forbid the Jewish people from carrying out executions.  The Jewish leaders knew that if Jesus said, “Let’s stone her,” then He would be violating the Roman law and would be arrested.  However, if He said, “Don’t stone her,” then the Jewish leaders could claim that Jesus had no regard for the Jewish law.  Instead, Jesus confronts their own hypocrisy with the Law by saying, “If anyone of you is without sin, cast the first stone.”  First, it was the men of the town who were required to stone her, and secondly, the Law required that both the adulterous man and woman be executed.  Where was the man?  How did the Jewish leaders know of this woman’s adulterous affair but not bring him in for judgment?  Could it be that they set up the whole event and let the man go free?  Could it be that one of them was the offending man?  Could it be that they knew of her impropriety because they had visited her on occasion for her services?  While we don’t know those answers for sure, we do know that Jesus’ challenge sent them away.  They were guilty and also unwilling to challenge the Roman law.

It has been said, more so by women, that the Bible or God Himself is chauvinistic.  In reality, they are referring to the flawed nature of some Jewish people who acted with hypocrisy and mistreated women, objectifying them and using them for sex.  Jesus brings to light the true nature of God, who establishes dignity and honor to all, especially to women ostracized in their own society.  While Jesus certainly doesn’t condone the woman’s sin; He doesn’t condemn her either.  The nature of the Messiah is to bring light to the darkness of society – not to condemn it but to redeem it.  His gentle mercy quiets the rumors that she was only good enough for a one night stand and challenges her to a life of repentance and redemption.

Some have speculated that the woman in John 8 is really Mary Magdelene.  While we don’t know this for sure, we do know that Mary Magdelene was once possessed by demons and was said to have “a sinful past.”  But one thing is certain; she was so impressed by Jesus’ love, mercy, and forgiveness, that she spends her time at a party worshiping Him.  While all of the Jewish leaders and the party’s host ignored the Rabbi and Messiah, this woman couldn’t stop praising Him- anointing His feet with tears and expensive perfume and wiping them with her own hair.

Jesus esteems these women who society calls “worthless,” and this is what the Holy Spirit wants to teach us through the writings of Matthew.  While many feel that they are not “good enough” to follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit is telling us that not only are all welcome to serve the Messiah but that all can play an important role in carrying out the very will of God.  The Jewish people often looked down on the Gentiles, let alone a Gentile prostitute.  God demonstrates the worth of the “lowest of society” by giving them a part in bringing about the King of kings.

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*Kinsman Redeemer, from the Hebrew word Goel, is outlined in Leviticus 25.  It refers to a Jewish practice to keep property within a family.  If someone was so poor that they were forced to sell their possessions and even themselves as slaves, a relative could buy back what was being sold to preserve it in the family.  The idea was applied in a manner known as Levirite marriage.  Derived from the Latin word Levir meaning brother-in-law, this practice is outlined in Deuteronomy 25.  According to Levirite marriage, which is still practiced in many societies today, the widow would marry the next closest of kin of her deceased husband.  The children she would then bear would be considered children of her former husband, not their biological father.  While one could refuse to be the kinsman redeemer, they would be shamed in Jewish society for not fulfilling this duty.  It’s interesting to note that in the case of Tamar and Ruth, their children are not attributed to their original husbands but to their kinsman redeemers.  If Deuteronomy 25 is to be interpreted strictly, then the role of kinsman redeemer was only granted to a brother-in-law.  In which case, neither Judah or Boazwere true kinsman redeemers.