By Audrey Bauman

We are taking a break from reading through Romans. Christmas is almost here, so it's time to look at the Christmas story in the Bible. Today we begin by reading the genealogy of Jesus. For many of us, genealogy is boring; we're not interested in it at all. Some of us sign up with one of the various genealogy companies to find out our background through blood samples. I know people who have actually met relatives they never knew about before as a result of the blood lines; it was exciting for them to meet those people. 

My husband was a big fan of genealogy. His family was Mennonite and had a history beginning in Switzerland, immigration to the United States, and then to Canada. He spent a lot  of time tracing his roots back to Europe. We visited Virginia where his family had first settled, and it was fascinating to stand at historical sites and see that family name. He loved to research archives to find stories about his ancestors. He interviewed people in the Kitchener-Waterloo area where the family had settled to find more recent stories. He did some research into my family as well, and I found it interesting to discover that my love of literature and the arts came from my family lines. 

But Matthew had a different interest in Jesus’ genealogy. He wanted Israel to know that Jesus was the Messiah. I don’t know about you, but over the years as I’ve read the Bible, I’ve tended to skip over the genealogy parts, or at least skim them quickly – too many strange names I can’t pronounce. So, as I prepared to write today’s devotions, I went to one of my sources – Charles Swindoll's Living Insights: Matthew.  As a result, today’s comments are summarized from that source.  What I appreciate the most about scholars’ research into passages like Matthew 1 is that it confirms my belief that the Bible is true.  I can count on what it says – the historical facts are straight, so the spiritual facts are credible.

Don't skip over these verses. See if you can actually read them all. Look for names that you recognize. Also look for women's names; you'll notice that the list is primarily men's names. Why were these women included?

Matthew 1: 1 – 17  (NLT)

The Ancestors of Jesus the Messiah

1 This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham:

² Abraham was the father of Isaac.
 Isaac was the father of Jacob.
 Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.
³ Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar).
 Perez was the father of Hezron.
 Hezron was the father of Ram. 
⁴ Ram was the father of Amminadab.
 Amminadab was the father of Nahshon.
 Nahshon was the father of Salmon.
⁵ Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab).
 Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth).
 Obed was the father of Jesse.
⁶ Jesse was the father of King David.
 David was the father of Solomon (whose mother was Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah).
⁷ Solomon was the father of Rehoboam.
 Rehoboam was the father of Abijah.
 Abijah was the father of Asa.
⁸ Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat.
 Jehoshaphat was the father of Jehoram.
 Jehoram was the father of Uzziah.
⁹ Uzziah was the father of Jotham.
 Jotham was the father of Ahaz.
 Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah.
¹⁰ Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh.
 Manasseh was the father of Amon.
 Amon was the father of Josiah.
¹¹ Josiah was the father of Jehoiachin and his brothers (born at the time of the exile to Babylon).
¹² After the Babylonian exile:
 Jehoiachin was the father of Shealtiel.
 Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel.
¹³ Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud.
 Abiud was the father of Eliakim.
 Eliakim was the father of Azor.
¹⁴ Azor was the father of Zadok.
 Zadok was the father of Akim.
 Akim was the father of Eliud.
¹⁵ Eliud was the father of Eleazar.
 Eleazar was the father of Matthan.
 Matthan was the father of Jacob.
¹⁶ Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
 Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah.

¹⁷ All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah."

Matthew wrote this genealogy to make sure the Jewish people knew that Jesus was the Messiah. Notice how he started the list: "This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham." Those two names were crucial. Abraham was the beginning of the Jewish nation. Genesis 12: 7 says: "Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him." Then in 2 Samuel 7: 16 God repeats this promise to David: "And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” The Jews knew that the Messiah would come from Abraham and the royal line.

You'll notice that he finishes the ancestry line by saying he had divided them into three sections of 14 generations. Charles Swindoll says: ""from Abraham to David; from David to the Babylonian captivity; and from the Babylonian captivity to Jesus. Within each of these three groups, Matthew selected fourteen names, intentionally leaving some lesser-known individuals out of the record and unexpectedly including some specific women in the list." (page 16)

Think about the first group - Abraham to David. Can you think of any Bible stories in that line? Think about Abraham's journey to the promised land and the stories surrounding the first generations - Isaac, Jacob, and Judah. It included the enslavement in Egypt (Joseph) and the exodus under Moses' leadership. Those events are not mentioned. But there were some unusual names included in this section - Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth. Then in the second section the first entry mentions Bathseba. Scholars think that these women were Gentiles, but they also know that each woman had a tainted story. Why would Matthew include them? "The presence of these four persons in the lineage of the King emphasizes a genealogy of grace. Because of their ignoble - rather than noble - pedigrees, none of these women fit comfortably in the family of the Messiah. But then again, none of us do either." (page 17)

The second section starts off well if you think about the stories you remember about Solomon, but then things start to go downhill ending in the captivity to Babylonia. When you read the names in the third section, you likely realize there aren't any stories involving those people in the Old Testament. The Jewish people managed to get back to Israel, but that country was dominated by Babylon to Persia to Greece and then Rome. Four cneturies passed until the New Testament begins with John the Baptist crying in the wilderness and preparing the way for the Messiah. At that time, Israel was still dominated by the Romans and the Jewish people were praying for the Messiah to come and free them from this domination.

You'll notice the genealogy ends with this verse: "Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah." Joseph is not named as the father of Jesus; he is only named as her husband. "The tiny Greek phrase ek hes "from whom", uses the singular feminine relative pronoun, making Mary the sole source of Jesus' physical origin. However Joseph is called Mary's aner "husband" making Jesus the legal (though not physical) son of Joseph ... and thus the heir of the Davidic throne." (page 19)

This line of genealogy includes many sinners like you and me. It also shows that Jesus was from Abraham and David's line so he was the Messiah. It shows God's grace throughout the history of the Jewish nation, and it also shows his amazing grace to each one of us as he sends his son to be the way we can come to God and become one of his children.

Our song for today is Cornerstone by Hillsong Worship.

Charles Swindoll; Living Insights New Testament Commentary: Matthew 1 - 15; Tyndale Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois: 2020