The fathers and mothers.....

The fathers and mothers...

In the book, "Christy", the students were challenged to memorize scripture for a prize. The one who memorized the most verses got a prize...so one of the boys memorized a portion in the Old Testament with all the "begets" and the difficult names...he was the winner..

I appreciate that in Matthew  1, the women were not left out of the genealogy of Christ....Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Uriah's wife and Mary...not all shining women, to be sure...

Tamar, a daughter in law of Judah, a widow, and then the mother of Perez by Judah...played a harlot to get back at Judah ....a tangled web...

Genesis 38

Rahab, a prostitute in Jericho, saved the Israelite spies because  she believed them....they in turn saved her family in the fall of Jericho ....she became the mother of Boaz who married Ruth...the great grandmother of David...

Joshua 6:23, 25 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel. But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day. 

Ruth, a Moabite,  a widow, stays with her Israelite mother in law, Naomi, returning to Israel after a famine..following the God of Isreal...

Ruth 1:16-17 Ruth 4:13-15, 17 ” But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” 

The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. 

Uriah's wife, Bathsheba, who became David's wife  after David had Uriah killed on the battle field, committed adultery with her... Another web...but the mother of Solomon,  the wisest man...

2 Samuel 2...

And finally, Mary, a young woman, a virgin, humble, believing, willing...who pondered, considered...and later watched Her firstborn be crucified...and resurrected, the very Son of God....

I am so glad looks beyond my heritage, my sins, and looks at my heart, covers me with His robe of righteousness, gives me salvation no matter my history/story ...Thank YOU...

Matthew 1:1-17 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: 

Abraham was the father of Isaac,Isaac the father of Jacob,Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 

Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron,Hezron the father of Ram,

 Ram the father of Amminadab,Amminadab the father of Nahshon,Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, Solomon the father of Rehoboam,Rehoboam the father of Abijah,Abijah the father of Asa, Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,Jehoram the father of Uzziah, Uzziah the father of Jotham,Jotham the father of Ahaz,Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,Manasseh the father of Amon,Amon the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. 

After the exile to Babylon:Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,Abihud the father of Eliakim,Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok,Zadok the father of Akim,Akim the father of Elihud, Elihud the father of Eleazar,Eleazar the father of Matthan,Matthan the father of Jacob, and 

Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, 

and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah. Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.