Descendant of Tamar and Rahab?
Daily Scripture
Matthew 1:3, 5, Genesis 38:24-26, Joshua 2:8, 12-13, 6:22-23
Matthew 1
3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah,
whose mother was Tamar.
5 Salmon was the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab.
Genesis 38
24 About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has become a prostitute and is now pregnant because of it.”
And Judah said, “Bring her out so that she may be burned.”
25 When she was brought out, she sent this message to her father-in-law, “I’m pregnant by the man who owns these things. See if you recognize whose seal, cord, and staff these are.”
26 Judah recognized them and said, “She’s more righteous than I am, because I didn’t allow her to marry my son Shelah.” Judah never knew her intimately again.
Joshua 2
8 Before the spies bedded down, Rahab went up to them on the roof.
12 Now, I have been loyal to you. So pledge to me by the Lord that you in turn will deal loyally with my family. Give me a sign of good faith. 13 Spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, and sisters, along with everything they own. Rescue us from death.”
Joshua 6
22 Joshua spoke to the two men who had scouted out the land. “Go to the prostitute’s house. Bring out the woman from there, along with everyone related to her, exactly as you pledged to her.” 23 So the young men who had been spies went and brought Rahab out, along with her father, her mother, her brothers, and everyone related to her. They brought her whole clan out and let them stay outside Israel’s camp.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Against all patriarchal tradition, Matthew included women in Jesus’ genealogy. And what women! “He is about to tell how Mary, Jesus’ mother, had become pregnant not through her fiancé, Joseph, but through the holy spirit. So Matthew adds to his list reminders of the strange ways God worked in the royal family itself: Judah treating his daughter-in-law Tamar as a prostitute, Boaz being the son of the Jericho prostitute Rahab.” * Matthew’s genealogy, if read aloud, must have triggered gasps.
- Tamar’s story was told in a single chapter (cf. Genesis 38). It may strike us as an embarrassing, offensive story based on the ancient custom that required a dead man’s brother to help his widow conceive an heir. But Tamar’s resolve to see that duty carried out helped to establish the Israelite tribe of Judah, in which David and then Jesus were born generations later. How could Matthew see God’s hand at work even through customs and actions that might not have reflected God’s highest ideals?
- Rahab was a Canaanite woman who lived in Jericho. She defied Jericho’s rulers and hid two Israelite scouts who came to the city before it’s walls famously fell down (cf. Joshua 6:1-20). Israel recalled her as the only person whose family survived the city’s fall. Her son Boaz, we will see tomorrow, was King David’s great-grandfather. By including her, Matthew made the point that Jesus was for all people, not just Israelites. How does that matter to you?
Prayer
Lord God, Matthew saw the amazing way you weave our brief human lives into the wonderful pattern of your eternity. Guide me to value the part you offer me to play in that eternity. Amen.
GPS Insights
Janelle Gregory
Janelle Gregory serves on the Resurrection staff as Human Resources Lead Director. Janelle finds that her heart is constantly wrestling with the truth that she needs a Savior, and the times when she's at her very best are when she's just too tired to put up a fight.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Wright, N. T., Matthew for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-15 (The New Testament for Everyone) (p. 4). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
