On the surface, Matthew’s genealogy seems traditional enough; a cursory run through the names identifies Jesus as a Jew (from Abraham), from the kingly line of Judah, and a son of King David through the royal lineage, thus identifying him as qualifying for his Messianic claims. But a deeper study reveals many significant peculiarities. For one, Matthew breaks with the Jewish custom of naming only men in genealogies, and he lists five women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. Not only were four of these women likely Gentiles, but three of them were significant sinners – Rahab, a prostitute from Jericho, Bathseba (the wife of Uriah the Hittite), an adulteress, and Tamar, the Canaanite who seduced her father-in-law, Judah. And the sinners in Jesus’ human lineage do not end with the women. What about Abraham who lied? Or David, the adulterer and murderer? What the inclusion of these names and the sinful lives associated with them, into the genealogy of Jesus demonstrates, is that the redemptive purposes of God flow through a people who are recipients of grace. God works through mankind, and all human beings are sinners. If the purposes of God depended on a deserving people, then nothing would ever be done. But God works His wondrous works through people who are what they are, by grace alone. This serves to both glorify God, by magnifying His matchless grace, and humble man, as we realize how unworthy we are.
