Five women in the Lineage of Messiah
There are several lists of generations in the Bible. Each one is important. The Old testament is rich in relating how God accomplished His purposes through His people and in recording the lineage of Messiah.
About a year ago I was struck by the list in Matthew 1. It is unique in its Genealogy of Christ in that it lists five women. That is significant. It is the only place where women were viewed as important enough to include in a genealogy, and these women held the honor of being in the lineage of Messiah! Wow!
And it occurred to me that most of them probably didn’t even know that they would bear this honor. They were women who struggled and faced adversity and risked scandal and shame, and even possible death to just live their lives as faithful. As I read Ruth, I was struck how we read in a few minutes what spanned a lifetime. And …with the hindsight of knowing how it all turned out!
These women lived their lives day by day, just like us, with times of sorrow and times of joy. I’m sure they asked God “why” sometimes, just like I do. Certainly Ruth had moments when she doubted if staying faithful to Naomi and her God was really worth all the hardship she was enduring. How many nights must she have cried herself to sleep; her life could not have gone the way she’d dreamed. I mean, one day she was a blushing bride, then she lived with her husband for ten years but had no children – (she must have longed for one desperately). Then both she and her sister-in-law joined their mother-in-law as widows and found themselves in poverty. Talk about hard times! And that is just chapter One!
The five women listed are:
Tamar, the daughter-in-law of Judah, who took desperate measures at great risk to bear a child as promised to her by law and custom. She was a young girl who endured much pain and sorrow and was not treated with proper respect, yet she acted with dignity, using wisdom and shrewdness that God honored in the end. {Genesis 38}
Rahab, a harlot (probably not by choice), who courageously sheltered the Israelite spies, testified to the greatness of God, saved her family from death, and found favor to become the wife of Salmon, and the great-grandmother of King David. Did she have a clue her life would be so radically changed that day she harbored spies of the Lord? Did she even dare to dream that a woman such as her would find favor to be chosen in the Messianic lineage? (Joshua 2)
Ruth, traveling to a foreign land, where she was the outsider, and poor at that, gleaning wheat in the hot sun instead of returning to her family in order to be faithful. It took a lot of courage to do what she did, and she eventually enjoyed the rewards of her faithfulness. But I wonder, did she ever know this side of Heaven how the incredible story of her life would inspire so many, and that she would be distinguished as worthy to be listed in the lineage of Messiah? Oh, and these three women were all Gentiles.
Next is Bathsheba. She was a beauty who had her life turned around because the King lusted after her, got her pregnant, and then had her husband killed so he wouldn’t get caught. We read about King David weeping over the death of this child. Certainly Bathsheba cried many tears, and endured many sorrows before she became mother of the next King. As wife and mother of earthly Kings, did she ever entertain the true Kingdom that favored her?
And sweet Mary, mother of the Son of God. A teenager, whose betrothed didn’t believe her when she said she was pregnant with the Messiah. It must have broken her heart to risk telling him everything and have him see her as a liar and a harlot. (What had saying "yes" to God gotten her into?) But he must have loved her, because he was going to put her away so she would not be stoned. She must have wondered if she would have the courage to raise this child alone, even if she knew God would somehow provide. I think that night they both shed tears. But God set Joseph straight and together they raised the Son of the Most High God!
Luke 2 tells how when they came to the temple to present Jesus to the Lord, they offered two turtledoves. This shows just how poor they really were. Leviticus 12 says a lamb for a burnt offering, and a turtle dove for a sin offering, but vs. 8 “if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtle doves..one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering.” And what strikes me here is that they were very poor materialistically, yet they held the greatest treasure of Heaven and earth in their hearts and their arms!
And Mary, I’ve heard a few sermons about how she “treasured” things in her heart as if this was something bad, but I don’t see it that way. She may have not known the gravity of what all being the mother of God would require, but she did know that one day her son was going to be called upon to save His people (Matt 1:21), and that meant she was going to have to let him be the man He was called to be and let Him go – share Him with the whole world. Every moment she had him was precious to her. Children grow up all too quickly, and treasured moments all too soon become sweet memories.
So, anyway, this year I have been focusing on the lives of women in the Bible. When I am on my face before the Lord crying my heart out, wondering what my life story will one day look like, I ponder the lives of these women who found favor in the eyes of God, and ask myself if I even have a fraction of their strength or character. These were not perfect women - just available to God, and that gives great hope! God seems to like to use our weaknesses to glorify Himself. Yea!
I have spent a lot of time in Esther this year – oh how I love her story! And the life of Anna, the prophetess who witnessed Jesus being blessed by Simeon in the temple, and started giving thanks to God. She gives me pause. She was totally devoted to God, continually giving herself to fasting and prayer, for over 60 years! What compels a person to live such a life, and what riches in Heaven are reserved for one such as that? It makes me weep to know what a wretch I have been, and yet God, in His unchanging faithfulness, still has a plan and purpose and can use someone like me for His Kingdom. I really learned that last year when I was given my first song from the life of Gomer (Hosea). Very little is said about her as a person, except that she was a harlot who Hosea took for a wife, and she tore his heart out by her harlotry so that Hosea could adequately express the sorrow of God over the unfaithfulness of His people. But the story has a happy ending. Fairy tales and soap operas have got nothing new. Why resort to fiction when there are real life stories that are better? Every heartache. . . every sin. . . every victory. . . has already been told in the life of someone who God used in the history of His Creation, if we just take time to ponder their journeys…
About a year ago I was struck by the list in Matthew 1. It is unique in its Genealogy of Christ in that it lists five women. That is significant. It is the only place where women were viewed as important enough to include in a genealogy, and these women held the honor of being in the lineage of Messiah! Wow!
And it occurred to me that most of them probably didn’t even know that they would bear this honor. They were women who struggled and faced adversity and risked scandal and shame, and even possible death to just live their lives as faithful. As I read Ruth, I was struck how we read in a few minutes what spanned a lifetime. And …with the hindsight of knowing how it all turned out!
These women lived their lives day by day, just like us, with times of sorrow and times of joy. I’m sure they asked God “why” sometimes, just like I do. Certainly Ruth had moments when she doubted if staying faithful to Naomi and her God was really worth all the hardship she was enduring. How many nights must she have cried herself to sleep; her life could not have gone the way she’d dreamed. I mean, one day she was a blushing bride, then she lived with her husband for ten years but had no children – (she must have longed for one desperately). Then both she and her sister-in-law joined their mother-in-law as widows and found themselves in poverty. Talk about hard times! And that is just chapter One!
The five women listed are:
Tamar, the daughter-in-law of Judah, who took desperate measures at great risk to bear a child as promised to her by law and custom. She was a young girl who endured much pain and sorrow and was not treated with proper respect, yet she acted with dignity, using wisdom and shrewdness that God honored in the end. {Genesis 38}
Rahab, a harlot (probably not by choice), who courageously sheltered the Israelite spies, testified to the greatness of God, saved her family from death, and found favor to become the wife of Salmon, and the great-grandmother of King David. Did she have a clue her life would be so radically changed that day she harbored spies of the Lord? Did she even dare to dream that a woman such as her would find favor to be chosen in the Messianic lineage? (Joshua 2)
Ruth, traveling to a foreign land, where she was the outsider, and poor at that, gleaning wheat in the hot sun instead of returning to her family in order to be faithful. It took a lot of courage to do what she did, and she eventually enjoyed the rewards of her faithfulness. But I wonder, did she ever know this side of Heaven how the incredible story of her life would inspire so many, and that she would be distinguished as worthy to be listed in the lineage of Messiah? Oh, and these three women were all Gentiles.
Next is Bathsheba. She was a beauty who had her life turned around because the King lusted after her, got her pregnant, and then had her husband killed so he wouldn’t get caught. We read about King David weeping over the death of this child. Certainly Bathsheba cried many tears, and endured many sorrows before she became mother of the next King. As wife and mother of earthly Kings, did she ever entertain the true Kingdom that favored her?
And sweet Mary, mother of the Son of God. A teenager, whose betrothed didn’t believe her when she said she was pregnant with the Messiah. It must have broken her heart to risk telling him everything and have him see her as a liar and a harlot. (What had saying "yes" to God gotten her into?) But he must have loved her, because he was going to put her away so she would not be stoned. She must have wondered if she would have the courage to raise this child alone, even if she knew God would somehow provide. I think that night they both shed tears. But God set Joseph straight and together they raised the Son of the Most High God!
Luke 2 tells how when they came to the temple to present Jesus to the Lord, they offered two turtledoves. This shows just how poor they really were. Leviticus 12 says a lamb for a burnt offering, and a turtle dove for a sin offering, but vs. 8 “if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtle doves..one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering.” And what strikes me here is that they were very poor materialistically, yet they held the greatest treasure of Heaven and earth in their hearts and their arms!
And Mary, I’ve heard a few sermons about how she “treasured” things in her heart as if this was something bad, but I don’t see it that way. She may have not known the gravity of what all being the mother of God would require, but she did know that one day her son was going to be called upon to save His people (Matt 1:21), and that meant she was going to have to let him be the man He was called to be and let Him go – share Him with the whole world. Every moment she had him was precious to her. Children grow up all too quickly, and treasured moments all too soon become sweet memories.
So, anyway, this year I have been focusing on the lives of women in the Bible. When I am on my face before the Lord crying my heart out, wondering what my life story will one day look like, I ponder the lives of these women who found favor in the eyes of God, and ask myself if I even have a fraction of their strength or character. These were not perfect women - just available to God, and that gives great hope! God seems to like to use our weaknesses to glorify Himself. Yea!
I have spent a lot of time in Esther this year – oh how I love her story! And the life of Anna, the prophetess who witnessed Jesus being blessed by Simeon in the temple, and started giving thanks to God. She gives me pause. She was totally devoted to God, continually giving herself to fasting and prayer, for over 60 years! What compels a person to live such a life, and what riches in Heaven are reserved for one such as that? It makes me weep to know what a wretch I have been, and yet God, in His unchanging faithfulness, still has a plan and purpose and can use someone like me for His Kingdom. I really learned that last year when I was given my first song from the life of Gomer (Hosea). Very little is said about her as a person, except that she was a harlot who Hosea took for a wife, and she tore his heart out by her harlotry so that Hosea could adequately express the sorrow of God over the unfaithfulness of His people. But the story has a happy ending. Fairy tales and soap operas have got nothing new. Why resort to fiction when there are real life stories that are better? Every heartache. . . every sin. . . every victory. . . has already been told in the life of someone who God used in the history of His Creation, if we just take time to ponder their journeys…
posted by Shirley @ 8:42 PM
2 Comments:
At 9:25 AM,
Anonymous said…
look atchoo burnin up the blogs!! thank you for the extra Christmas Treat, shurl-gurl. :)
At 8:33 PM,
Angela said…
good post. 10 points ;) probably 3 years ago our pastor did a series on the women listed in the lineage of Jesus and it was so fantastic. oh man. rock my face off.
it was so great to meet you woman!!!!
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