Jesus’ Ancestors (1:1-17) Part 10

Before moving on, just a word about “levirate marriage”. In De. 25:5-10 we read this:

“If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.

The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.

“However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to carry on this brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.’ Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, ‘I do not want to marry her,’ his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, ‘This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.’ That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandled”

The word “lever”, from the Latin “brother-in-law”, is derived from the Hebrew, “have”. At the time in history, not just the Israelites, but many other ethnic peoples believed the the only form of “immortality” a man would have would be “patrilineal” succession and bequeathing of property to a son. A man who died without a son was summarily excised from memory. So his brother was expected to marry his brother’s widow, and give her a son who would bear the departed brother’s name and inherit his property.

The Book of Ruth sees the custom of levirate marriage in very flexible terms. When the closest  male relative refuses to “redeem” Naomi’s property, her next-in-line kinsman, Boaz, chooses to do so. And he gives Naomi a son by marrying her daughter-in-law Ruth (Naomi being too old to become pregnant). In this way Boaz becomes “Kinsman Redeemer” and fulfills the levirate duty as well. The whole point, of course, was lineage and inheritance – to say nothing of genealogy.

Jesus’ Ancestors (1: 1-17) Part 9

Then, there is another woman to consider. Bathsheba was a Hittite woman, wife of Uriah one of King David’s military leaders. While Uriah was on duty, David seduced Bathsheba, then had Uriah killed. To maintain whatever honour David could have salvaged from such a sinful, tawdry act, he married Bathsheba. She eventually gave birth to King Solomon. And wonder of wonders, she is listed as one of Jesus’ progenitors!

So, Matthew’s genealogy includes four non-Jewish “Mothers of Messiah”. Absolutely astonishing for the culture and messianic expectation of the time. But, there are two more! A prostitute and a virgin.

The prostitute was the Canaanite woman, Rahab, who aided two Israelite spies in the well-known Jericho story (Joshua Ch. 2). It is conjectured by some biblical historians that Salmon may have been one of those two Israelite spies. The fact that she is mentioned in Ja. 2:25 and He.11:31 suggests that her profile was very much alive in Matthew’s day. Interestingly, rabbinic legend portrays eight prophets, including Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch, among her descendants. Nevertheless, Matthew includes her in Jesus’ pedigree as great-great-great grandmother of King David.

And the virgin? Well, there’s only one–Mary, the unmarried but betrothed mother of Jesus. Only fourteen or fifteen years of age at the time of her “visitation” by the angel Gabriel, she stands out as the singularly most famous and revered woman in history. She is the last of six “mothers of Messiah”: Lot’s daughter, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, Mary. Such an unlikely sextet!

Jesus’ Ancestors (1:1-17) Part 8

Then there’s the story of Ruth. An entire, but brief, book of the Old Testament tells us about her. A Jewish man, Elimelek (“My God is king”), with his wife Naomi (“Pleasant”), migrate from Bethlehem to the region of Moab because of a famine. In Moab, shortly after, Elimelek dies. His widow is left with two sons and both marry Moabite women one of whom is Ruth. About ten years later both sons die leaving Naomi, Ruth and Orpah without male protection. The Bethlehem famine ends and Naomi decides to go back to her hometown and extended family. Orpah stays in Moab, but Ruth determines to accompany her and care for her. It’s at this point that Ruth, resisting Naomi’s entreaties to stay with her own Moabite people, makes the timeless statement: “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.” (Ru. 1:16,17) So the two of them return to Bethlehem, Naomi changing her name to “Mara” (“bitter”), “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full but the Lord has brought me back empty.” (1:20,21)

As it turns out (read Ruth for the fun, romantic account) Ruth marries Naomi’s wealthy relative Boaz. It’s a scandal because Ruth is a foreigner. Moab (descended from one of Lot’s daughters) is an enemy, “unclean”, an alien. But Boaz marries her nonetheless, and becomes the protector, the “kinsman redeemer” for Naomi and Ruth. Most importantly, however, the scripture tells us that Ruth bears a son to Boaz and Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The women living there said, ‘Naomi has a son!’ And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. Then harking back to Judah and Tamar’s son Perez, the Bible says,

“This then, is the family line of Perez:

Perez was the father of Hezron,
Hezron was the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon
Nahshone the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz,
Boaz the father of Obed,
Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of David.”
(Ru.4:18-22)

And as Matthew’s genealogy tells us, King David became the ancestral father of Jesus.

Jesus’ Ancestors (1:1-17) Part 7

Judah married Er to a young Canaanite woman named Tamar. Their marriage was short-lived. Er died. So Judah ordered his n ext son, Onan to have sex with Tamar in order “to raise up offspring for your brother.” This was what we know as “levirate marriage” (more on that later). Onan complied with his father’s command but not fully. Whenever he ejaculated he withdrew (“coitus interruptus”) and “spilled his semen on the ground.” He “knew the child would not be his.” We’re told, “what he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight”, and so God is credited with his death.

So the patriarch consigns Tamar to widowhood — a fate worse than death in that culture — and tells her to wait until Shelah is old enough to father children. Tamar submits to Judah’s instruction and goes home, disgraced, to live with her parents.

Shortly thereafter Judah himself is widowed. Then, after the mourning period, he sets out to find his workers who are shearing his sheep. Tamar hears that her father-in-law is on the road. She quickly discards her widow’s garments, dresses as a prostitute, and intercepts him. He propositions her. She accepts, but demands a “pledge” or “IOU” that will guarantee Judah’s compliance in sending her a “goat” for payment. He gives her this “seal and its cord”, and the “staff in his hand”. This was quite extravagant — It would be like surrendering your driver’s license and credit cards. Judah was already awash in guilt, apparently.

A few months later Judah is told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution and as a result she is now pregnant.” Judah responds angrily, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!” When she is confronted she coolly replies, “I am pregnant by the man who owns these” and she produces the seal and staff of Judah. Judah embarrassed, replies, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t giver her my son Shelah.” Tamar, exonerated, gives birth to twins Perez and Zerah. Perez becomes a progenitor of the kings of Judah. Truly, “God moves in mysterious ways.”

Jesus’ Ancestors (1:1-17) Part 6

In Ge. 38:1-3 the narrative of Judah and Tamar is written. Judah was the fourth-born to Jacob’s first wife Leah. He was the “father” of the future Isrealites who later took on his name to describe their territory — the southern kingdom of Judah — and their national/ethnic designation: “Jews”. As you read the Genesis account you realize that this story summarizes events over the course of 15-20 years. It reads like a soap-opera.

Judah’s era was what modern Israelis refer to as “meyode primitivi” (very primitive). It was a raw time of battles between ethnic clans, ongoing struggles with health and nature, short life-spans, and more sorrow than joy. Rape and pillage were common, as was the vie view of women as sex-objects and wombs for sons. They had the status of prized animals in many cases. Sexual morality had faint profile. It was a man’s world, and it was the strong man who prevailed.

Judah was such a man. He ruled his household with inviolable authority. What he wanted he got. What he commanded was obeyed. His word was his will. In this account we read about his marriage to a Canaanite woman, daughter of a man named Shua. She gave Juda three sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah. There appears to have a gap of several years between the last two.

Jesus ‘ Ancestors (1:1-17) Part 5

But before moving on, there is something powerfully ironic in this genealogy. In contradistinction to almost all other Jewish records, Matthew’s includes women! Here are their stories. In Ge. 19:30-38 we read about Lot’s daughters. Lot, Abraham’s nephew had settled in Sodom which at that time was a fertile valley. The moral climate of Sodom was sexually out of control, and there was a decided hedonism characterized by pride, gluttony, laziness, and the neglect of the poor (Ez. 16:49). God decided to destroy it, but gave Lot and his family angelic warning. He, his wife, and daughters fled. While camping in a cave in the mountains outside of a small town called Zoar something happened that greatly offends modern sensibilities. Lot’s daughters slept with their father.

Why? Well, for one thing women in that day found their value in their capacity to bear and raise children (sons especially). Here Lot’s daughters were, stuck in a cave, with the whole world (as they thought it) destroyed. They did not want the human race to end with them. So, since their father was the only living male, they chose a deliberate and “practical” course of action. This had nothing to do with sexual pleasure. It was all about keeping the race alive.

As it turned out, both became pregnant, and bore two future enemies of Israel–Moab (Moabites) and Ben-Ammi (Ammonites).

Jesus’ Ancestors (1:1-17) Part Four

But the common people, those illiterate, impressionable labourers, farmers, and shop-keepers, also had their say:

“Could this be the Son of David?” (Mt. 12: 23)

“A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy o me!'” (Mt. 15:22)

Perhaps the ultimate declaration, albeit not from the apostles, nor the people, was the voice of the demonic spirits, no better illustrated than by Luke 4:33, 34:

“In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, ‘Go away! What do you want with us Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!”

This is what Matthew wants to stress–Jesus is Son of Abraham, Son of David, Son of Man, Son of God. He ‘is’ the Messiah. Thus the genealogy.

Jesus’ Ancestors (1:1-17) – Part Three

This critical heritage was of huge import to later biblical writers. Listen to Peter, as he speaks to thousands in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:29-36:

“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on the throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to Life, and we are all witnesses of it… Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

Or, Paul, in Romans 1:2-4, where he refers to,

“the gospel he (God) promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power…”

Then there’s John in the Revelation, 22:16, where Jesus says,

“I, Jesus… am the Root and Offspring of David and the bright Morning Star.”

Jesus’ Ancestors (1:1-17) – Part 2

This emphasis on genealogical purity was even harsher when it came to the centuries-long Jewish expectation of a future messiah. His pedigree had to go back all the way to Abraham, and, more specifically, he had to be a “son of David”. This is why Matthew starts his genealogy of Jesus with, “Abraham was the father of Isaac…”. Messiah’s family history had to be built on this exclusive bedrock.

It is surprising to the modern reader to discover in doing a little historical study that most people in Jesus’ day were illiterate. There were many scrolls in the synagogues and courts of law, but no books, as we know them today. And, all of those religious and legal works were written and copied by ‘hand’. So, when a rabbi taught there were few, if any, note-takers. Learning was done by memorization.

This is why Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus is recorded in three groups of fourteen people each. Each group of fourteen is a summary and they’re listed in orderly fashion to assist memorization. The theologians call this literary device a “mnemonic.”

So, the first groups of fourteen trace Jesus’ genealogical history from Abraham to King David (vv. 1-6). The second moves from David to the Babylonian exile (vv. 7-11). And the third progresses from Babylon to “Jesus who is called Messiah” (vv. 12-16). And that is Matthew’s point precisely – Jesus is Messiah, child of Abraham, Son of David, Son of God.

Jesus Ancestors (1:1-17) – Part 1

Nobody enjoys reading genealogies. That is, unless you’re a genealogist! The Bible has several, and most of us when confronted by one tend to roll our eyes and press the delete button. It seems irrelevant.

But in Jesus’ day, genealogies were taken with great seriousness. A genealogy was see as a “pedigree”. It proved “purity” of lineage. Jesus’ culture, of course, was Jewish and  no one could call himself/herself a “Jew” if there was any foreign blood in their veins. The “Chosen People” had “chosen DNA”. They were exclusive.

What’s more, with the critical component of religious observance in Jewish culture, those who served them spiritually, the priests, had to have an unbroken lineage right back to the first priest, Moses’ brother Aaron. And the priest’s wife had to have “pure Jewish blood” at least five generations back. The priests had to prove their acceptability as God’s servants by this exacting physical and spiritual rigour. Nothing else would do. Indeed, Jerusalem’s ruling council of seventy elders, the “Sandhedrin”, made sure of it. They kept and assiduously checked the genealogical records.

There was no “gray area” when it came to being a Jew. Interestingly, in modern Israel there is a very strict adherence to pedigree in the Ministry of Immigration. If you arrive at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv with papers proving your Jewish heritage, you are given citizenship immediately… It was founded as a Jewish state and Israel works hard at keeping the “bloodlines” pure. But, no papers – no citizenship. Case closed. Appeal as much as you have energy for, to the Ministries of Immigration and Interior, but you’ll lose. A pedigree is a pedigree.