St. Matthew’s Gospel is a Gospel known as the one written by a Jew for the Jews. He opens with a genealogy, which was a very respectable thing to do. But there’s a somewhat unusual cast of characters in St. Matthew’s genealogy that was read today (Matt. 1:1-25). Ancient genealogies, Jewish ones in particular, focused on men. This genealogy includes four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bethsheba.
Let’s look at who these women were. They must be important if St. Matthew broke the rules of ancient Semitic genealogies to include them:
Tamar (Gen. 38) had a husband named Er who was so wicked that God killed him. Pretty unlucky! Because she was childless, the custom of that time was for the brother to help his sister-in-law bear a child. I won’t go into the explicit details mentioned in Gen. 38, but Onan refused to cooperate. So, God killed him as well.
Unlucky for Tamar once again. So, she disguises herself and and seduces her father-in-law, Judah, committing a form of incest to bear children. You would think St. Matthew would be tempted to leave this embarrassing chapter out.
Let’s turn to the next woman, Rahab (Joshua 2 and 6), that’ll be a more inspiring story, right? Well, Rahab was a Gentile prostitute, which would have been two very big strikes against her character for a Jewish audience. She, however, believed that the Hebrew God was superior to the ones being worshiped in Jericho, and so she helped the Hebrew spies when they arrived in Jericho. So, there’s some redemption here.
Ruth was a Moabitess. It was not lawful for Israelites to marry a Moabite. Yet she has a very noble and inspiring character. She abandons her pagan gods and embraces the true God, so she receives an honorable mention.
The fourth woman is not even mentioned by name. Instead we read “the wife of Uriah,” to emphasize just how much evil took place here. Uriah was a valiant soldier for King David. While Uriah was out fighting a war for David, the King stole Uriah’s wife Bathsheba, sleeps with her, and then has Uriah murdered. Adultery and murder are two of the three greatest sins. Some ancient commentators held the opinion that Bathsheba went along with the adultery and murder willingly, being enamored with the thought of becoming a queen.
Why would St. Matthew include these four women in the genealogy of the Son of God, the Savior of the world?
When God became man, St. Matthew felt it was important that we know of both the virtuous and scandalous forebearers of our Lord. In this genealogy, we see God embracing every messy part of our humanity. At His Incarnation, He took upon Himself every aspect of our humanity so that it could be healed. And at His death on the Cross, He took our sin upon Himself so that it might be destroyed.
A little later in the Gospel passage we heard this morning (1:21,23), our Lord Jesus is given two names: Emmanuel (God with us) and Jesus (Savior). We’ll come back to those in a moment.
We all have a journey that is both past and present. If you’re anything like me, both the past and present contain some good and some ugly. Through our highs and lows, joys and sorrows, virtues and sins, God has continued to be Emmanuel. He has been with us, never leaving or forsaking us (we’ll sing about “God with us” during Great Compline on Christmas Eve).
The four women mentioned above can be seen as three phases in our life. Tamar represents our impetuous youth in which we chase after fleshly desires, doing what is inappropriate, unlawful, and even scandalous.
Rahab represents a continuation of sinful life, but at the same time, an awakening to truth. We harbor God’s spies – that is – the whisperings of the Holy Spirit that are stirring our hearts awake and turning us against the evil prince of this world.
Ruth symbolizes a resolute decision; a firm resolve to turn away from our old life. Like the Prodigal Son, we come to ourselves and to our senses, beginning a life of repentance. As she was a Moabitess coming from a pagan background, we too have a past that may be shameful. But it can be reconciled to God.
Bathsheba is leaving the reconciled, covenant relationship with God. Our soul returns to its former spiritually adulteress desires, seeking a life outside of God’s will. The murder involved can represent unrestrained anger or envy that we harbor in our thoughts. By this fall into sin, the holy matrimony between our soul and the Lord is broken.
All through these phases of life, God continues to be Emmanuel, the God who is with us. Through the highs and lows, God has stayed near us. But why? Because He loves us and is faithful, even when we are unfaithful (cf. 2 Tim. 2:13).
Last of all, we have Jesus, which is Hebrew for Savior or Victor. It is the same name as Joshua, the man who led the children of Israel into the Promised Land shortly after Moses’ death, and whose story intersected with Rahab.
This Jesus is our Savior. His conquering of death and sin intersects with our lives. Through the Cross, He rescues us from the sinful desires that enslave us, control us, and make us miserable. He heals us, loves us, and brings us into the Promised Land of His eternal Kingdom.
So, we prepare ourselves with the remainder of this Nativity Fast so that we can make ourselves ready to meet our God incarnate, the Bridegroom of our souls. By God’s grace and our fasting, we begin to purge the land of our hearts of the internal enemies who sow discord, enmity, strife, and death.
May our Lord guide us into unity with Him.
Update: The original article posted here had a few errors in it (which are mentioned in the comments). It has been updated to be more accurate.
Nice article, with great points – but I’m puzzled about why you omitted Rahab (verse 5)?
That’s a great question. I noticed her name but feel her story parallels Ruth’s close enough that it wouldn’t make a significant contribution to the point I was trying to make of a soul dwelling in sin, moving to repentance, and then falling back into sin. I’ve updated the title of the blog to make it less confusing (removing the definite article at the beginning).
The genealogy mentions a fifth woman: the Virgin Mary. I probably should have included her as well as the ultimate goal that we are moving toward: Christ dwelling within us.
If the Tamar you mention is the one in Genesis 38:6 “Then Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.”
As we read, she tricked her father-in-law, not her father, in order to bear Judah’s twins Perez and Zerah. So I’m not sure where there is any incest in that? Thank you for any clarification on this.
Hello FH, you are correct. Judah was not her father, but her father-in-law. I have updated the text to reflect that correction.
However, relations with a relative who is not strictly related by blood is still improper. As an example, consider 1 Cor. 5, in which St. Paul is livid that a man is having relations with his “father’s wife.” Paul would have said “with his own mother,” except it was probably his stepmom. The woman, like a mother-in-law or father-in-law, did not participate in the conception of the man Paul was reprimanding. Yet even the ancient pagans found such incest intolerable.
I think Tamar’s actions would fall under a similar condemnation. Additionally, she did it through deception. She pretended to be a harlot and seduced Judah. I’m not defending Judah. There are no admirable people in that passage in Genesis. The whole story is one unsightly account.
Thank you for your correction. This article was a summary of a homily that I did in which I put much more thought into the moral lesson and today’s application than I did in historical study. The comments and emails I’ve received on this article are good reminders for me to do a little more research on something before I post it to the world.
Thank you Fr..Jeremy for the quick response!
I think we can both agree there is much wisdom to be gained from Judah and Tamar’s story, and like so much of the Bible, so many gems of truth to be discovered. I do believe it’s still a beautiful story, in addition to showing God’s intentional super-transparency, with unsightliness and all, it screams of Tamar’s patience and tenacity, and God’s goodness and mercy towards her. God truly works in mysterious ways that may seem unsightly to the world, but He wasn’t going to allow Judahs aloofness ruin His plan. It almost seems Tamar knew God’s plan better that Judah did.
In the end God beautifully rewards Tamar with not one but two sons, and humbles Judah! What an awesome God!
Christ be with you!