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1. What stood out to me from this chapter?
I decided that reading the four gospels would be an excellent way to start the year 2015 out. However, there is a strong temptation for me to just skip the genealogy of Jesus at the beginning of Matthew. After all, at least half the names in the list are completely unknown to me, and many of the others I only know a little about. But I decided that since it "made the cut" of what to include in the Bible, it was worth my reading. What stood out to me from the genealogy list was that even though it traced the lineage through the males, there were specifically five females that made the list. Each of them has their own interesting story, but I'll just list them briefly: Tamar (conceived through righteous trickery), Rahab (a prostitute turned believer), Ruth (a foreign woman), Bathsheba (who is mentioned as Uriah's wife, and was basically raped by King David), and Mary (who was most likely a teenage girl).
2. How does this passage relate to any other Scripture I know?
Here are the links to where you can read about the stories of these interesting women:
- Tamar - Genesis 38
- Rahab - Joshua 2 and 6
- Ruth - Ruth 1-4 (which also contains a section of the same genealogy)
- Bathsheba - 2 Samuel 11-12
- Mary - Luke 1-2 (and Matthew 1-2)
3. So what does this mean for my life?
Although the genealogy list doesn't explicitly offer much in the way of life application, the second half of the chapter offers a neat example of trusting God in Joseph. Despite the worldly perspective that Joseph should divorce Mary (even a righteous law-following worldly perspective), Joseph pays attention to the angel, and obeys God. Verse 24 says, "...he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife." There are many times when God's commands are clear, and I simply need to trust and obey even if it doesn't make much sense from a worldly point of view. Finances are a great example: "Give money away when I don't have much for myself?" It still works.
4. What questions do I have about this passage?
I know that there are different ways of doing genealogies, but I was just wondering if this is a complete genealogy from Abraham to Jesus, or if there are some names and generations that got skipped over. If so, why would Matthew claim that there were 14 generations between each section? Was 14 significant for some reason?
That's it. I'm excited to go through each chapter of each gospel and become more familiar with the life and teaching of Jesus.
In Christ,
Dan
One of the notes in my Biblr says "in the first 17 verses of Matthew we meet 46 people spanning 2,000 years. All were ancestors of Jesus but they varied considerably in personality, spirituality, and experience. Some were heroes and heroines... Some had shady reputations... Many were ordinary... Others were evil... God's work has never been limited by human failures or sins; he works through ordinary people. God used all kinds of people to bring his Son into the world; he uses all kinds of people today to accomplish his will and he wants to use you." I think that is really cool and encouraging for us all!
ReplyDeleteThat is a great note. I believe that Matthew may have included the genealogy to show how Jesus fulfills the prophecies about being from the line of David and Abraham's "seed". Yet I think God shaped the genealogy and inspired Matthew to include it to show that he is the one at work, and he uses all kinds of people.
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