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Bible Reading: 1st Peter 1:10-12 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: (11) Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. (12) Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
Matthew 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Listed in the lineage of the Messiah are some unlikely candidates. Five women. In the Hebrew culture, women were not normally listed in the lineage, but they are in the lineage of the Messiah. These five women are: 1) Tamar, (Matthew 1:3) who slept with her dead husband’s father 2) Rahab (or Rachab in Matthew 1:5), a well-known prostitute 3) Ruth (Matthew 1:5), a Moabitess 4) Bathsheba, or “…of her that had been the wife of Urias” in Matthew 1:6), an adulteress, 5) Mary (Matthew 1:16), a virgin.
None of these women would be considered eligible to be in the lineage of the great, holy, and of course Jewish Messiah, either because of their immoral lifestyles (as with Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba), being non-Jewish (as with Ruth), or never having been with a man to have a child (as with Mary). But, God is the great mold-breaker!!
Tamar – We are going to focus on Tamar for now, to show you the length to which God will go in order to work all things together for His glory and His plan.
In Genesis 38, we read that Tamar was the daughter-in-law of Judah, who was the fourth xuallyson of Jacob and Leah. We know, from (Genesis 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.), that the Messiah was supposed to come through the line of Judah. The problem is that there were some major problems with the line of Judah.
Tamar was married to Er, Judah’s oldest son. Er was so wicked that God killed him. We don’t know how this was done, we only from Genesis 38:7 And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him. That’s his legacy!
Judah then told his second son, Onan, to marry Tamar and have a child with her, and name it after Er. Onan gladly had sex with Tamar, but he did not want to have a child with her and name it after his dead brother. So, God killed him also.
Judah promised Tamar that, if she would remain a widow, he would let his younger son, Shelah, marry her. After Judah’s wife died, he goes up to Timnath, and sees a prostitute. He goes in and has sex with her and promises to pay her later with a young goat. As collateral, she keeps his bracelets, staff, and signet ring until he returns. He quickly returns with the goat, knowing that the items she has could easily identify him, but he could not find the prostitute anywhere. So, he goes back home.
After three months, Judah hears that Tamar, his daughter-in-law, is pregnant by someone she’s not married to. He then orders her to be burned. There were only two offenses for which people may die by burning. 1) Prostitution by a priest’s daughter (Leviticus 21:9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.) and 2) Incest. (Leviticus 20:14 And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.)
As they were getting ready to burn Tamar for getting pregnant without being married, we read in Genesis 38:25 When she was brought forth, she sent to her father in law, saying, By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet (that says “Judah #1 on it”…I added that part), and bracelets, and staff. Tamar had dressed up as the prostitute that Judah slept with three months earlier. He had slept with his own daughter-in-law and didn’t know it.
Judah then acknowledges his sin in Genesis 38:26 And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her (had sex with her) again no more. Tamar had twins by her father-in-law, Judah, Pharez and Zamar and it would be through the lineage of Pharez that the Messiah would come.
The Curse of Being Born out of Wedlock
We now know that, in Genesis 49, it would later be prophesied that the Messiah would come through the lineage of Judah, but there was a problem. Judah’s two older sons were dead and he had twins by his daughter-in-law, but they were illegitimate children because they were born out of wedlock and God pronounces a curse upon those who are born out of wedlock, in Deuteronomy 23:2 A bastard (illegitimate child) shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.
Well, God would just use Judah’s youngest son Shelah, right? Wrong! God uses the lineage of Pharez, one of the illegitimate children, to bring the Messiah into the world. Let’s see how God does that.
Remember, the curse of the illegitimate child lasted to the tenth generation. Matthew 1:3-6 …1) Phares begat Esrom; and 2) Esrom begat Aram; (4) And 3) Aram begat Aminadab; and 4) Aminadab begat Naasson; and 5) Naasson begat Salmon; (5) And 6) Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and 7) Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and 8) Obed begat Jesse; (6) And 9) Jesse begat David the king; and 10) David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias; From Pharez to David is 10 generations and the curse is broken at the birth of David, who later would be king of Israel and through whom God would bring the Messiah.
The Curse of Jeconiah
We read in Matthew 1:11 And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon: Jechonias (or Jeconiah, Jehoiachin, or Coniah) was a very wicked king in Israel’s history. It was during his reign that Israel was taken into Babylonian captivity.
God pronounces a curse upon Jechonias in Jeremiah 22:24-25 As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence; (25) And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life… (Jeremiah 22:30 Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.
How is it that God cursed the lineage of Jechonias, yet, we read that Messiah would come through the lineage of Jechonias in Matthew 1:11 And Josias begat Jechonias… I thought God said no king would descend from Jechonias. Isn’t Jesus the King of kings?
The lineage of Jechonias came through the lineage of King Solomon, the son of King David and it was through this lineage that Joseph the husband of Mary came. But, Jesus was not the biological son of Joseph. Jesus is the biological Son of God. So, the DNA of Joseph was not in Jesus, therefore the DNA of Jechonias was not in Jesus, which means Jesus is exempt from the lineage, and therefore the curse, of Jechonias.
Jesus is still in the lineage of King David through his mother Mary, who came through the lineage of another son of David by the name of Nathan. (Luke 3:31 …Nathan, which was the son of David,) Therefore, Jesus still gets to descend from the lineage of King David and bypasses the curse of Jechonias because the line of Jechonias is Jesus’ adopted lineage through His stepfather Joseph, not His biological lineage through His mother, Mary.
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