Jesus’ Lineage

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Matthew 1;1-17   Jesus’ Lineage

Genesis 25     Esau despised his birthright and traded it for a meal to his twin, Jacob

Genesis 27     Jacob deceived his father, pretending to be the firstborn, thus stealing the blessing for the firstborn, Esau, and leaving nothing positive for him.

Genesis 28:5     So Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddam Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Genesis 29:13-43  Jacob worked 7 years to marry Rachel, the younger daughter of Laban, then seven more after he was deceived by Laban and the daughters, and then worked longer for his own herd

Genesis 31:19-35   Rachel continues deceiving as was the apparent custom of this family.

Genesis 38:1-30   Judah and Tamar

Joshua 2    Two spies and Rahab   

Book of Ruth    Naomi and Ruth.  Ruth, a woman from Moab became the mother of Obed, the grandfather to King David.

2 Samuel 11:1-5   David’s wanting Bathsheba

2 Samuel 11:6-21  David arranged Uriah’s death

1 Kings 1:11-40   Solomon is crowned king by his father, King David

1 King 2:1-4     (I underlined verse, not bible)       When the time drew near for David to die. He gave a charge to Solomon his son.  “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said, “So be strong, act like a man, and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses.  Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: “’If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ 

2 Kings 18:1-8      King Hezekiah loved God—he destroyed the worship of false idols and destroyed all the altars his father had used to offer children as sacrifices to Molech and other false gods.

2 Kings 19:1-37   King Hezekiah, Isaiah and God.  When the Assyrians had surrounded Jerusalem and were taunting how they would ‘overtake the city, so give in and things will go better for you’ Hezekiah and Isaiah prayed, and God reassured that the city would not be overtaken and the Assyrians would have a bad ending.

 

 

Have you given much thought to Jesus’s human ancestors?  There were some scoundrels who were rather sly, to the point of cheating and stealing from siblings.  There were others who were admirable and almost always tried to do the right thing.

God called Abraham to be the Father of many nations, and after YEARS of waiting, deep into old age, he and his elderly wife gave birth to one son, Isaac.  Isaac was eventually given a wife, a cousin from his mother’s side, Rebekah who came from a sneaky, shady family, but she was willing and anxious to go with the servant and meet the man she would marry. 

They had twin sons, Esau and Jacob.  Esau was a rough, fairly gruff, and impatient man with a hearty appetite for many things.  Jacob was gentler, a hard worker, but enjoyed staying closer to home; but he had a bit of a devious manner, probably learned from his mother. . .she did come from a family who practiced some underhandedness in dealings with others.  One day when the impatient and impulsive Esau came into the family home after a hard day’s work hungry, he demanded his brother serve him food.  Jacob readily agreed IF Esau would hand over his birthright.  Apparently with no qualms, Esau gave it to him, enjoyed his meal and went about his business.

Shortly later, their father Isaac was dying and wanted to bless his sons.  Rebekah, wanting the blessings to go to her favorite son, maneuvered this to happen, with AGAIN Jacob getting the elder son’s blessing.  Again, devious actions that caused hurt and separation.  Again, at his mother’s urging, Jacob fled to his uncle’s home.  This was Rebekah’s brother, so of course there is bound to be some deception to some of the agreements made.

Long short, Jacob agreed to work for seven years to attain Rachel’s hand in marriage.  However, Laban, Rebekah’s brother, insisted the girls switch places on the wedding night, ensuring that Jacob bed Leah and not Rachel.  I wonder if he ever saw the irony of his cheating Esau and Laban AND the two girls deceiving him?

In total, twenty plus years have passed, and Jacob has had enough and wants to return home.  The families pack up and start the journey.  I am sure Laban would have come after them anyway, but he was more incensed to find his idols had also disappeared.   All denied knowing anything about them, Jacob challenges Laban to find them, but Rachel, again possibly well trained in her deceptive family, lies to her father and reports she is having her period so she cannot get up so he can search her animal and belongings—and yet, SHE has stolen the objects.

Jacob had twelve sons from his two wives and two concubines, Judah being the fourth son from Leah, Rachel’s unloved sister.  Judah marries and has three sons, the eldest marries Tamar, but he was a sinful man and God killed him, so the middle son, according to Jewish law then had to marry Tamar and the first son’s lineage could be continued.  Not wanting to do that, he refused to impregnate her, God killed him, and Judah sent her home to her own father stating the youngest son was too young, but he would call for her when the lad was old enough to marry.

When that did not happen, Tamar entrapped her father-in-law, Judah, by appearing as a harlot, when in with him demanding his cane and a few belongings, became pregnant and had told him when he brought her money, she would return his belongings.  She was never found until it was observed that she was pregnant.  ‘SLUT!  We must stone her!’ 

She then presents Judah’s belongings to him and others, and Judah realizes he had deceived her by withholding the youngest son.  He became the father of twin sons, Perez and Zerah.

Several generations later, the Israelites have been enslaved in Egypt, and God chooses Moses to free them and bring them all into the Promised Land.  Of course, there was much grumbling, doubt, whining, and the trip of eleven days was extended to 40 years.  But the time has finally come when God will lead them to victory to conquer the lands of milk and honey. Moses has died, and Joshua is leading this massive group of people.  He sends two spies across the Jordan river, and they came upon a woman named Rahab who had the reputation of serving men in the King’s reign.  Some believe she had been sold as a young girl since her family could not pay the taxes, and Rahab had become a favorite in the upper echelon of the palace grounds.  She had her own living quarters, and she chose to hide these Israelite spies and help them IF they agreed to help her and her family. 

Both sides of the IF held up.  She protected them, helping them escape, and when the walls of Jericho came crumbling down, the spies rushed to get Rahab and her entire family safely across the Jordan.  Although not raised with the Jewish laws and customs, this woman believed in God and God’s power, and she wanted that—and risked her safety to get it for herself and her family.  She and Salmon married, this non-Israeli woman, and she too became one of the ancestors of Jesus.

Soon after the birth of Obed, a Moabite woman, Ruth, followed her mother-in-law back to Bethlehem and Jerusalem area.  Ruth was an honorable woman but had been raised in a home that believed in many gods, the chief one being Chemosh, but living with the Jewish family of Elimelech, Naomi, and Mahlon, I believe she came to respect there was one God and chose to stay with Naomi.  God directed her to the “right” field and owner to accomplish His will for her, Naomi, Boaz, and us.  Ruth was awarded another husband, caring, protective, and kind; they had a child, Obed, who was King David’s grandfather.

Most of what we read of King David showed him to be a good man—defender, strong soldier, loyal, and patient regarding waiting for what God had promised him (the kingship).  He wanted to please God and did most of the time.  But, like us, he was a man, just a man, and therefore was full of a sinful nature also.   He had several wives and many concubines. 

One day while walking on his roof, he spied a woman on her roof bathing, and demanded she be brought to him.  She was, became pregnant, and then he arranged to have her husband, one of his chief and loyal soldiers to be killed. David’s servants had told him who the woman was—her father, and her husband!  Yet, he still proceeded with what HE wanted.

I always have questions about this—why did Bathsheba go along with this?  Why or did she tell him she was married to one of his top soldiers?  Was there no conversation between the two; was it just a quickie?

He was also not a very involved father, showing his sons how to be men and kind, not selfish and self- serving.  There was little to NO discipline; he didn’t even defend his daughter after she was raped by a half-brother. 

After David, his son Solomon was appointed and chosen king by God.  Solomon was the fourth son born to him and Bathsheba, but as there were 19 sons between all the wives, of which there were 10, and Solomon was listed as son number 10. 

Initially, Solomon asked for wisdom to govern well, and God granted that, but over time he became arrogant and smug, and started dealing with women of non-Jewish descent and at least allowing them to have full worship to these fake gods and idols.  For all his wisdom, that was NOT very smart, and eventually cost the kingdom.

The next King I admire was Hezekiah.  His father threw children into the furnace and fire of Molech an idol and ‘god.’   He did not want to live like his father did, and tried to make good decisions for the people and ensured they follow God, destroying much of the idol altars.  When the Assyrians were going to destroy the kingdom in Jerusalem, Hezekiah sought God instead of succumbing to the bully’s threats, and God came in and saved them.  Later, however, Hezekiah was bragging to another nation about his wealth and that country, Babylon, rose up and stole it from his son, Manasseh.

Several centuries after Hezekiah, the royalty is dissolved, there has been times of captivity, enslavement, and rebuilding and returning to God and Jerusalem, and then another act of God, which could have been a huge, gossipy scandal when a young virgin, betrothed to wed, but they had not, becomes pregnant by the Holy Spirit.  Mary was a descendant of King David’s son, Nathan, so also in the line of King David, and her mother’s family was probably of the Levite clan since Elizabeth was married to a Levite and from the tribe of Levi.   And although, through Matthew’s first chapter, it is easy to trace the lineage of Abraham to King David then to Joseph, he was not a biological father to Jesus, he certainly raised the child to close to manhood.

Even before Jesus walked the earth, there were fallen people, non-Israelite people, and so forth who served their purpose in the Kingdom and in His lineage.  That does my heart good—we all have a place to serve Him.  It is God’s will and direction for His purpose. 

So although God demanded the Israelites marry with only other tribes to keep the line ‘pure’ and without the potential for idol worshipers and sinful persons to taint His holy nation, He designed us to see that there were many who were not always honest, decent, or Jewish.  Our progress is a continuous process as we work with Jesus and the Holy Spirit to become more like our Savior.  I am so thankful for the knowledge that He accepts us as we are—sinful, not pure, and with multiple faults, but guides us to become more like Him.  I praise and thank You for all You do for me and ‘mybellaviews.’