Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests
to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of
The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of
David, the son of Abraham:
Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of
Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez
and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the
father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon
the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz
the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse
the father of King David. Matthew 1:1-6a
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be
to God.
Have you ever traced your lineage, undertaking a detailed
study of your ancestry to better understand your origins?
Some people have shown a passion for this; others may
hardly show an effort to know their most immediate family ties, as if their
pedigree is of little to no importance.
Well, the Bible seems to indicate to us that heredity is
a matter of significance because we find it referred to all the time, too many
to mention. Think about how many time the scriptures add that a person was a
son of this person or a daughter of that, and I’m sure you’ll agree.
To further reinforce this assertion that the Bible places
an emphasis on a person’s roots, we find in our continuing study of the New
Testament Gospels that there are two distinct genealogies connected to Jesus
Himself. Both answer the question, “Who was in Jesus’ family tree?” We’ll be
looking at the answers to this question over the next few days.
We’ll start by looking at the first third of the
genealogy of Jesus as written in the Gospel of Matthew. Look again at that
passage here:
This is the
genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Abraham was the
father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father
of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the
father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz,
whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed
the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. Matthew 1:1-6a
Two separate tracings of the ancestry of Jesus, in some
places alike, in others very different; in one instance, abbreviated, in the
other, complete.
Let’s look closer and see those who are in the line of
Jesus.
In Matthew’s account, we find Abraham as the starting
point, the first of three segments that spanned fourteen generations each:
Abraham to David, David to the beginning of the Babylonian exile, and finally
the Babylonian exile to Jesus. Let’s look at things of interest within each
segment:
Segment 1:
As we look through this list, we remember a lot of
specific stories surrounding the key names we see:
Abraham willing to sacrifice his only son Isaac in
obedience to God, only to have the plan changed at the last possible moment.
Isaac going on to have two sons of his own, the younger
of the two, Jacob, getting not only the birthright but the blessing his older
brother, Esau, deserved.
Jacob would go on to have his name changed to Israel and
bear twelve sons, each of which would lead a tribe of Israel. One of those
sons, Judah, would be in the line of Jesus.
Fast forward and you will find two women mentioned this
list, Rahab and Ruth.
You’ll hopefully remember Rahab as the prostitute who
helped save two spies sent by Joshua to scout the land of Canaan but especially
Jericho (Joshua 2). The king of Jericho had gotten wind the spies were within
his land and sent soldiers to abduct them but Rahab told them the spies had
fled, a lie because she had hidden them on the roof of her home. After the
soldiers departed, Rahab made a pact with the two Israelites: If she spared
them, they would ensure that she and her family would be spared when the
Israelites invaded. The agreement was struck and Rahab assisted the spies in
escaping, lowering them down by a rope through a window since here home was
actually a part of the city wall. Once outside, the Israelites were able to
escape to safety.
Well, go to Joshua, Chapter 6 and you’ll find that the
Israelites destroyed and plundered the city of Jericho but they spared Rahab
and her family for the way she saved the spies earlier. And as we now know,
Rahab would bear a man by the name of Boaz who would be connected to the second
woman in this passage, Ruth, who we know has an Old Testament book bearing her
name.
Of course, what makes Ruth’s inclusion even more amazing
is that she was a Moabite who married a son of Naomi, a son who would subsequently
die, leaving Ruth a widow. Ditto for her sister Orpah who also experienced the
misfortune of her husband passing. So given that Naomi had lost her husband
Elimelech even before Ruth and Orpah were added to the family, there were now
three widows who were left to fend for themselves. With no future in Moab,
Naomi decided to head back to Judah, urging Ruth and Orpah to go back to their
families where they could still remarry, bear children, and still have some
kind of future. Orpah would reluctantly do as Naomi suggested but Ruth refused
to leave Naomi’s side, not only willing to go back to Judah but also completely
open to converting to Judaism, committing herself to follow Naomi’s God.
Once back in Judah, these two widows were trying to
figure out how they would make ends meet together when Naomi came up with a
plan. She knew of a relative, a kinsman-redeemer named Boaz, who could help
their situation by assuming custody of Elimelech’s land and in doing so, become
their caretaker. And so Naomi sent Ruth to go meet Boaz on the threshing room
floor. There, Boaz agreed he would be the kinsman-redeemer if the man who was
actually closer in line would decline to take her.
This set the stage for Boaz to negotiate with the other
relative, meeting with him and explaining the situation, that Naomi was selling
the land of Elimelech and giving him the opportunity to redeem it. The man
first agreed to redeem it but quickly reversed field when he learned that Ruth,
a Moabite widow, was also part of the deal. Fearing that taking on Ruth would
place his own inheritance in danger, the closer relative declined the deal and
Boaz stepped in to seal it for himself. He would also make Ruth his wife and
they would bear a son named Obed who we learn would father Jesse who would in
turn help bring David into the world to become one of Israel’s most beloved
kings, a man who gained the reputation of a man after God’s own heart.
Earlier, we pondered who was in the line of Jesus. We
have only looked at the first third of Matthew’s genealogy, the first fourteen
generations, and we have already seen a lot of prominent, interesting people who
are included.
Tomorrow, we’ll look at the next fourteen generations,
beginning with David.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment