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Merry Christmas! Jesus’s Bloodline in Matthew

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There’s another interesting feature of Matthew’s genealogy. There are women in it who are associated with sexual immorality in the Old Testament, who Spong labeled the Shady Ladies:

The incest of Tamar, the prostitution of Rahab, the seduction of Ruth and the adultery of Bathsheba were the experiences in his ancestry through which Jesus came to be born, as shown in the story of Matthew’s genealogy. All of these women were foreign, and by the standards of that day, all of these women were sexually compromised. This is the way Matthew introduces the story of Jesus’ birth.

Sexual immorality in the bible basically suggests that you defile yourself so you can’t come into the presence of God. Interestingly, if you look at these women apart from the sexual sense that follows them, they are quite heroic.

The symbolism seems to make the obvious connection that Jesus who is born of a mother that knew no sexuality and was only adopted into the sexual immorality (including David’s sexual immorality) line of Joseph, he was heroic like the shady ladies without having sexual proclivity or acts that would defile him. This is one of the main senses Jesus was without sin. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8; cf. Psalm 24:3–4). Jesus was adopted into Joseph’s Davidic bloodline as believers through baptism are also adopted into God’s family, Paul calling Jesus the firstborn of many brethren.