Welcome to the first week of Faithlogue’s 2024 Winter Series: “The Women of the Promise.” Please subscribe to receive each week’s post in your email inbox and to receive Faithlogue’s monthly subscriber newsletter.
The New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (called the Gospels) reveal how Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection fulfilled God’s promises found throughout the Old Testament. For example, God declared that Eve’s offspring would crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15); God proclaimed He would bless all nations through Abraham’s offspring (Genesis 22:17-18); and He promised to provide an Eternal King in the line of David (Isaiah 9:1-7.)
This study will explore these promises through the stories of the women included in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus found in Matthew 1:1-17.
This opening passage of Matthew connects Jesus’s ancestry directly back to Abraham through 42 generations. Through this record, Matthew sets the theological tone of his gospel. By connecting Jesus to Abraham, Matthew asserts that Jesus Christ fulfills God’s covenant with Abraham from Genesis 22:17-18:
“I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
Matthew 1:1-17 begins with Abraham and names each father-to-son progression down to Jesus. Like all such records, this list only tells part of the story. In reality, the birth of every son on the list required a mother’s labor. Without God’s creative work through both the mothers and fathers together, there would be no genealogy or promise fulfilled.
Although most are unnamed, each mother in Jesus’s ancestry contributed to God’s covenant-keeping. Unfortunately, we cannot know the full maternal genealogy of Jesus from Sarah to Mary. Those historical records simply don’t exist in our modern era. However, Matthew does name four mothers on his list: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Mary. He also refers to Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba, as the one who “had been Uriah’s wife” (1:6).
I believe Matthew named these women to help undergird his thesis that Jesus fulfills God’s promise to Abraham. For example, each of these women played a unique and vital role in rescuing the family line of Abraham from extinction, thus illustrating God’s faithfulness in keeping His promises. Likewise, some of these women were foreigners, symbolizing how God planned to bless “all nations.”
Matthew included these women intentionally, and their stories are worth our time and attention as we seek to know and trust God. Therefore, for this series, I would like to present the stories of the five listed women in Matthew’s genealogy: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. Through these women, we will learn about the nature of God and the progression of His covenant-keeping.
Before we dive into these stories, it will be helpful to understand the origins of God’s promise to Abraham. Therefore, I would like to add the experiences of three women whose names are not listed by Matthew: Sarah, Rebekah, and Leah. These women mothered the first three sons in Matthew’s genealogy: Isaac, Jacob, and Judah. Their stories provide a foundation for understanding God’s covenant-making and the important role of God’s daughters in His plans.
I hope you will join me each Wednesday for the next nine weeks as we explore each woman’s story together. Given the short, chilly days of this long winter season, it cheers me to realize that Easter will be here when we finish!
The best way to keep up with the study is through email, so please subscribe to receive each week’s post in your email inbox and to gain access to the monthly subscriber newsletter.
As I mentioned in this month’s subscriber newsletter, each post in this series will include a set of 3-4 discussion questions beginning next week. You can interact with the questions individually during your own Bible study time. However, I encourage you to consider inviting a friend or small group to meet and discuss your answers to the questions together.
Such discussions provide a great excuse to build community as you enjoy coffee or a Zoom chat with a friend. In case you need help getting started, I will feature a bonus post next week with hints and guidelines for group Bible study.
If you take this option to study with friends, I hope you will let me know how it goes!
I look forward to studying the faith stories of these women with you (beginning with Sarah) next week! Happy reading and discussing!
© 2024 Lori Myers Berry