Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Scripture: Matt. 1: 2- 6 Dec. 14, 2025

Message: “Five Women in the Genealogy of Jesus!”

by Pastor George Gnade

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Introduction: 1. In the O.T. and even in Jesus’ day, women were rarely mentioned. That was especially true in the vast majority of genealogies, especially biblical genealogies.  

2. That is a good reason to ask ourselves why five women are mentioned in the genealogy of the baby Jesus.

a. Women’s rights were not an issue in Jesus’ day. So this was not a political issue. 

b. In fact, in Jesus’ day, women were no better off than slaves.  In preparation for Christmas, this is a good subject to consider.

A. Let us begin with Tamar.

1. She is the first one mentioned in Matt. 1: 3. It says: “Judah (was) the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar.” 

a. As Jacob was dying, he predicted in Gen. 49: 10 that “the scepter would not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet until He comes to whom it belongs, and the obedience of the nations is His.”

b. We believe Jesus was the one who would come to whom the scepter belonged. And someday all the nations would obey Him. Here is one of the most important prophecies about the coming and birth of the Lord Jesus.

2. But Judah did not always live a godly life. He married a woman who did not know the Lord. He had three sons through her. As was the custom, he then found a wife for his first born son whose name was Tamar.

a. But Judah’s sons, coming out of this marriage, were not godly. The Bible says God put Judah’s first born to death.

b. In those days, if your husband died without having children, then Judah’s responsibility was to give Tamar his next son instead. But he was also not in God’s will and he died too. That only left Shelah. And Judah was afraid he might die too.

3. So he told Tamar to wait till Shelah was older. But he never planned to keep his word. She figured that out for herself. 

a. She knew Judah often had sex out of wedlock so she dressed up like a common harlot and kept her face covered. Then she went where she knew he would go. And he had sex with her.

b. In exchange, he promised to send her a young goat the next day. She asked for a pledge as proof he would keep his word, and when he responded, “What pledge should I give you?” She asked for his seal and its cord and the staff in your hand. He agreed.

c. But the next day, she was nowhere to be found.

4. Instead Tamar went home and waited till her baby could no longer be hid. And when Judah sent for her, intending to put her to death, she revealed the seal and cord and staff that belonged to Judah himself. 

a. Openly admitting he was more guilty than she was, he let her live. You guessed it, she had twins who were named Perez and Zerah.

b. And Perez, the son of Judah and Tamar, was the one chosen by God to become part of the genealogy of Jesus.

c. Meanwhile, this may have been one of the reasons why Judah got his own life straightened out. Amazingly, God forgave them both. Isn’t the forgiveness of our sins what the coming of Jesus was all about? 

B. The second woman mentioned in this genealogy was Rahab (Matt. 1:5).

1. Her story is more familiar to many of you. Rahab was also a harlot who lived in a house on the walls of Jericho. a. Now Joshua had taken Moses place and God had chosen him to defeat the Canaanites in what we now call Israel.  Joshua had sent spies into Jericho to evaluate what Israel was up against. 

b. But somehow the leaders of Jericho found out spies were in the city. They ended up staying with Rahab, who offered to hide them in exchange for her life and the life of her relatives. 

2. Rahab told the spies that she had heard what God had done to Egypt and believed in their God. Therefore she was willing to risk her own life to save their lives. 

a. That is exactly what happened. Her life was saved and she too changed her life around and married Salmon. So we have another story about the grace of God when a person comes to believe in Him and begin living for Him. 

b. And in Matt. 1:5, it tells us that Salmon and Rahab had a son named Boaz, and Boaz married Ruth who had a son named Obed, who was the father of Jesse, who became the father of King David.

C. This brings us the story of Ruth and Naomi.

1. Naomi’s husband chose to take his family to Moab during a famine in Israel. Moab was known for their sinful behavior and dislike for Israel.

a. The Moabites were so bad God said they would never be allowed in the house of the Lord… (Deut. 23:3). b. But Naomi’s husband died and her sons married two Moabite women named Ruth and Orpah. After ten more years, her sons died too.

2. In her grief, Naomi felt a deep need to go back to Israel.

a. Because she had no other sons who could provide for her daughters-in law, she encouraged them to stay behind.

b. Orpah did, but Ruth liked what she saw in Naomi.

In Ruth 1:16, Ruth said to Naomi: “Don’t urge me to leave you or to stop following you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. And your people will be my people and your God my God.”

3. I believe this was a conversion experience.  They went back to Israel together.

a. By God’s grace, He brought Boaz into her life. He was willing to become a kinsman redeemer for Naomi.

b. Through Boaz and Ruth, Obed was born.  And through Obed, Jesse was born, and through Jesse King David was born through whom Jesus was eventually born.

4. Ruth seems like a very godly women, especially after she chose Naomi’s God over the gods of the Moabites. But she was still from a Moabite background. 

a. The miracle is that God chose this woman in spite of all the things God Himself said about the Moabites. 

b. Again, isn’t that the gist of the Christmas story that people from all nations who choose to follow the Lord can be forgiven and accepted into God’s family?

D. The fourth woman mentioned in this genealogy is Bathsheba (Matt. 1:6). 

1. This verse doesn’t even use her name. It simply identifies her as Uriah’s wife, whom David committed adultery with. In fact, David even had Uriah killed so he could justify his marriage with her.

2. Yet God chose David’s son Solomon, born through Bathsheba, to be the one through whom Jesus would eventually be born.

3. Did David confess his sins and get right with the Lord? Yes, he did. But the consequences of his sinful behavior affected him for the rest of his life.

a. Don’t ever think sin is worth it. It’s not. 

b. But as Paul once put it: “Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners of whom I am chief.” If God could save David and Bathsheba, God could save Paul too.

In conclusion: 1. Mary was the fifth and last woman mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy. We will talk more about her on Christmas Eve. 

2. But this genealogy was written to illustrate how the story of Christmas beautifully portrays the amazing grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Since God could save and forgive them, He certainly can save and forgive us too if only we will ask Him to forgive us and choose to follow Him. Amen!