by Captain Michael Ramsay
This morning is our final morning of our teaching on the lineage of Jesus as laid out in Matthew and Luke. One thing that always comes with a teaching unit is a final exam: so let’s see how we do.
Matching Test[1]
- Adam and Eve
- Noah
- Abraham
- Judah and Tamar
- Rahab
- Ruth
- David and Bathsheba
- Josiah
- Zerubbabel
A. He built an ark
- He built a temple
- He died in battle
- She was a Moabite
- He was from Ur of the Chaldeans (Iraq)
- She was a Canaanite prostitute
- They were the first people
- He is their child’s legal father and grandfather
- He was a king; she may have been a Hittite
The people who we
chose to look at in our nine part sermon series on the lineage of Jesus were
some of the more interesting names in the list: some of the ones that we have
quite a bit of information about in the Biblical record. We also picked them
because we thought their stories really help to underline two key points that
God seems to emphasize through Jesus’ genealogy:
1)
There are consequences for our
actions; however, God will not forsake us in difficult times (Deuteronomy 31:6;
Judges 1:5, 16:2; Romans 3:3-4, 6:23; Hebrews 13:5).
2)
Salvation is offered to the whole
world, including and especially the marginalized and those in distress (Luke
19:10; John 1:29, 3:16, 4:42; Acts 2:21; Romans 5:6, 6:23; 1 Timothy 2:3-6;
Titus 2:11).[2] And
including each of us as well.
1.
Adam and Eve
The first people
who we looked at in our series on the lineage of Christ were Adam and Eve.[3]
They were the first people that God created and God loved them and God gave
them a very important task or two. Do you remember what he asked of them?
1)
Take care of the earth (Genesis 1:28b)
2)
Multiply, bringing the news of God to
the ends of the earth (Genesis 1:28a)
3)
Save the fruit of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil; don’t eat it yet (Genesis 2:16-17).
The first people
disobeyed and even tried to deceive their Father. They sinned. They defied Him
even after He had created this whole garden for them and even after He had
given them each and everyone of the animals to name and all save one tree from
which to eat. God did all this and they still defy Him (Genesis 2-3). This makes
God very sad and so:
1)
There are consequences for their
actions but God does not forsake them in the ensuing difficult times.
2)
Salvation is offered to them;
including and especially when they are in distress.
The consequences
are, of course, ‘the fall’ (Genesis 3). They are removed from the garden; they
need to work hard to get the earth to produce fruit. There is now pain in
childbirth. However, God does not forsake them. He provides them with clothing
and protection as they enter into their new world. He offers them salvation
right in the midst of their distress. Even when they notice that they are naked
and want protection from the elements, it is God who provides the clothing for
them (Genesis 3:21). He does not forsake them and He will not forsake us. He
offers them salvation and He offers us salvation.
2.
Noah
The people of
Noah’s time, like Adam and Eve, are asked to take care of the earth and to
multiply and thus bring the good news of God to the ends of the earth (Genesis
9:1).[4]
The people of Noah’s time, the Bible says, ‘were only evil all the time’
(Genesis 6:5-7). This makes God very sad and so
1)
There are consequences for their
actions: God feels the need to drown the world in His sorrow (Genesis 6-8);
however, God does not forsake people in these difficult times.
2)
Salvation is offered to them. When
they are in their greatest distress, God enables Noah to build an Ark to save
not only humanity but also the animals of the earth (Genesis 6-8). God does not
forsake them and He will not forsake us. He offers them salvation and He offers
us salvation.
In our homily that
was a part of this series, we also noticed how the first thing recorded that
Noah’s family does upon experiencing their salvation is to commit another
grievous sin to do with Ham ‘uncovering Noah’s nakedness’ (cf. Genesis
9:18-29).[5]
1)
There are consequences for their
actions: Ham’s descendants - Canaan is cursed; however, God does not forsake
the people in difficult times (Genesis 9:25).
2)
Salvation is offered to them; when
they are in their greatest distress, you will notice that the Canaanites are
especially chosen to be a part of the salvation for the whole world in that
they are in the direct lineage of Christ: possibly Tamar and definitely Rahab
is a Canaanite chosen especially as part of Jesus’ lineage (Genesis 38, Joshua
2-6).[6]
You and I are also invited to be a part of His life and His family.
3.
Abraham
Abraham is the
first name mentioned in Matthew’s genealogy of Christ (Matthew 1:2). The other
names mentioned today came from the Lukan account (Luke 3:23-38). Abraham is a
righteous man. Just like God tells Adam and Noah to fill the earth spreading
the Good News of God’s love to the ends of the earth, God does the same thing
around Abraham’s story (Genesis 11-25). The prelude to God’s covenant of
Salvation through Abraham is the tower of Babel episode (Genesis 11:1-9).[7]
The people, instead of moving like they were told, disobey God by staying put
and building a tower for their own fame and glory.[8]
1) There are consequences for their actions:
God confuses the people’s languages and sends them out in spite of their
rebellion (Genesis 11:8). God does not forsake them in the following difficult
times though.
2) Salvation is offered to them
including and especially when they are in distress. God, as recorded in Genesis
12:3, proclaims the Good News of Salvation for the first time in the
Scriptures. All the nations of the earth will be blessed through Abraham. And,
of course, this is fulfilled in the lineage and life of Jesus who is the Christ.
He does not forsake them and He will not forsake us. He offers them salvation
and He offers us salvation.
4.
Judah and Tamar
Judah is the
oldest son of Israel not to disqualify himself from his birthright. He however
does do some pretty awful things in his life, including initiating the sale of
his younger brother into slavery (Genesis 37:26-28), but he nonetheless still
receives the birthright Also of note, however, is the fact that it is not only
he that is here mentioned.[9]
Tamar, his child’s mother, is also mentioned. This is quite significant. Tamar
is Judah’s daughter-in-law and he deals quite harshly with her. According to
the customs of that time and place, when Tamar’s husband (Judah’s son) died,
Judah was required to provide his other sons to her so that she may have an
heir and so that this heir might look after her in her old age. It is mentioned
numerous times throughout Genesis 38 that God is displeased with this
unwillingness to provide an heir. Judah eventually even sends Tamar away and so:
1)
There are consequences for his
actions. Tamar dresses up as a prostitute and Judah has relations with her
(Genesis 38:12-19); however, God does not them in these difficult times; He
provides an heir.
2)
Salvation is offered to Judah and
salvation is offered to Tamar. When they are in their greatest distress, God
enables Tamar to conceive a child who becomes an ancestor of Jesus, God’s own
son. Judah then invites Tamar back into his household and Tamar and her son are
saved (Genesis 38:24-30). God does not forsake them. Abused and abuser both,
God does not forsake them and He will not forsake us. He offers them salvation
and He offers us salvation.
5. Rahab
Rahab is a secular
Canaanite prostitute in a doomed pagan city. Foreign spies sneak into Jericho
where she lives with her family and the foreign spies come to visit the local
prostitute (Joshua 2-6).[10]
1)
There were consequences for the
Canaanites as we learned from the Noah episode (Genesis 9:25-29; cf. also
Genesis 15:16); however, God does not forsake Rahab and He does not forsake the
Canaanites in difficult times.
2)
Salvation is offered to Rahab, a
marginalized prostitute, at her time of distress as her whole city is
destroyed. And more than that God chooses this Canaanite prostitute to be an
ancestor of our Lord and Saviour. God uses the Canaanites to bring salvation to
not only the Israelites but also to the whole world (Matthew 1:5, Hebrews 11,
James 2:25).[11] He does not
forsake them and He will not forsake us. He offers salvation through and to
them and He offers salvation to us.
6. Ruth
6. Ruth
Ruth is a Moabite.[12]
Moabites, like the Canaanites, were at best marginalized and at worst cursed.
Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, abandons the land promised to the Israelites and
flees to Moab. She and her husband leave the land that is their
inheritance. Her sons marry foreigners
and then her sons and her husband die (Ruth 1:1-5).
1)
There are consequences for her
actions; Naomi and Ruth both suffer some very difficult times (Ruth 1);
however, God does not forsake them in these difficult times.
2)
Salvation is provided for marginalized
and distressed Naomi and for Ruth, her daughter-in-law, and ultimately for the
whole world (Ruth 2-4). God chooses this Moabite – from the land of Balaam
(Numbers 21-24) - to be an ancestor of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. God
uses the Moabites to bring salvation to not only the Israelites but also to the
whole world.[13] He does not
forsake them and He will not forsake us. He offers salvation through and to
them and He offers salvation to us.
7. David and
Bathsheba
David is the most
famous king of Israel.[14]
He is the warrior king who fought to expand his nation. He is the man. David
has many wives and God could have chosen any of them to carry on the line of
salvation. God however chooses Bathsheba and the significance of God’s choice
should not be missed on the readers of the Gospel of Matthew. Look at Matthew
1:6b: It says there that the Messiah’s ancestor is David and (what does he call
Bathsheba?) Uriah the Hittite’s wife. David takes this foreigner’s wife and has
relations with her and then murders Uriah, who is a famous war hero. Matthew
wants us to be very much aware of this as he mentions not only David but also
Bathsheba and he mentions her not by name but as someone else’s wife. David comes
together with Bathsheba through adultery and through murder (2 Samuel 11).
David exploits his position and he takes advantage of the marginalized in the
kingdom.
1)
There are consequences for David’s
actions: his first child by Bathsheba dies (2 Samuel 12:15-23); however, God
does not forsake Bathsheba and God does not forsake David in these difficult
times that David created.
2)
Salvation is offered to David –the
powerful- and salvation is offered to Bathsheba –the powerless. And ultimately
this Bathsheba who is taken by this king who murdered her husband, this
Bathsheba – who is probably a Hittite (2 Samuel 11:3), Bathsheba is chosen by
God to be an ancestor of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. God uses this
Hittite to bring salvation to not only the Israelites –her son was King Solomon
under whose reign Israel’s territory and power reached its height- but God uses
this Hittite to bring salvation to the whole world. He does not forsake her and
He does not forsake David and He will not forsake us. He offers salvation
through and to them and He offers salvation to us.
8. Josiah
Israel is long
destroyed and Judah is in its death throws. Judah has so forsaken the LORD that
they have even forgotten Him and they have even lost the Scriptures and the
Book of the LORD. Israel and Judah have become evil by the time Josiah comes to
the throne (2 Kings 21).[15]
1)
There are consequences for their
actions: God does not spare Judah (2 Kings 23:26-27). The country is erased
from among the nations for the evil that was done but even then God does not
forsake them in the ensuing difficult times.
2)
Salvation is offered to them
especially when they are in distress. God uses Josiah to lead His people back
to Him before He disperses them among the nations (2 Kings 22). This way they
have God with them. While they are at their lowest point, they can turn to Him
and lean on Him in their distress. God is there for them even as they are
suffering the consequences of their actions. He does not forsake them and He
will not forsake us. He offers salvation to them and He offers salvation to us.
9. Zerubbabel
Zerubbabel is a
descendant of David while the people of Judah are without a nation-state. He is a governor and he and a High Priest who oversee the rebuilding of the Temple (which was where they
came to believe that God lived and which was originally destroyed shortly after
the death of Josiah). It is during Israel’s exile and then life as a conquered
people, it is at this point that they start looking for the Messiah who will be
the Saviour of Judah, Israel, and the whole world. Today, the lineages of most
of the Israelites have been lost forever from human records. Contemporary
Israelis are predominantly descended from North American and European Jews:
they aren’t even Semitic. According to Al-Ha’aretz, a prominent Israeli
newspaper, as well as many well respected contemporary scholars, most non-Arab
Israelis today are descended not from the Israelites of old but rather from the
Khazars, people who lived in the Caucasus mountains: they aren’t Semitic; they are
Caucasians. Contemporary Israelis are not ancient Israelites.
However, that
being said, when Jesus returns, the Lion of Judah will rise and Israel and the
whole world will have a King. That is who the Messiah, the Christ is: He is the
one who will rule the whole world from His throne in Jerusalem and we know that
this Messiah is none other than Jesus Christ. He is the King of all the nations
and it is by no accident that Jesus has in his lineage Judean Israelites –both
privileged and otherwise, Moabites, Canaanites, and wives of Hittites. Jesus,
who is the saviour of the whole world, has in his lineage even the most
disparaged and disadvantaged people. Jesus, the King of Israel, Judah and the
world, is descended from the peoples of the world and He is Israel’s saviour
and He is our saviour. He is the saviour of the whole world and one day He is
coming back and when He comes back every knee will bow and every tongue will
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord; so:
1)
Even though we live in a world filled
with the consequences of humanity’s actions, God neither leaves us nor forsakes
us;
2)
Salvation is offered to all of us even
now; including and especially when we are in distress. In our time of need, our
Lord is here. He will neither leave us nor forsake us. We are grafted into His
vine. We are invited to be a part of His Salvation.
Let us pray. Thank
you Lord that you are no respecter of men (Acts 10:34). Thank you Lord, as it
records as far back as Genesis 12:3, that salvation is for all the nations of
the earth. And thank you Lord for your promise that whosoever believeth in you
shall not perish but will have everlasting life in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
----
[1] 1G, 2A, 3E, 4H, 5F, 6D, 7I, 8C, 9B
[2] Cf. Joel B Green. ‘The Gospel of Luke’. NICNT. Vol. 3.
(Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), 25.
[3] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Genesis 1-4: God: Creator, Governor,
and Preserver of All Things', presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation
Army (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, SK: 26 Feb 2012). Available on-line:
[4] Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Genesis 6:5-7: This is going to hurt me
more than it hurts you,’ presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army
(Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, SK: 10 June 2012). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/06/genesis-65-7-this-is-going-to-hurt-me.html
[5] Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Genesis 9:18-29: Idiomatic Noah,’
presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, (29 Sept 2013).
Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/09/genesis-918-29-idiomatic-noah.html
[6] Cf. Thomas W, Mann, The Book of the Torah: The Narrative Integrity
of the Pentateuch, (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1988), 66-68., re.
Tamar
[7] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Genesis 11:1-8, 31-12:4: So that we
can make a name for ourselves’, presented to the Nipawin Corps of The Salvation
Army, (Sheepspeak.com: Nipawin, SK: 14 June 2009). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2009/06/genesis-111-8-31-124-so-that-we-can.html
[8] Cf. Terence E. Fretheim, The Book of Genesis, (NIB I:
Abingdon Press: Nashville, 1994), p. 412 where he argues that the primary sin
here is the unwillingness to move and the ‘making a name for themselves’ is
secondary.
[9] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Thanksgiving at Judah’s House,’
presented to Swift Current Corps of
The Salvation Army, (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, SK: 13 Oct. 2013).
Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/10/thanksgiving-at-judahs-house.html
[10] Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Rahab the Redeemed (Joshua 2&6,
Hebrews 11:31, James 2:25),’ presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation
Army, (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, SK: 25 September 2011), the Weekend of
Prayer to Stop Human Trafficking
(Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, SK: 20 October 2013) Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2011/09/rahab-redeemed-joshua-2-hebrews-1131.html
[11] Cf. Richard S. Hess, Joshua: An Introduction and Commentary.
Downers Grove, IL.: InterVarsity Press, 1996 (Tyndale Old Testament
Commentaries 6), S. 89
[12] Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Ruth 1: Footprints in the Snow,' presented
to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current,
SK: 27 October 2013). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/10/ruth-1-footprints-in-snow.html
[13] Cf. Jessica Tate, “Ruth 1:6-22: Between Text and Sermon,”
Interpretation 64 (2010)
[14] See Captain Michael Ramsay, '2 Samuel 13-18: Taking Matters in His
Own Hands: the Story of Prince Absalom,' presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps
(Sheepspeak.com: Nipawin, SK: November 18, 2007). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2007/11/2-samuel-13-18-taking-matters-in-his.html and Captain Michael Ramsay, '1 Samuel 17:46
– 47: The Battle belongs to the Lord,'presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps
(Sheepspeak.com: Nipawin, SK: July 6, 2008. Presented to Swift Current Corps on
May 2, 2010 Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2008/07/1-samuel-1746-47-battle-belongs-to-lord.html
[15] Captain Michael Ramsay, 2 Kings 22:1-23:30 (2 Chronicles 34-35):
Josiah’s Preparation for Israel’s Life after Death. Presented to Swift Current
Corps of The Salvation Army, (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Currrent: 10 November
2013). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/11/2-kings-221-2330-2-chronicles-34-35.html
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