A Woman God Can Use - Part 1

Matt 1:1-6 NLT - This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar). Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Ram. Ram was the father of Amminadab. Amminadab was the father of Nahshon. Nahshon was the father of Salmon.  Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab). Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth). Obed was the father of Jesse.  Jesse was the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon (whose mother was Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah)....Matt 1:16 NLT  - Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah.

I know that you just skimmed over all of those names! I have done the same thing many times. But go back and read them! Most of us just skip over these scriptures entirely because we can’t pronounce most of the names. One Sunday morning, while the preacher was reading out of Matthew 1, something just jumped out at me.  Look back at the entire scripture…verses 1-16.   There are only 4 women listed.  What really caught my attention was that a couple of them I recognized as women who had a very sinful past.  So I decided to do a study of the 4 women listed here.  If the Holy Spirit thought they were important enough to include in the bible, then there is something that we need to learn from the lives of these women.

The first woman mentioned was Tamar.  Her story is found in Genesis 38.  She was a Canaanite woman that married two of Judah’s sons.  Eventually, she posed as a prostitute and slept with her father-in-law Judah and became pregnant with twins. 

Next, there is Rahab.  She was a prostitute that hid the two spies that Joshua had sent to check out Jericho (see Joshua 2). 

Ruth was a Moabite woman that married an Israelite man who was living in Moab.  After he died, she stayed with her mother-in-law Naomi and moved with her back to Judah. Her story in found in the book of Ruth. 

The final woman mentioned was Bathsheba.  In 2 Samuel, chapter 11, she was introduced.  She became the object of King David’s desire and committed adultery with him while her husband, Uriah the Hittite, was off at war.