Sunday Sermon

In his genealogy, Matthew breaks with Jewish tradition and custom. He mentions the names of four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba (who is the one to whom the pronoun “her” in verse six refers). Matthew has a reason for naming these four and no others. First, they were all Gentiles. Second, three of these women were guilty of sexual sins. The purpose of Matthew’s genealogy, then, is to show why Yeshua could not be king if he were really Joseph’s son.