Redemption for Eve

I had an interesting assignment in my New Testament survey class at Liberty University. We were studying the genealogy of Jesus and had to post a reply to the following question:

"What do you observe about the genealogy of Jesus in as recorded in Matthew 1? Who are the surprising individuals that are included? What do you make of them being in the line of the Messiah?"

Here's my reply:


One of the first things that stands out is the poetic license Matthew uses in the numbering of the generations. He notes fourteen generations between each significant event. We know from other lineage lists given in the Old Testament that this is a "telescoping" of the years and generations to highlight the importance of the events. Not uncommon in Jewish literature. I think we have to be careful not to apply anachronistic and ethnocentric values when evaluating the accuracy of ancient texts. Matthew is making a point about Jesus' being of royal heritage, and is drawing attention to "waypoints" familiar to Jewish readers.

The most surprising individuals listed in the genealogy are of course the women. Jewish genealogies simply did not list women. Even more striking is the "questionable" reputation of some of these women. The first to appear is Tamar. Tamar is widowed by Er, whom God killed for his wickedness. Then she is humiliated by Onan who refuses to provide her a child. In her desperation, she plays prostitute in a ruse against her father-in-law. She ends up pregnant out of wedlock and is about to be burned to death until she reveals it is his child.

Tamar is followed by Rahab, a prostitute and a Canaanite. Not much else needs to be said! Next we have Ruth, the Moabite. Interestingly, Ruth married into a family from Bethlehem (daughter-in-law of Elimelech). Ruth risked scandal sneaking onto the threshing room floor and covering herself with the corner of Boaz' cloak. Third, we have Bathsheba, listed as Uriah's wife. We are reminded of the woman taken in by an adulterous King through the cruel murder of her honorable husband. Finally, we have Mary, a scandalized virgin who was nearly divorced before she was married.

I think when these women are added to the women with whom Jesus interacted in the New Testament, a picture begins to come together. He spared the woman caught in adultery. He drove seven demons out of another. He allowed his feet to be washed with perfume and the tears of another. He took time out for a half-breed homewrecker at a well in Samaria. He lent his power to stop the bleeding of a woman in the crowd. And who was the first to discover the empty tomb? To whom did he first appear after His resurrection?

Jesus is the second Adam through whom the sons of the first are redeemed. But He also came to redeem the daughters of Eve. The heart of God is broken by the abuses the enemy sends upon them. From the first shame Eve felt in her nakedness, to the pain of childbirth, from a spineless husband who blamed "this woman you put here with me" to the loss of her son Abel, the curse of sin pains the One who desperately wills us the best.

In the genealogy, birth, life and resurrection of Christ, those most scorned are elevated beyond the second-class citizenry to which the sons of a spineless father continue to try and banish them. "In Christ there is neither...male nor female..." The godly man is to love her as Christ loved the Church, by giving his life to protect, defend and redeem her from the lies of an enemy who has only sought to shame and deceive her since the beginning.

The Son of Adam and David, reverses the trends of his human lineage, and lives up to his name as "Yeshua": God Saves!