Secret Number 85

The Women of Christ’s Genealogy

Audio read by Tom Parks - MP3

The Byte Show Interview - MP3

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In the historical records of the New Testament we find the genealogical accounts giving the line of Jesus. In the Gospel of Matthew, who are the four women worthy of being mentioned in this genealogy?: The four women are: Tamar, whose chief role in biblical history is that she committed incest in the biblical sense (Genesis 38:13-26 with Leviticus 18:15); Rachab who was of the hated race of the Canaanites and a harlot (Joshua 2:1); Ruth who was a foreigner of a race conceived in incest (Moab) from which no male convert could become a Jewish proselyte for at least ten generations (Deuteronomy 23:3); and the fourth was Bathsheba who was best known for her adultery with David (II Samuel 11:4,5). And though Mary, his physical mother, was a pure virgin, most people at the time considered Christ to have been born of fornication (John 8:41).