Matthew’s Women – Ruth and Mary!

from Google Images

This study concludes my study of Matthew’s women. There are five. Four, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and ‘her who had been the wife of Urias’ or Bathsheba, are found in Matthew 1:3-6. Bathsheba is the only unnamed woman of the four, which may indicate that Bathsheba was a name given her by the author of 2Samuel 2 and 1Kings 1, in the same sense that Simon, son of Jonah, was called Peter (Matthew 16:17; cp John 1:42) by Jesus and Joseph was called Barnabas by the Apostles (Acts 4:36). The name Bathsheba means daughter of the oath. These four women were gentiles, and each lived either before David reign or during it. Thus, including these women tarnishes the royal ancestry, foreigners, cursed women, prostitutes, adultery and murder, the proverbial skeletons in the royal closet! Yet, the story that these women bring to God’s people show them to be redeemers, in a time when men failed in their faith and responsibilities.

 

The Mosaic Law and Foreign Servants

from Google Images

“Membership has its privileges” was an old slogan for the American Express credit card.[1] Advertisements usually showed desirable rewards one might obtain with the use of the company’s card and name. One might enjoy an otherwise unaffordable vacation or a night out at a really fine restaurant etc. The implication was, if you had their card, they had your back. You could afford what might be otherwise unattainable for you for “cash only”. The card / membership gave you buying power when you needed it, and wherever you needed it.

 

Luke’s Birth Account of Jesus

from Google Images

If Luke is writing to the then current high priest of the Jews, the stories he tells of Jesus would have to be important to his overall theme, which is to convict Theophilus of the sins of the priesthood, repent and accept the Gospel of the Kingdom, which offers Jesus as Savior through his crucifixion and resurrection.