The Five Women Of Mathew One: A Seven-Week Study of Women in the Bible

By Janet Jagers

Janet Jagers has taught the Bible for forty-five years in women's Bible classes, Child Evangelism Fellowship, and Awana programs. She is a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors and is currently studying to become a biblical counselor through Light University. Janet is a survivor of breast cancer, Lyme disease, and lupus and writes to encourage other women as they go through similar trials. Seeing a need for studies on women in the Bible written from a woman's perspective, she is now turning her years of teaching notes into book form. Her greatest desire is to help women to develop a strong relationship with Jesus Christ and to pass their faith on to their children. She and her husband of fifty-five years, Donald, have three children who are all actively involved in Christian ministry, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Janet currently resides in South Carolina. Why are women mentioned in the genealogy of our Lord in the first chapter of Matthew? Why five women instead of three or four or even seven? And why these particular women who are so very different? Janet Jagers answers these and other questions in her book, The Five Women of Matthew 1. Listen to the stories of Tamar the Canaanite, Rahab the Harlot, Ruth the Moabite, Bathsheba the Israelite, and Mary the Mother of Jesus. As we study the lives of these five extraordinary women, we will discover wonderful truths like-no woman is so bad that she cannot be saved, and no woman is so good that she does not need to be saved. As their stories unfold, we will discover anew the unfathomable debt of God's amazing grace and unfailing love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9781641142526

Book preview

cover.jpg

The Five Women Of Mathew One

Janet S. Jagers

Copyright © 2018 Janet S. Jagers

All rights reserved

First Edition

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc

New York, NY

First originally published by Christian Faith Publishing, Inc 2018

ISBN 978-1-64114-251-9 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64114-252-6 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Acknowledgments

I want to thank my father, Alton R. Steward, for making this book possible. His fondest desire was to financially help his three daughters fulfill their dreams. I also want to thank my brother-in-law, Charles A. Cast, who diligently worked to connect Daddy’s desire with my dream. I am also deeply grateful for my sister, Gloria A. Cast, who spent countless hours of her time editing my work. Above all, I want to thank the Lord for using all three of these loved ones to produce a book that will help to share the magnificent truth that God’s Amazing Grace is available to all who are willing to accept it. Soli Deo Gloria! To God alone be the glory!

Introduction

The Silence Is Broken

Four hundred fifty years of silence! That is what Israel experienced from the last word of Malachi in the Old Testament: to the first word of Matthew 1. Four hundred fifty long, dark, silent years! Not a word fell from the lips of the Most High God of Israel to His chosen people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The heavens were as brass. The silence must have been deafening. After four thousand years of prophecy and blessings and warnings through the Lord’s prophets, kings, and scribes, suddenly, there was not a word, whisper, or even hint of what was to come.

And then God spoke! One of the reasons that the book of Matthew is so special and significant is because it followed all those centuries of utter, complete silence. And then, just as He had suddenly stopped speaking, the God of Israel chose to communicate to His people again. That is because God is sovereign. He waits for no man. All men wait on Him.

When He did begin to speak, it was first and foremost to authenticate the royal claim of His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to the throne of David. God was about to fulfill His promise to send a Messiah, our Savior. It was a promise that dated back four thousand years to the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:15. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. God had promised to defeat our enemy, Satan, and he was about to fulfill that promise. Mercifully, God had not given up on His people nor had He forgotten them. Despite their centuries of disobedience and rebellion, He had every intention of keeping His precious promise. Finally, when the time was right, he stepped back into men’s lives just as suddenly as He had departed.

The angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph and revealed that Mary would give birth to a son conceived by the Holy Spirit. Joseph was instructed to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). This would fulfill the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14, The virgin will give birth to a son and they will call him Immanuel, which means, God with us" (Verses 22, 23). The same God who had walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening was again prepared to live with His people in the person of His Son: Jesus, Immanuel. Hope was born, the angels sang, the shepherds rejoiced, the wise men came, and we are saved!

But, as wonderful as the first chapter of Matthew is, there is so much more here that can easily escape the eye of the casual reader. The Lord includes something in Matthew’s genealogy that He does not do in Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus, in Luke 3. He includes the names of five women. When I first studied this chapter, I wondered why the Lord would include the names of women at all, why five women, and why these particular five women. They were so very different. One was an idol worshiper, another was a harlot, and yet another was a descendant from the incestuous relationship of Lot and his daughters. The final two on our list include Israelite women, one an adulterer and the other a godly young girl who was chosen to birth the long-awaited Messiah. Why would the Lord include the names of these so very different women in the first chapter of Matthew? There had to be a reason.

According to researchers on the meaning of numbers in the Bible, five is considered to be the number of grace, God’s grace. Because of that, I do not believe that it was an accident that God included exactly five women in this chapter. I think that the Lord has a message here for the diligent reader. Matthew 1 is really all about God’s amazing grace. For it is by grace that we are saved, and that not of ourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8–9, KJV). That wonderful truth puts all of us on level ground. For we know that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23, KJV).

So what do these women have in common, besides the obvious fact that they are all included in the lineage of our Lord? The most unlikely of women are declared righteous here, and they are shown God’s immutable grace within the carefully recorded genealogy of our Lord. As we study the lives of Tamar the Canaanite, Rahab the Harlot, Ruth the Moabite, Bathsheba the Israelite, and Mary the mother of Jesus, we will discover the wonderful truth that no one is so bad that they cannot be saved and no one is so good that they do not need a Savior. There is hope for us all, young or old, rich or poor, sweet tempered or sour, plain or fancy! For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16, KJV).

This undeniable truth encourages us to keep on praying and witnessing to the women in our lives, no matter who they are. Never give up, because often the most contrary woman you know will one day surprise and even astound you with her sudden surrender to the Lord. And when she does, you will get a fresh appreciation of the wonder of God’s unmerited grace in action.

As we now study the lives of these five extraordinary women, we will discover why they are included in the genealogy of our Savior and how the Lord of the Universe went about working out His plan and purpose in their lives. What makes our study so exciting is discovering that just as there is more than one story contained in the first chapter of the book of Matthew, there is more than one story to be told in each of the lives of the women included there. We will learn that it isn’t just an account of five very diverse and interesting women; it is also a wonderful revelation of how the God of Israel preserved His chosen people so that He could fulfill His promise to send a Savior. We will get a rare and honored glimpse into the Big Picture from God’s point of view. God’s honor, His word, and His faithfulness were at stake. His promise must be fulfilled. Omnipotence demanded it. His plan to save us from our sins depended on the cooperation of five seemingly insignificant, average, everyday women. Yes, of course, He could have done it without them, but oh, how wonderful that the Master Planner of the Universe would chose to use ordinary women to fulfill His sovereign plan. As their stories unfold, we will re-discover the unfathomable depth of our Lord’s grace and mercy in a new and inspiring way that will give us a fresh appreciation of the All Loving God we call Father.

WEEK 1

Tamar the Canaanite

Day 1: Tamar, A Palm Tree

Matthew 1:1–3

A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar.

When I first looked at the genealogy of our Lord as it was recorded in Matthew 1, I was puzzled to see that Tamar’s name was included. The fact that a Canaanite woman would be mentioned surprised me, especially after I studied her life story as it is recorded in Genesis 38. I was shocked by the way she tricked her father-in-law, Judah, into giving her a son. But I could not deny the obvious fact that God had included her name in this first most important chapter of the New Testament. I also noticed that He did not mention what she had done, but just stated the fact that she was the mother of Perez and Zerah, the sons of Judah. I could not ignore the indisputable fact that she was given honorable mention because she was included in the linage of our Lord and Savior. So I had to rethink my first reaction and take a closer look at Tamar and what made her do the unusual things that she did. If God honored and blessed her, there had to be a reason that I was missing. As I took a fresh look at the life and times of this young Canaanite woman, I discovered hidden truths that helped me to better appreciate the intricate detail and planning that the Lord of the Universe went through to work out His sovereign purpose in the lives of His people.

Tamar’s story is recorded in Genesis 38. It is neatly tucked between Genesis chapters 37 and 39. It could easily be overlooked. Chapter 37 gives us the well-known story of Joseph’s betrayal by his brothers as they sold him into the hands of Ishmaelite merchants headed to Egypt. Chapter 39 gives the account of Joseph’s experience as a slave in Potiphar’s house and his following imprisonment based on the false charges of his master’s wife. As we read these chapters in Genesis, it appears as if Tamar’s story interrupts the flow of Joseph’s tale, yet as the story unfolds, we will discover that her account has a vital part in the narrative of the journey of God’s people.

Tamar was a Canaanite. Her name means a palm tree. I have been to this area in Israel and was pleased to see the abundance of tall regal date and palm trees growing there. I can easily imagine a mother or father naming their little daughter after these dignified, stately trees. Tamar probably lived in or near the city of Adullam, which was southwest of Jerusalem. It was the resident city of a Canaanite king. Because of that, it probably was well fortified with a surrounding stone wall. As was the custom in those days, there would have been villages located near and around the city. The villagers would depend on the city for protection while the city would depend on the villagers for goods and trade and labor. It was most likely in one of these surrounding villages that Tamar grew up. (1) As a Canaanite, Tamar was a descendant of Canaan and his father Ham, Noah’s son. Noah had two other sons, Japheth and Shem. Abraham and his family were the descendants of Shem. While Abraham knew and worshipped the True and Living God, the Canaanites were idol worshipers. Not just any old, everyday idols, but totally detestable idols. According to Unger’s Bible Dictionary, they worshiped at least nine idols. Of all the idols, the Canaanites were particularly addicted to Baal worship, which was probably one of the most appalling of them all. That included the practice of animal sacrifices, ritualistic meals, and immoral dances along with special high places for sacred prostitution by both male and female prostitutes. They were also partial to Ashtoreth, the goddess of sex and war. Licentious worship was conducted in honor of her. Some women became temple prostitutes as an act of worship to her. To the inhabitants of Canaan, their practice was not frowned upon, but looked up to as an honorable activity.

It was into this culture that Tamar was born and influenced as she grew to be a young woman of marriageable age. She knew little if any of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The time was about 1925 BC. It would be another five hundred years before Moses would be presented with the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. The only law that was in effect at this time was the moral code that Abraham and his sons received from the revealed will of the God of Israel. A law that, I might add, Tamar had no knowledge of. The fact that Tamar would be presented with the honor of mothering two sons who would one day be included in the lineage of our Lord is almost impossible to imagine. But it happened. And because it did, we have the opportunity to study the fascinating, albeit unlikely facts as they unfold.

As we learn more about Tamar and her times, I invite you to imagine what village life was like in Canaan about 1900 BC. Imagine the sights and sounds Tamar encountered in her everyday walk. Hear the jingle of the bells on goats’ collars as their shepherds lead them to town. Listen to the merchants’ insistent calls as they barter their goods along the road. Side step the ever-present camels and donkeys as they patiently await their masters’ next commands. Smell the wooly coats of sheep in nearby pastures and enjoy the