WOMEN IN THE MATTHEAN GENEALOGY (cf. 1:1-17): WHY THEIR INCLUSION?

Abstract

In the ancient world, genealogies served as a vital function, confirming the legal status of important persons. As such, the genealogy of Jesus forms an integral part of his birth narrative. It establishes his credentials as the heir of David and thus as the true King of Israel and the awaited Messiah. Genealogies in the Bible were completely male dominated but ironically, five women are included in the Matthean genealogy of Jesus and most of them were not even Jewish at all. Their presence in Jesus’ lineage speaks of other things as well, for they are mostly poor, mostly misfits, widows, unimportant, unknown, and sinful women. They are real women with complex and sometimes messy lives that cannot be reduced to stereotypes and yet who changed the course of salvation history by their simple, obedient lives. In a culture that traced lineage almost exclusively through men, these women would have stood out like beacons in a stream of male names- and they still do. Their presence fairly shouts the questions: who were these women? Why were they single out as ancestors of the Messiah? What is their significance? Or rather, what does their presence imply?