Blog (3) Miranda Hernandez

A particularly interesting aspect for me within Matthew’s gospel was his portrayal of women, especially those in Jesus’ genealogy. In class, we are often discussing how women’s roles in narratives seem minimized. Matthew’s gospel emphasized the importance of Jesus’ family tree, as it was prophesized that the Son of God would be a descendent of David. It was quite uncommon for women to be mentioned in these Jewish family trees, so the fact that Matthew mentioned this was truly remarkable to me.

In the first chapter of his gospel, Matthew introduces his account of the life of Christ by describing his incredible family tree, extensive with important rulers of Israel, such as Abraham. There are four women Matthew discusses in his family tree of Jesus besides Mary: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and “the wife of Uriah” or Bathsheba.¹ They are mentioned in books of the Old Testament, but it is quite unusual that Matthew would mention them here. After all, it is not their stories that were tales of prolific heroic feats. If anything, their stories are some of shame: each woman was involved in extremely provocative, sexual situations.³ For example, Tamar seduced her father-in-law by pretending she was a prostitute. Rahab was a prostitute of Jericho, who eventually became the mother-in-law of Ruth.² Ruth tricked a “kinsman”, Boaz into marrying her and later became the grandmother of David.² Bathsheba had an affair with David and married him after David arranged to have her husband murdered.³

These outrageous stories seem out of place in the genealogy of Christ, but I believe that Matthew included them for literary purposes. The stories of Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba are also all oriented around men. These stories each show a progression in the lineage of Jesus.² This is to contrast probably the most famous member of this family: Mary. It seems even more miraculous that a woman from a bloodline of harlots gave a virginal birth to the Messiah.² At the time, Mary’s birth probably seemed extremely suspicious, as she was unmarried. Matthew includes that even Joseph had his doubts that Mary was still a virgin.³ Matthew’s development of the family tree of Jesus provides a more divine image of Mary from the scandalous exploits of her female ancestors. I believe Matthew also included women to show how Gentiles, such as Tamar and Rahab, can find their way to Judaism. The role of Jesus as a rabbi is critical in Matthew's gospel, and his family's evolution to Judaism gives more substance and background to Matthew's background.² Thus, Matthew creates a very dramatic buildup of the women in Jesus' family, with the grand crescendo of Mary herself.

¹ NRSV Matthew 1:1-17

² W.J.C. Weren, "The Five Women in Jesus’ Genealogy," Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 59, no. 2 (1997): p 288-305.

³ B.D. Ehrman, The New Testament, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 106.

Bibliography

New Revised Standard Version. Oxford University Press, 2010.

Ehrman, B.D. The New Testament. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. 

Weren, W.J.C. " The Five Women in Jesus’ Genealogy" Catholic Biblical Quarterly. 59. no. 2 (1997): p 288-305.