NATIVITY By Mike Herron

the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David. Ruth’s ancestors, the Moabites, were conceived by incest and her nation was excluded by the Law of Moses from ever being a part of the Israelite people. Her loyalty to her mother-in- law Naomi and her faith in God transcended all obstacles and she became the grandmother of King David. Matthew’s genealogy illustrates to us that all the barriers between Jew and Gentile, male and female, saints and sinners have been removed in Christ. This part of the genealogy is referring to David’s adulterous relationship with Bathsheba and his subsequent murder of her husband Uriah. David and Bathsheba’s second born son rose from the ashes of his parents’ sinful past to become the great King Solomon. The inclusion of these four women with troubled beginnings prepared the way for the innocent Mary who perhaps bore the unjust shame of pregnancy before her wedding. 7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. It appears that Matthew is selective in this second section as he omits five of the kings recorded in the OT history. The son of.. or begot ‘does not always mean immediate parentage, but merely direct descent.’ 2 ‘The house of David did not produce the Christ but received him as a gift; he did not come from the 6 David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife…