Paul admonishes us in II Timothy 3:16 with these words: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Sometimes portions of scripture which appear to be the driest, such as Matthew chapter one with a genealogy record, we read through hastily and give little thought. We received nothing because we sought nothing. That genealogy begins with a unique declaration: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ.” We must stop and consider carefully when we read it! We see a string of names and we might think that this would yield us little spiritual food. Here the Spirit sets before us the pedigree of Jesus and details the family tree of ‘the King of the Jews’. When we read that first sentence and observe the unique beginning of it we also begin looking for other peculiarities. In Genesis chapter five we read the genealogy of the first Adam, and at the end of each generation (Enoch excluded) the head of that generation died. Death is written throughout that list of names. The peculiar thing about the genealogy of Jesus Christ (Matthew one), is that death is not mentioned in those names. This is very fitting because Paul, when writing to the Church at Corinth said, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (I Corinthians 15:22). It is also fitting in that the words of the first sentence in Matthew begin the New Covenant, which is the Book of Life. The words in Genesis five begin the Old Covenant (the first four chapters being an introduction to it), which is the book of death. Another peculiarity about the genealogy in Matthew is that it is the only genealogy that lists certain women and even yet another is that the women listed are five in number. Five is the Bible numeric for grace and every one of those women mentioned is a story of grace. Tamar, a heinous Canaanite, represents a story of sin. Rachab (Rahab) is always remembered as ‘Rahab the harlot.’ Ruth was an accused Moabite. Bathsheba is the unnamed woman in the genealogy, her name being a reminder of the shameful sin of David. That those four women were admitted into the generation of Jesus Christ the Savior of the world is a marvelous manifestation of sovereign grace. Then there is Mary, the Mother of the Savior. Isn’t it fitting that she be listed as the fifth in this line of women? “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men…” (Titus 2:11); and when did this grace begin to appear but at the first advent when God was manifest in the flesh, made of a woman, made under the law, that He might redeem those who were under the curse of the law? Oh truly the Word of God is profitable in all things.
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