Daughter of Biblical Genealogy

I know, movies usually name a sequel "Son of..." but in this case I want to talk some about the women.

I had just concluded that in the genealogies of Jesus given in Matthew 1 and Luke 3, we have to concede there are gaps, right from the start. We have very little extra input from these family trees. They are a bare line of paternal names that should have dotted lines showing descent in many cases, as there might have been additional generations in between the generations listed.

Plus they leave out the women-folk. Luke is particularly strict about this, he won't even mention Mary, and she's the one he's tracing the line of!

Matthew actually mentions a few women--Mary, the woman pregnant out-of-wedlock by the Holy Spirit; Bathsheba, the woman whom King David had an affair with and then killed her husband in order to cover it up; Ruth, the woman of despised Moab, an enemy of Israel, who bathed and perfumed herself and went to sleep at Boaz' feet in order to induce him to offer marriage; Rahab, a harlot from Jericho, who hid the Israelite spies when they came to do reconnaissance before attacking the city, and who later married one of them; Tamar, a widow whose nearest kinsman scorned to raise up an heir to her dead husband with her, so she disguised herself as a harlot and slept with her father-in-law in order to beget the heir. (So, what's your point, Matthew?) I think the only reason he refrained from dredging up Eve, who tempted her husband to eat of the apple and sin against God, was because he only went back as far as Abraham.

My study Bible notes that where the women are mentioned--against all tradition--in this family tree, it is to make a point. Apparently, Matthew wants to point out that Jesus was the Savior not only of the Hebrews--but also of women; of the gentiles; of the sinners; of the weak, the poor and the victims. Well, you have to admit, those are the groups who need a savior. If you were a strong, righteous man of God's Chosen People, why would you really need rescue? No feedback on the "captive Israel" history (and the diaspora), please. I've read it, and I am not denying that the Jews as a people needed a rescuer and redeemer. Just acknowledging that Matthew was writing to ALL people, and reassuring the kind of people who probably most feel the need for a Knight in Shining Armor.

In any case, the trees do not fork, because there is next to no information on the wives' families. Though again, it is possible that some of the reasons for the differences is that "son of" might be used as "son-in-law of." I find it a little hard to swallow, though, because they just didn't find the women to be that important.

How do we fill in the gaps? One answer is: Genesis. Another is: I and II Samuel, I and II Kings and I and II Chronicles. There are others, such as Exodus, Numbers, Ruth... I can tell that this is going to be a very in-depth study, and a lesson for me in comparative documentation. Even the books of the prophets talk about who was king of Israel and/or of Judah at the time of the various prophets, which is relevant since Jesus is descended from those kings.

One thing I've found so far is that in II Chronicles, there are delightful little throw-away lines like this: "Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. And Abijah his son succeeded him as king... and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother's name was Maacah, a daughter of Uriel of Gibeah." Several of the kings had their mothers' names listed in such a fashion.

But unfortunately for the purposes of this blog, I chose a poor example of a great discovery of a mother's name because this specific example requires more research. I can find some conflicting info right in the previous page. If I hadn't found it, I would have said, "so now we know that Rehoboam had a wife or concubine named Maacah, and they had a son Abijah. Also we know that Maacah's father was Uriel." But the following tidbit precedes the other: "Rehoboam...married Maacah daughter of Absalom [a son of David], who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza and Shelomith. Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than any of his other wives and concubines." So is there a conflict? Was Maacah really the daughter of Uriel, or was she the daughter of Absalom? Or was she a daughter of Uriel who was a son (or grandson) of Absalom? Or is there some confusion between Absalom's MOTHER Maacah (a wife or concubine of David, I forget which, he had so many) and Absalom's DAUGHTER Maacah?

Stay tuned for the answers to that one, if I find any. I know there are additional stories about Absalom in the Bible. I don't remember much except he killed his brother.

I think that even with the entry of some of the wives' names, we are still going to be focused on a mostly paternal-line tree. I've only found one or two of the women whose father's name is listed.

But in the meantime, I have no doubt that I will find some wonderful answers and some terrible puzzles, some ridiculous items in the book of Numbers (see the U.S. Census from any given decade if you think there won't be hilarious statements just because the census takers had bad handwriting and spelling, no matter how divinely inspired or truthful the original information), and all kinds of crazy questions and relationships. And definitely some brick walls, as I cannot read Chaldean, Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek or Hebrew, so I can't do the primary research in ancient extra-Biblical sources. But I expect that what I find in the Bible will be enough for now. I'll have to ask God about the rest, when he eventually calls me home. I hope I am required to call upon all my patience in waiting for that, though.

Meanwhile, it should be a fun genealogical ride if anyone wants to come along!