Knots On the Family Tree
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Intro: This morning we talked about the Genealogy of Jesus and His family tree. In looking at it we found some “knots” on it.
Knots develop on trees as the result of diseases that injure the tree, or an insect that stings the tree. The tree heals around that affected area & causes a gall, or a knot to develop there where that injured place was.
All throughout this listing of names in Jesus’ family tree, there are people whose lives had been stricken w/ the disease called sin. Their lives had been stung by sins & sinful situations and they became “Knots On the Family Tree” of Jesus.
Though Abraham was a man of faith, Abraham was a liar & so was his son, Isaac
Jacob was a schemer & a cheater
David, though he was a man after God’s own heart, he was also an adulterer & a murderer
Solomon had 700 wives & 300 concubines, foreign women who led him into idolatry
Manasseh was a wicked king who built altars to Baal & burned his own sons up as a sacrifice to idols
As crazy as it may seem that the family tree of Jesus is filled with knots, but that’s exactly the point! The sins and evil deeds of these people on this list are not on display – God’s GRACE is!
Tonight I want us to look at a few of those “feminine” knots on the family tree.
Text; Mt. 1:3-6
3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram.
4 Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon.
5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,
6 and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.
In these verses we see four women in the genealogy of Jesus which is unheard of in Jewish history. In all the other genealogies in scripture there is not a single woman listed. But Jesus’ genealogy list five women total, and four of them as far as the Jew is concerned, are scraping the bottom of the barrel in society.
1. Tamar; 3
1. Tamar; 3
Tamar’s story is found in [Gen. 38]. Judah, one of the twelve sons of Jacob married a Canaanite woman named Shua [which was forbidden in the law of Moses]. They had three sons, Er, Onan and Shelah. Tamar married Er but God took his life because of his wickedness. Onan was to go into Tamar and restore Er’s linage but he did wickedly and God killed him.
Judah then promised the young, childless widow that his third son, Shelah, would become her husband and raise up children in his brother’s name when he grew up. After Judah failed to keep that promise, Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and tricked him into having sexual relations with her. From that illicit union were born twin sons, Perez and Zerah.
In this one verse we see a Canaanite woman turn to prostitution and incest yet end up in the family tree of Jesus. Tamar got into the genealogy because she was a sinner and God promised that the ‘Scepter would not depart from Judah.”
2. Rahab; 5a
2. Rahab; 5a
The second feminine knot we see is Rahab. Rahab was a Gentile who was also guilty of prostitution, not like Tamar, but it was her profession.
Rahab’s story is found in [Joshua 2] where two spies came to her house on the wall of Jericho as they spied out the city. I’ve often wondered why the spies of the Lord went to a brothel. The fact is that Inns were often on the city walls to make it easy for travelers to find. Also it was common for Inns to run by women of the night.
Rahab protected the two Israelite men Joshua sent to spy out the city. She lied to the messengers of the king of Jericho in order to save the spies; but because of her fear of God and her kind act toward His people, God spared her life and the lives of her family when Jericho was destroyed.
Undoubtedly her life was changed and she became the wife of Salmon and the mother of godly Boaz, who is David’s great grandfather.
She got into the genealogy of Christ for the simple reason that she believed. She had faith.
31 By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.
3. Ruth; 5b
3. Ruth; 5b
Now we all know Ruth. She is a lovely girl and you can’t find anything wrong with her. She left her country after her husband died and came back to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law Naomi. She even accepted the Lord as her own God.
16 But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God.
17 Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me.”
But like Tamar and Rahab, Ruth was a Gentile. Her people, the Moabites, were the product of the incestuous relations of Lot with his two unmarried daughters. The son produced by Lot’s union with his oldest daughter was Moab, father of a people who became one of Israel’s most relentless enemies. Mahlon, the Israelite man who married Ruth, did so in violation of the Mosaic law (Deut. 7:3; cf. 23:3; Ezra 9:2; Neh. 13:23) and many Jewish writers say his early death, and that of his brother, were a divine judgment on their disobedience.
Ruth enters the genealogy of Jesus through grace.
Ruth 2:10 (NKJV)
10 So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor [grace] in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”
4. Bathsheba; 6
4. Bathsheba; 6
It’s kind of weird that Bathsheba is called “her who had been the wife of Uriah.”
Her name isn’t mentioned because it wasn’t her sin. It was David’s sin, and David was the one that had to pay for it.
12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’ ”
13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
Bathsheba was not a Jew either, she was a Hittite, a descendant of Canaan from Esau. She got into the genealogy of Christ because God does not throw out one of His children who sins. A sheep can get out of the fold and become a lost sheep, but we have a Shepherd who goes after sheep and always brings them back into the fold. He brought David back and Bathsheba came with him.
4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?
5. Mary; 16
5. Mary; 16
Mary is the only Jew of the five women listed in Jesus’ family tree. Mary line comes from David as well through his son Nathan. But Mary, as humble and devout as she was, was a knot in the genealogy of Jesus because she was a sinner in need of a Savior.
38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
46 And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
Close;
Lessons learned;
1. The barrier between Jew and Gentile is torn down in the genealogy of Jesus. All these women find their place within the pedigree of Jesus Christ. Already the great truth is that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek.
2. The barriers between male and female are diminished. In no ordinary pedigree would the name of any woman be found; but look at the names found in Jesus’ pedigree. The thought that men are superior to women is destroyed. Men and women stand equally dear to God, and equally important to his purposes, but with specific roles.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
3. Knots are the things that give wood its character. Remember that a knot is a result of diseases that injure the tree, or an insect that stings the tree. The tree heals around that affected area & causes a gall, or a knot to develop there where that injured place was.
We are the knots that have been healed by the true vine. It is Jesus that gives us character, His character and righteousness.
So the next time someone tells you, “quit acting like a knot on a log”, just tell them that’s what you are!
A knot in the Family Tree of Jesus!