God's Unusual Picks
When
basketball teams want to build their rosters and win a championship, they
search for top talent in the NBA. They would love to have the #1 overall pick
in the NBA draft. The #1 NBA draft pick is crucial because it's a team's
best chance to acquire a potential franchise-altering superstar, a highly talented
player who can lead to success.
Similarly,
when God wanted to build His Kingdom and bring forth the Champion King who
would rule the universe, He bypassed the talented and successful and chose some
uncommon ones. In our Heroes of Faith series, we learned about several male heroes
of Faith. Today, we will examine God's Unusual Picks of five
women. Matthew 1:1-6, and 16.
God
picked five Unusual Picks, not because they were women, they could have been
men as well. But here they were, all women. That's what makes it unusual in a
context where the majority of the Israelites disregarded the Gentiles and women
during Biblical times. With that background, we explore what God saw in them
that led Him to pick them for His Purposes.
Matthew
opens up the Gospel with this profound declaration: Matthew 1:1, "This is the genealogy
(account of the origin) of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of
Abraham." David L. Palmer notes that each phrase in this statement
conveys a significant theme. "First, "Jesus the Messiah, or Jesus
Christ," Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one. The title "Jesus
Christ" occurs more than 200 times in the NT, signifying that God's
promised Messiah has come.
The
second, "The son of David," conveys God's promise that the Son of
David would have an everlasting kingship and universal dominion that is at
hand. Third, "the son of Abraham," God's promise that all families of
the earth would be blessed through Abraham's descendants, is now being realized
in Christ."[1]
Contrary
to the practice in Hebrew genealogies, which mentions only fathers, Matthew lists
five mothers in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. By doing so, he recognizes
his scandalous background as a tax collector before his calling and God's heart
for all people and all nations. Cyril Dasari has extensively discussed these
selections during one of the men's Bible times.
I. Tamar
The Righteous (Genesis 38)
Our
study focuses on Tamar, the daughter-in-law of Judah (Genesis 38). Tamar
experienced a double tragedy: She lost her husband, Er, Judah's firstborn son, but
was also denied the levirate marriage rights (Deut 25:5-10)—the marriage of a widow
whose husband died childless and the brother of the deceased.
Tamar
lived as a widow in her father's house. After some time, she disguises herself
as a temple prostitute and becomes pregnant by Judah, her own father-in-law.
When Judah learned about it, he was furious and, as per the law, wanted to burn
her to death, but later realized that he was the culprit and commended Tamar,
saying, "She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn't give her to my son
Shelah." Gen 38:26
When
the time came, Tamar gave birth to twin boys—the older one, named Zerah (meaning
scarlet). A midwife ties a scarlet thread to his hand, as it was put out. However,
the first one to emerge was Perez (meaning "breaking out"). Perez, a
breach baby, becomes David's ancestor. Though God killed two of his children,
Judah, in his thoughts, held Tamar responsible. He deceived her by failing to
give Shelah to her as her husband, as he had promised.
The
people deemed her an adulterous woman. Yet, she was praised for being more
righteous than Judah himself. God recognized her righteousness and chose her to
preserve the messianic lineage. Matthew included her in Christ's genealogy,
demonstrating that God is a God of justice and can use anyone, even the broken
and hurting people, to fulfill His purposes.
II. Rahab:
A kind, God-fearing woman of Faith. (Joshua 2, 4, Matthew 1:5, Heb 11:31)
Rahab,
a Canaanite prostitute, could easily read the minds of men who slept with her. But
these two Israeli spies? Something different about them: they didn't come for
her, but on a different mission. When the king's officials came knocking at her
door, she hid the spies and lied to the officials. Generally speaking, lying is
not okay, but in this case, God seemed to let it go.
She
sends off the spies with grand declarations of Faith and powerful assertions of
God's miracle-working power: "By Faith, she knew that the Lord had given
Jericho over to the Israelites." How fearful and lacking in courage were
the people of Jericho, including the king. She reiterated the Great deliverance
of God's people from the land of their enemies.
She
boldly declared, saying, "For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and
on the earth below. Before the city gate was shut, she let them over the wall
after securing a promise that they would show kindness to her household, as she
had shown kindness to them. Before Joshua's army could finally burn the city of
Jericho, Joshua sent the same two spies to bring Rahab and her family and all
that belonged to her unharmed. She lived among the Israelites.
Eventually,
Rahab marries an Israelite named Salmon, and they have a son, Boaz. She becomes
the Ancestor of Jesus and is mentioned in Jesus' genealogy. Her story demonstrates
that God can use anyone to fulfill his purpose, regardless of their background
or past, provided they demonstrate a heart of Faith, show hospitality, and be
kind to others.
This
also shows that anyone, including pagans, can approach God, exercise Faith in
our almighty God, and be saved. Rahab is a great example that God doesn't go by
outward appearances or the labels other people put on them. When others saw
Rahab as a prostitute, as an object of their pleasure. In contrast, God saw her
as a kind-hearted, God-fearing woman of Faith. Rahab lost her own community, but
God placed her among God's people.
III. God
is Good To Women
These
two stories and three more tell me that God is good to women, especially those
who are disregarded in society and abused by men. What is unusual about these
two women, and what are some of the commonalities they both have? What message
would they send to us in the 21st century? Tamar was like many women
who were wronged, denied justice, and sidelined in a male-dominated society.
Tamar had to take matters into her own hands and disguise herself as a prostitute
to get justice from her so-called righteous father-in-law.
Rahab,
on the other hand, was a gentile, a Canaanite woman who was professionally a
prostitute. Unlike her king, her fellow citizens of Jericho held a different
view of the God of the Israelites. Her knowledge of God's power indicates an
interest in a God whom she perhaps did not grow up believing in. She was kind,
God-fearing, and a woman of Faith.
God
saw in them what others denied them and failed to see in these two women. He
saw in them righteous and faith-filled hearts, and those were the good enough
qualities for Him. Thus, He was good to them and included them in the lineage
of His Son, Jesus Christ, to indicate that man looks at outward appearances,
status, or class, but God looks at the heart.
God, out of his goodness, welcomed sinners,
included them in His redemptive plan, and made room for them at the banquet
table. During his ministry on earth, Jesus was kind to the Gentiles, women, and
particularly to prostitutes. How about us? Regardless of our background or
past, God wants to include all of His followers in His redemptive plan of
salvation.
In
our so-called Christian country and in the Churches of Jesus Christ, God calls
us to follow the examples of Tamar and Rahab to maintain a heart of righteousness
and integrity. Like Rahab, be kind and hospitable to people who are different
because of their race, religion, or sexual orientation? As God has been good
and kind, let us also be kind and good to others.
