t is strange to note that along the genealogical tree of the Messiah, Matthew included the names of four women whose obvious common link is their apparent Gentile ancestry: Tamar of Canaan, Rahab of Jericho, Ruth the Moabite and Bathsheba (not mentioned), the wife of Uriah the Hittite. And even stranger still, after naming forty generations of fathers, Matthew ends his genealogy with a mother, the Virgin Mary, who, unlike the four, was pure and without the stain of sin. “Of her was born Jesus, called the Messiah.”
Who was Tamar? We encounter her in the book of Genesis ch.38. She was the daughter-in-law of Judah, one of Jacob’s children. She was given in marriage to two of Judah’s sons, Er and Onan, who both died because they offended Yahweh. Fearing that his third son might befall the same fate, Judah did not allow him to marry Tamar. Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and seduced Judah, her father-in-law in order to have an heir by him without his knowledge. She bore the twins Perez and Zerah.
The Virgin Mary's Birthday
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