Christ's Genealogy From Adam

Christ's Genealogy
Compiled by Skylar H. Burris

For study purposes, Christ's genealogy from Adam onward is outlined below. I have omitted several people, and these omissions are noted with "etc." between people. I did this because the list would be far too long otherwise, and I wanted to focus on the characters in Christ's genealogy who are not merely mentioned in the Bible, but who play some role or are at least described. The later part of this chart traces Christ's genealogy through Joseph, his assumed father, though of course Joseph was not his real father. The Gospel of Luke traces the genealogy through Christ's mother Mary. Mary was descended from David's son Nathan, rather than from his son Solomon.

It is interesting to note that four of the women explicitly mentioned in Christ's genealogy in Matthew have an interesting fact in common: all were strong women who were in some way considered "disreputable" by society, but who were nonetheless used by God to bring forth the Messiah.

Tamar--Tamar was not a prostitute, but she posed as one, and in this manner conceived a child by Judah. Tamar was married to one of Judah's sons, who died. By Levirite marriage law, she was given his brother Onan in marriage, who was obligated to raise up seed in his brother's name. Onan, not wanting to perform this duty (knowing that his first born would legally be his brother's) spilled his seed. Angry, God killed him. Again, by Levirite law, Tamar should have been given Onan's brother Shelah. But Judah, afraid Shelah too would die, wrongfully withheld him from Tamar. Tamar was left a widow with neither husband nor son to protect her. Thus, in order to get the child which was her right by law, she posed as a prostitute and conceived by Judah. When Judah was told his daughter-in-law had played the harlot, he ordered her to be burnt, revealing both his hypocrisy and the double standard of the time. But Tamar showed him the signet, bracelets, and staff he left with her as a token, proving that he was the father of the child in her womb. When he discovered that she was the harlot he had visited, surprisingly, Judah acknowledged his responsibility, and said, "She hath been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son." (Genesis 38: 26). After that, he never had sex with her again.

Rahab--Rahab was also a harlot, who hid the spies in the Book of Joshua. For this kindness, she was spared by them, and although apparently a foreigner, was later assimilated into the Jewish culture.

Ruth--Ruth was virtuous, but she was a Moabite, a foreigner. The stigma on the Moabite was so great that the law said "A . . . Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord forever" (Deut. 23:3). Apparently, this only applied to descendants of male Moabites, not female (or else David could certainly not be King of Israel). Nevertheless, the stigma must have been considerable for Ruth.

Bathsheba--Bathseba was the woman with whom David committed adultery. He even had her husband killed.

Christ's Genealogy

Got it? Good! Now take the genealogy
quiz I contributed to funtrivia.com by clicking here.

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