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II.    THIS GENEALOGY OF CHRIST IS QUITE SURPRISING

But we will also notice that this genealogy is not only selective, but it’s quite surprising. That there are many things you find in this genealogy that you should not expect to find there.

The first thing you note is that this genealogy includes women! Now for us who are not Jews that might not make a lot of sense. We might be saying, "Why not, are they also not people? Don't they qualify to be in the family tree of Jesus?"

Of course, yes. But you may remember that historically, and in the Jewish culture, women were actually not considered as that important - at least in public settings as the men were. On occasions, you would even find teachers of the law praying and thanking God for not being women.

If a woman came to a court of law and tried to give some witness to whatever it is that was happening, her testimony was not considered as of weight or of value as that of a man. So, if women were kind of second class in Jewish culture, what are they doing in this genealogy, and not just any genealogy, but the genealogy of Jesus the Christ? Surely Matthew must have a reason why he would bring such a weird inclusion of women in so important a genealogy - and we want to find out how all this plays up.

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