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III.    THE GENEALOGY OF CHRIST IS A MIXED-UP GENEOLOGY

A.    It is a genealogy with popular kings
But you will also notice that this is a mixed-up genealogy. This genealogy has people from all walks of life. In this genealogy, you read about popular kings like David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, Asa, Hezekiah -- great kings of Israel. 
Not only do you read about great good kings, you also read about evil kings: kings like Manasseh who turned Israel away from the worship of God into the worst idolatry ever known. 

B.    It is a genealogy with several commoners
It's not just a genealogy of kings, you also read about commoners: people whose names probably you had not even heard until now and you are saying, "What is that name again?" Why would that guy be there? You don't understand why because he was a commoner. Not much is known about him, and therefore you don't seem to see why somebody like this would be here.

C.    It is a genealogy with a mixture of races
You also notice something again that this genealogy is a mixture of races. In this genealogy, you will read about people who are Jewish by background, but you will also read about people who are not Jews: whom you would call gentiles. And then you will probably wonder saying, “why would gentiles be in the family line of all people -- Jesus the Messiah? Matthew, are you sure you have your record right, or is it possible that you are getting something seriously wrong here? Matthew, check your genealogy again! What is going on?”

You have people like Ruth who is not only a woman, but clearly, she is identified as the Moabite. And what is a Moabite doing in the family line of Jesus?

You have people like Rahab, who was a Canaanite. So, what is she doing in this genealogy? Indeed, a first glance at the genealogy of Jesus not only leaves you a bit confused, but it leaves you perplexed and wondering, "What is really going on and what a way to introduce a birth of the greatest man that ever lived!”

d.  What is the importance of the Genealogy of Christ in the Christmas Story?
This genealogy might not make much sense for you, and so you may even wonder why it would be here. But for the Jews, genealogy was everything. It was foundational to everything. It was cultural, it was customary for every person to trace their ancestral backgrounds to know who they are and where they belong.

• Genealogies were a sign of identification and a basis for certain privileges

Israel, as it entered the promised land, was divided into the tribes of Israel. And if you belonged to the tribe of Dan, for example; or to the tribe of Ephraim, or to the tribe of Manasseh, or to any other tribe -- there was a certain territory that was designated for you in terms of ancestral land. There were also certain rules and privileges that people would have in accordance with their tribes. For instance, for the tribe of Levi, we know it was a tribe where priests would come from. So, qualification for you to be a priest in Jewish worship was that you would have to be coming from the tribe of Levi. If you were not a Levite, no matter how nice or how good you are, you did not qualify.

So, for a Jew to be able to know his background and which family line he came from, was not just something of personal identification, but was actually everything to do with how you were and even how you stood before God.

• Genealogies were required in business transactions

In the buying and selling of land, genealogy was one of the things that would be very much considered because land was not supposed to exchange hands from one tribe to another. So even when you wanted to sell land, you would sell it within the context of your tribe and not outside.

• Genealogies were required for ordination into the priesthood

Genealogy was also very important, as I said, when it came to the ordination into the priesthood -- that unless you traced your lineage through the tribe of Levi, you did not qualify to serve in the temple. And you will notice that even when we come to the New Testament, that genealogy still plays a huge role that not only do we find it recorded in Matthew, but we also find it recorded in the gospel of Luke.

So, to a Jew that Matthew is writing to, genealogy was actually very normal, and it was the right thing for Matthew to begin with, especially in trying to trace the line of Jesus and what his linage will mean in terms of Jesus being the Savior of the world.

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