The Other Women of Christmas

Mary is the woman we first think of when telling the Christmas story, but there are other significant women in the family tree of Christ. (Mt 1:1-6) And to tell the Christmas story well, we should know a little bit about them and what God did in their lives.

Tamar: "The forgotten one" by man, but not by God. (Gen 38) Due to her determination and the grace of God she bore Perez and Zerah, Perez begat Hezron…, Salmon begat Boaz by Rahab...

Rahab: "The harlot," (Jos 2, 6) who saved two Hebrew spies, came to believe in God, married an Israelite and became the mother of Boaz... who married Ruth...

Ruth: "the Moab outcast," (Ruth) who showed tremendous love and loyalty to Naomi. She married Boaz and bore Obed...whose son was Jesse who begat David; and David begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah...

Bathsheba: the "adulterer," (2 Sam 11-12) who was forgiven, became the wife of David through whose line came Jesus, the Savior of the world.

These women remind us that Jesus didn't come from a line of perfect people for the perfect people. The true miracle of Christmas is in the fact that He was born so all may be saved. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (Jn 3:16 NIV)

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by Chris