The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 17

lllnry, of whom was born Jesus." ludaa Version). Thl\t this was Rl\hab of Jericho (Judah, ReYised V~rsion) o.nd hia brethren. hns been generally received, nnd it is clear '.rhe ndclition of these words seems very from the nnrratirn iu Josh. ii. 11, whorn nntnral her<', Lecau8e the twelve sons of Rahab declares," The Lord your God, he ie ,Jo.cob were the fathers of the tribes of God in heaven above, and on earth beneath," lsml'l, nnd ns descended from Abraham were that, whatever this woman's previous life heirs of the promises; o.nd although Judah and character mlly have been, sho wns then wns the tribe from which the llfrssiah was not unlikely to join herself to the Israelites. to spring, he we.s to be the glory of the Moreover, her great services rendered to the whole of Israel. The same words, "and spies, and the conspicuous way in which his brethren," are, however, found in ver. she and her house were singled out for pre- 11, where there is no such rcn.son to account servation from all the rest of the city, may for tlicm. have marked her o.s not unfit to become the Yer. 3.-0f Thamar (Tamar, Revised wife of a chief man in IsrneL The Old Version). In this genealogy the only women Testament says nothing of this mai-riage, mentioned beside the Virgin Mary herself, but there has been no endeavour mndc in who must of necessity be introduced, are the Bible to preserve every detail of the To.mar, Tio.hab, Rnth, and Bathsheba, nnJ genealogies, the record of the succeBSive many explanations have been suggested fathers being all that for Jewish purposes why these should be specially singled out waa required. But that Rnhab of Jericho for notice. The most plausible reasons put wo.a received among the people of Israel, forward have been that they arc introduced not merely as one dwelling in their midst because of the sins with which nil but one (Josh. vi. 25), but to a place of honour of them were stained, and because two were an1ong them, was an old tradition among not of the race of Israel. Thus, it has been the Jews; cf. T, B. Meg., 14 b (vide Light- ibought, St. Matthew wonld, in the outset of foot, •Hor. l!ebr.'), where Neriah, Baruch, his Gospel, proclaim Christ as the Friend, Seraiah, Maaseiab, Jeremiah, Hilkiah, even the Kinsman, of sinners, and the Saviour Hanameel, and Shallum, and also Huldah, offered to Gentiles as well as to J ewe. It are all said to have sprung from her. Some is probably wiser not to put so deep a mean- also say thnt she was made a proselyte, and ing on the appcal"llllce of these names, but wns married to Joshua-a tradition followed, to consider that they are here because in as it seems, in the Midrash 'Koh.,' on ea.eh case the circumstances were different Eccles. viii 10. from the ordinary steps of the genealogy. Ver. 6.-David the king. The mention Had they been in the same position as all of David's royal position seems made here the other wives and mothers who are un- because at this poiut the line of the Messiah named, they also would have been left un- first becomes connected with the royal house. named. At the time when Saul was made king the Ver. 4.-A.nd NaaBBon (Nahshon, Revised people chose to have him in opposition to V eraion) begat Salmon. This line of descent, the Divine will; but giving them next ae from Nahshon to David, is also given by king a man after his own heart, God uses St. Luke (iii. 31, 32), and is derived from the offence of his people so that it shall Ruth iv. 18-22. But it has occasioned become a channel of blessing, and from this some clifficnl ty, because it makes but five king Christ himself shall be born. Ot her steps from Nahshon., who (Numb. i 7) was that had been the wife of Urias. It is not one of the heads of fathers' houses at the easy to see why Bathsheba is spoken of time of the Exodus, to the days of David. thus indirectly, a.s her own name was cer- According to the chronology added in the tainly better known, and is more frequently margin of the Authorized Version., this mentioned in the Old Testament than period extended from B.C. 1490 to B.O. 1056, Uriah's. The phrase seems to call e.ttcn- i.e. more than four hundred and thirty tion most pointedly to David's sin, and that years, thus making a generation to consist too in a sentence where his kingly dignity in each case of more than eighty years. has just been markedly emphasized. The And even according to the more accurate way in which God dealt with David and computation of the date of the Exodus (n.o. his sin is very parallel to tho.t in which he 1301) ihe period would be two hundred and dealt with the Israelites after their choice forty-eight years, thus making each genera- of Saul Dnvid's first child. like the Israel- tion nearly fifty years. Even tliis seems ites' first king, finds not God's blessing; very long, especially in the East; BO that but the second child is the pledge of peo.ce It is probable that the genealogy in Ruth, with God (Solomon)-is Jedidiah, "tile be- merely adopted by tLe evangelists, recorded loved of the Lord," os Davicl the second only tbe more important names. king was the mau after God's own heart. Ver. 5.-Salmon begat Booz (Bo<tz, Rc- She that had been the wife of Uriah, after vi.J.cd Version) of Bachab (Raha.b, Reyised David's repentance becomes Bolowon'1 en. 1. 1-25.] TIIE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. ~JATTilEW. 3