Matthew begins his Gospel with a genealogy of Jesus’s ancestors extending from Abraham to Jesus’s father Joseph (Mathew 1:1-17). In the list of ancestors, Matthew includes four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba (Matthew calls her “the wife of Uriah”).

Strictly speaking, there was no need for Matthew to name these four women. For instance, Luke’s genealogy of Jesus lists only his male ancestors (Luke 3:23-28). In addition, Matthew includes the names of only these four women in a genealogical list 42 generations long. He could include Sarah or Rebekah or Leah. But he doesn’t. There is something about these particular women that Matthew deems essential the story of Jesus’s origins.

Of course we don’t know why Matthew included these four women—only that he included them. So we are left with a matter of interpretation. Who are these four women and what can their inclusion in the genealogy tell us about the origins of Jesus?

A Tale of Four Women

The story of Tamar is told in Genesis 38. Tamar is a Canaanite woman married to Judah’s firstborn son Er. When Er dies without having a son, the Torah commands that one of his brothers should father a child with Tamar to carry on the dead man’s name. Judah first gives Tamar to his second son Onan, who also dies. Judah refuses to give her to his third son Shelah, for fear he would die, too. In order to fulfill the law for her husband Er, Tamar dresses as a prostitute in order to sleep with her father-in-law Judah, producing a son for her dead husband. In this way Tamar becomes an ancestor of the great King David, and 28 generations later, to Jesus.

Rahab’s story appears in the book of Joshua (chapters 2 and 6). Rahab is a Canaanite prostitute living in the city of Jericho in the time of Joshua. The Israelites have escaped from Egypt and have been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. As they prepare to invade the land of Canaan, the Israelites send spies to Jericho. When the spies find their lives in danger, Rahab helps them escape. In return, the Israelites’ spare her family when they attack the city.

The book of Ruth tells the story of Ruth, a Moabite woman who gives up her land and her people to support her Israelite mother-in-law, Naomi. Ruth had married Naomi’s son Mahlon, who again died without leaving an heir. Since his father Elimelech and his brother Chilion had also died, no one remained to carry on the family line. Following Naomi back to Bethlehem, Ruth navigates Israelite culture and custom to save her mother-in-law, eventually marrying Naomi’s kinsman Boaz and having a son, Obed, who would become the grandfather of David.

Finally, 2 Samuel 11 and 1 Kings 1-2 tell the story of Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon. When we first meet Bathsheba, she is married to Uriah the Hittite, one of David’s soldiers. While Uriah is at the front fighting, David rapes Bathsheba and impregnates her. David calls Uriah back from the front hoping that he will sleep with his wife and think the baby is his. When that fails, David sends Uriah back to the front and instructs his general Joab to abandon him on the field, where Uriah is killed in battle. After their baby dies, David marries Bathsheba, who becomes the mother of Solomon, in biblical memory one of the greatest kings of Israel.

Celebrating the Past

The four women listed by Matthew all make foundational contributions to the greatness of ancient Israel. Tamar and Ruth navigate Israelite law and custom in order to continue the lineage of their husbands. Had it been left to the men in the story, King David would never have been born. Israel would never have been great.

Rahab and Bathsheba likewise play strategic roles in the history of Israel. Rahab makes possible the Israelite invasion of Jericho. Bathsheba intervenes in a dispute about succession to ensure her son Solomon received the throne instead of David’s older son Adonijah.

Together, these four women fundamentally shaped the history of ancient Israel. By including them in Jesus’s genealogy, Matthew reminds us of the essential role of women in the story of ancient Israel and in the advent of Jesus Christ.

Telling the Truth about Women

Yet there is also a shadow side to the inclusion of these particular women in the genealogy of Jesus. While naming these women reminds us the successes of Israel from Abraham to Jesus, it also forces us to remember and acknowledge the dangers and abuses women face in a patriarchal society, both then and now. The successes of these women also reminds us of the failures of the men around them.

The story of Tamar reminds us that neither Onan nor Judah were willing to fulfill their responsibility under Israelite law to provide an heir for the deceased Er. The only righteous one in the story is Tamar, who finds a way to bear the child. Yet, because of the failures of the men around her, Tamar has had to deceive her father-in-law into having sex with her, thinking her to be a prostitute. Nothing about the story is fair to Tamar.

Likewise Ruth, upon returning to Israel with her mother-in-law, finds herself in a position that requires her to play into stereotypes about Moabite sexuality in order to secure a husband and a future for herself and Naomi. The story of Ruth’s seduction of Boaz (Ruth 3) replays the origin story of the Moabites in a drunken encounter between Lot and one of his daughters many years earlier (Genesis 19:30-38).

Rahab’s encounter with the Israelite spies, too, has left her only with horrifying choices. She can save her family only by betraying the people of Jericho to the invading Israelites. To remain loyal to her people would cost her life and the lives of her loved ones. She does indeed help the Israelites in their time of need, but she also aids in the destruction of her city and ultimately in the annihilation of all the Canaanites in the land.

Finally, Matthew’s mention of Bathsheba as “the wife of Uriah” serves as a clear reminder that Bathsheba had become the mother of Solomon only after David had raped her and having he husband Uriah killed. By recalling Bathsheba’s murdered husband, Matthew seems to be inviting us to remember the whole story. Matthew cannot tell the story of Jesus without also invoking the story of rape and murder that led Bathsheba to become the mother of Solomon.

Telling Our Stories

In this way, Matthew’s genealogy invites us, too, to be clear-eyed about the past. One cannot tell the story of Jesus without also telling the stories of remarkable women, without whom Jesus would never have been. Yet nor can one tell the story of Jesus without remembering all of the tragedies inflicted upon women by men living in a patriarchal culture.

In the same way, the genealogy of Matthew also calls upon us to continue telling the stories of women who through the centuries and even now have borne the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. It calls upon us to speak their names and to celebrate their accomplishments. Yet Matthew’s genealogy also demands that we be truthful about the ways the patriarchy continues to infect the church. It calls on us to name the violence inflicted upon women by the church and to repent of our continued role in perpetuating systems of abuse.

Matthew’s genealogy insists that the Gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be shared without telling the stories of women—both to celebrate and to mourn, both to repent and to encourage. The Gospel calls on us to do the same.