Dec. 6, 2009
Background Scripture: Ruth 4:13-17; Matthew 1:1-17
Devotional Reading: 2 Samuel 7:8-17

It is often said that “somewhere in everyone’s family tree there is a horse thief.”

I’ve enjoyed searching my genealogy back to the three Althaus brothers who landed in Philadelphia in 1738 from Elsoff, a little town in Germany, where, on one of my trips, I found their names inscribed in the parish records of the Lutheran church.
I haven’t come upon any horse thieves, although there was an Althaus theologian of some ill repute.

Matthew’s version of Jesus’ family tree is impressively laid out in three eras: 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 generations from David to the Babylonian exile and another 14 from the exile to the birth of Jesus. With names such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Hezekiah, it is an impressive list.

But I was surprised to find like many genealogies, this family tree has some poor relations. Lurking in Ruth’s background is the incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughters. Boaz, Ruth’s second husband, descended from an incestuous relationship between Judah and his Canaanite daughter-in-law. Apparently, Boaz’s family tree included Rahab, the harlot.
‘That Moabite woman!’

Worst of all, however, is the realization that the great King David was descended from Ruth the Moabite woman.

It was tradition in Israel to despise the Moabites, because the men were uncircumcised and Moabites worshipped Chemosh and Ashtorchemosh, crude fertility deities. It was unthinkable that an Israelite, even of the lowest rank, would wed and sire children with a woman of Moab.

But, as with so many family histories, “accidents of history” often override the strictest of prohibitions. That’s what happened in the fourth century B.C., when there was a great famine in Judah and the family of Elimelech and Naomi fled from Judah to Moab.
Probably they intended to stay just long enough to survive the famine, but eventually their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, married two Moabite girls: Ruth and Orpah. Tragedy descended upon this family when Elimelech died, and then Mahlon and Chilion as well.
There is much irony in that the Hebrew name of Naomi means “my joy” or “the one who is pleasant.” Perhaps originally that was a depiction of Naomi, but by the time we get into the Book of Ruth, we find a woman who was both joyless and not particularly “pleasant.”

Who could blame her? Forced to leave Bethlehem, where she was somebody, to live where she was nobody, then to lose her husband and two sons – and be left with two Moabite daughters-in-law (pretend the girls’ last names were Guerera and Sanchez, which some Americans today perceive with similar negativity).
‘Naomi’ and ‘Mara’

So, even after returning to Bethlehem with Ruth, she pronounced a chilling parody of her own name: “Do not call me Naomi, call me Mara,” meaning “bitter.”

And this bitterness was God’s fault: “… for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has afflicted me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me” (1:19-21). The complaints of the fourth century B.C. sound very much like those of the 21st A.D.

Despite all that happened to Naomi, the loving loyalty of Ruth, her marriage to Boaz, their conception of Obed and decision to let Naomi nurse him as an infant, restored and redeemed Naomi’s sense of worth. She could now reclaim the property of her dead husband.

That’s why the women of Bethlehem exclaimed: “Blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without next of kin; and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of old age.”

This is the message of the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:1-6. As the story of Ruth is one of redemption – a term used 20 times in 85 verses – so is the story of Jesus’ family tree. It is a bumpy ride from Abraham to Jesus, but it is God who purposes and progresses His redemptive will through Jesus Christ to reveal that the Moabite, whom we fear, may be the child of God whom he uses to turn our bitterness into joy.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.