3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram.
5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,
6 and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. – Matthew 1:3, 5, 6, NKJV
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “You can pick your friends but you can’t pick your relatives.” If you look at the family tree of Jesus, you’ll notice four women mentioned each involving something most people would want to cover up. The fact they are included makes me believe there’s something we can learn from them.
Tamar was a childless widow who was living with Judah waiting for his youngest son to grow up so she could marry him. Tamar realized Judah was not going to let her marry his youngest son so she comes up with a plan. She will get Judah to think she’s a prostitute and sleep with her. Her plan ends up working and she gives birth two twins.
Rahab was a gentile and a prostitute. David saw Bathsheba bathing on the rooftop. He invited her over while her husband was at war. She gets pregnant and David covers it up by having her husband killed and taking Bathsheba as his own wife.
Ruth was from Moab which meant she was a gentile and a pagan. What’s more if you look at the origins of the Moabites in Genesis 19, you’ll see it’s through incest (Genesis 19:36-37).
So what can we learn from this? It shows your family and your past don’t define who you are and what you can do!