Revised January 5, 2021

In Saturday’s blog post, I examined the four women mentioned in the genealogy that opens Matthew’s gospel. [See the revised version of The Sin in Jesus’ Family Tree.] In order to stick to one point, the necessity of the virgin birth of Jesus, I had to pass over some important lessons on grace in the Book of Ruth.

The law of Moses forbade intermarriage with Canaanites and Moabites. Yet we see in the genealogy that Salmon married the Canaanite Rahab and Boaz, apparently his son, married the Moabite Ruth. The law further mandates that the offspring of forbidden marriages be barred from the assembly of the Lord down to ten generations.… Read the rest