Pastor Taylor Shippy - 2 Samuel 11:1-27; Matthew 1:1-6
We’ve been talking the last few Sundays about Matthew’s genealogy, or his family tree of Jesus. Matthew has curated his genealogy to stress one major thing about Jesus: His messianic identity (cf. Isa 9:7, Matt 1:1, 16; 16:16). That He is indeed the ‘son of David,' the long-awaited heir to the throne of Israel. So one would expect Matthew to celebrate and idealize Israel’s greatest king; however, it appears that Matthew doesn’t do that…
When we get to the midway point of the genealogy, Matthew says, “[A]nd Jesse the father of King David. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah…” (1:6).Did you notice that our final ‘grandmother of Christmas’ isn’t mentioned by name? Unlike the other women we’ve talked about the inclusion of Bathsheba is not a way of honoring her courage or faith. Bathsheba isn’t mentioned because she is a hero; rather, because she is a victim. A survivor. And Matthew uses her to spotlight the terrible abuse of David who used his power as king to take another man’s wife, conceive a child with her, and then murder the man to cover his tracks. Matthew doesn’t want you to forget that, and that’s why she’s not mentioned by name in the genealogy instead immortalized as “the wife of Uriah” (cf. Matt 1:6).
So I guess the pertinent question is: Why? Why did Matthew do this? Why air out David’s ‘dirty laundry?’ Matthew didn't have to do this, but this is a deliberate choice by the Apostle that he wants us to notice.
To arrive at an answer I think we have to first, briefly, survey Bathsheba and her story cause… the final 'Grandmother of Christmas.'
