“And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;”
My Notes
What Does Matthew 1:6 Mean?
"David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias." Matthew's genealogy of Jesus deliberately mentions four women — Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba — each of whom complicates the lineage. Bathsheba is identified not by her own name but as "her that had been the wife of Urias" — the woman David took through adultery and murder.
The identification by Uriah's name rather than her own is a deliberate reminder: this child was born from the most scandalous episode in David's life. Matthew doesn't sanitize the genealogy. He flags it. The Messiah's lineage runs through adultery, murder, and cover-up.
The inclusion of these four women — all with irregular or scandalous circumstances — establishes a pattern: God's redemptive plan doesn't depend on human purity. The lineage of the Messiah is stained, complicated, and marked by sin. And that's the point. The Savior comes through broken lines because He comes to save the broken.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What scandal in your family history are you tempted to hide that God might be working through?
- 2.Why does Matthew deliberately include the messy details in Jesus' genealogy?
- 3.How does the stained lineage of Jesus change how you view your own broken background?
- 4.What does it mean that God doesn't require pure ingredients for His redemptive plan?
Devotional
Matthew could have written "David begat Solomon." Clean, simple, scandal-free. Instead he wrote: "of her that had been the wife of Urias." He made you remember. Adultery. Murder. Bathsheba. Uriah. The darkest chapter of David's life, placed right in the lineage of Jesus.
Matthew isn't trying to embarrass David. He's trying to tell you something about how God works. The Messiah's family tree includes Tamar (who posed as a prostitute), Rahab (who was a prostitute), Ruth (a foreigner from a cursed nation), and Bathsheba (taken through adultery and murder). Four women. Four scandals. Four complications in a lineage that should have been tidy.
The inclusion is theological: God's plan doesn't require pure ingredients. He works through broken people, scandalous circumstances, and complicated histories. The bloodline of the world's Savior is stained with the very sins the Savior came to save.
If your family tree is a mess — if your history includes scandal, failure, shame, and circumstances you'd rather forget — the genealogy of Jesus says: welcome to the family. The Messiah's ancestors include a woman identified only by the husband whose murder her presence implies. Your messiness doesn't disqualify you from God's plan. It might be exactly the kind of background God chooses to work through.
Your story doesn't have to be clean to be used by God. Jesus' genealogy proves it.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And Jesse begat David the king,.... The descent of the Messiah runs in the line of David, the youngest of Jesse's sons,…
These verses contain the genealogy of Jesus. Luke also Luke 3 gives a genealogy of the Messiah. No two passages of…
Concerning this genealogy of our Saviour, observe,
I. The title of it. It is the book (or the account, as the Hebrew…
David the king A special hint of Christ the King, of whom David was the type.
It is at this point that St Luke's…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture