Episode 4: The Five Vindications of Matthew 1

One of my favorite things to teach is the “five vindications” of Matthew chapter 1, where we see some surprising women included in Yeshua’s/Jesus’s genealogy during a time when women were considered irrelevant in such lists. Were the matriarchs included? No way! Instead, we see an oppressed widow, a pagan prostitute, a Moabitess (gasp!), an adulteress (or was she), and a suspiciously pregnant teenager. What on earth is going on here, and what does it teach us about the mission of the Messiah?