February 2

Today's reading: Matthew 1:1-17

A lot of times it is tempting to just skim, or even skip over, the genealogies we find in the Bible. But Matthew, who is writing primarily to Jews, begins his gospel with this genealogy because it was important to show that Jesus was the fulfillment of the covenant God made with Abraham. So his genealogy begins with Abraham rather than going all the way back to Noah or even Adam.

One very interesting aspect of this genealogy is that it mentions five women. This was very unusual since the Jews tracked their heritage through the men in the family. The five women that are mentioned were either non-Jews (Rahab and Ruth) or they had some kind of scandal attached to them (Tamar, Bathsheba, and Mary). We're reminded that God can use anyone, even someone with a checkered past. That means that God can certainly use you!