THE WOMEN OF CHRISTMAS - SUMMARY

WOMEN OF CHRISTMAS

 SUMMARY

Over the last few weeks, we have studied Ten Women of Christmas. Some may think we were “stretching” to include a few of them, and others may be wondering why we left someone out. However, we believe we studied exactly what we should have for this point in time.

We have examined Eve, Sarah, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, Esther, Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna. Let’s recap what makes each of these an integral part of the Christmas story.

EVE – GENESIS CHAPTERS 1-3

1.       As mother of all living, the entire human race, including Mary, the mother of Jesus sprang from Eve.

2.       Eve was the first to receive the hope and the promise of redemption when the Lord told her that the serpent’s seed would bruise the heel, but her Seed (Messiah) would crush His head.

SARAH – GENESIS 17-18, 21-22

1.       Sarah was the mother of God’s chosen people, the nation of Israel, because the Lord insisted that Abraham had to father the child Isaac specifically through Sarah.

2.       Her son, Isaac, was also a “type” of Christ when Abraham was willing to sacrifice him as a burnt offering but God provided a ram for Himself instead.

TAMAR – GENESIS 38

1.       Tamar made sure that the family line of Judah did not end with the death of his two older sons and his unwillingness to give the younger in marriage as he had promised.

2.       The baby she had after posing as a prostitute to deceive her father-in-law Judah would be in the direct line of the Messiah, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

3.       We also saw God’s grace demonstrated in that she was not killed as an adulteress.

RAHAB – JOSHUA CHAPTERS 2 & 6

1.       Rahab was identified as a harlot, but when she hid the two spies sent by Joshua, by God’s grace, her family was saved from destruction.

2.       After she converted to Judaism, she married a Jewish man named Salmon and gave birth to Boaz who became Ruth’s kinsman-redeemer.

RUTH – BOOK OF RUTH

1.       Ruth was the Moabite widow of a Jewish man whose mother was Naomi. The characteristics listed in Proverbs 31 could have been based on Ruth.

2.       Since she loved her Mother-in-law, Naomi, so deeply, she traveled back to Bethlehem with her and led the life of a poor widow, gleaning in someone else’s field.

3.       In God’s providence, the field belonged to Boaz who, as the kinsman-redeemer, married Ruth and cared for both her and Naomi.

4.       Ruth’s son Obed was the father of Jesse who was the father of King David.

BATHSHEBA – 2 SAMUEL 11 & 12

1 KINGS CHAPTER 1

1.       Bathsheba committed adultery with King David who subsequently made sure her husband Uriah was killed in battle. The child of that adulterous union died as the cost of their disobedience.

2.       However, David repented, and God in His grace, allowed Bathsheba and David to have Solomon through whom the kingship continued.

3.       The Messiah is the final king to sit on the throne of David and Solomon.

ESTHER – BOOK OF ESTHER

1.       Esther was a Jewish girl whom God elevated to the position of Queen of Persia.

2.       She was willing to risk her life to approach the king, and thus, saved her nation from annihilation. Without Esther, the forefathers of Mary and Joseph might have been killed.

ELIZABETH – LUKE 1:1-25,39-80

1.       Elizabeth, like Sarah, gave birth to a very special baby boy in her old age even though she had been barren.

2.       Her baby jumped for joy in her womb when Mary, pregnant with Jesus, visited her. An Embryo was one of the first to recognize the Messiah when He, too, was yet unborn!

3.       Elizabeth’s son became known as John the Baptist and was the forerunner of the Messiah that had been prophesied.

MARY – LUKE 1:39-56

MATTHEW 1:18-25

LUKE 2:8-40

MATTHEW 2:1-23

1.       Mary was God the Father’s chosen vessel to bring God the Son into the world.

2.       Her heart was pure, and she was consecrated and devoted to the Lord as evidence by all the scriptural references in her song of praise known as the Magnificat.

3.       Mary and her husband Joseph were given the tremendous responsibility of parenting Jesus, the Son of the Most High, until He became an adult and began to fulfill His purpose on earth.

ANNA – LUKE 2:25-40

1.       Anna was widowed at a young age, but she decided rather than go man-hunting, she would serve the Lord wholeheartedly in the temple, living passionately for God.

2.       When she recognized Jesus as the Messiah, she was so bursting with joy that she could no longer remain inside the temple but had to take her devotion to God out into the streets and share that the Messiah had finally come.

3.       Anna was a prophetess, intercessor, and evangelist.

In the study of the women of Christmas we find:

·    2 prostitutes -  Tamar and Rahab

·    4 widows – Naomi, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Anna

·    2 Levirate marriages – Tamar & Judah and Ruth with Boaz

·    2 barren women who conceived – Sarah and Elizabeth

·    2 adulteresses – Tamar and Bathsheba

·    1 incident of incest – Tamar and her father-in-law

·    1 murder – David had Bathsheba’s husband Uriah the Hittite killed

·    2 unwed mothers – Judah married Tamar after her pregnancy became known and she identified him as the father. Mary was pregnant with the Messiah before she and Joseph were married

·    1 first woman created and mother of all living – Eve

·    5 virtuous women – Sarah, Ruth, Esther, Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna

They were women from varied walks of life, varying degrees of respectability, and varied amounts of faith; but all of them were shown God’s grace. Five of them were listed in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus – Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. However, I believe we have demonstrated that the other five belong in the Christmas story as well.