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Jesus' Family Of Rogues

When a child is placed for adoption, a check is done into the prospective parents and their background, to try to make sure they can provide a good and safe family environment.

God, on the other hand, apparently chose more recklessly. We can see in Matthew chapter 1 that Jesus family tree included some very noble ancestors, but also some pretty shady ones. Cheats, bandits, thieves and murderers – almost every depth of human depravity is represented. Just look at some of the people whose blood ran in Joseph, his adoptive father's, veins:

‘Jacob the father of Judah’ (v1)
A cheat and a deceiver who swindled his own brother out of his inheritance (Genesis 27)

‘Judah the father of Perez
A promiscuous man who had a child by his own daughter (Genesis 38)

‘David the father of Solomon’
Lied to a man who trusted him, and lived as a bandit (1 Samuel 27). He had sex with another man’s wife, got her pregnant, and had her husband killed to try to cover it up. (2 Samuel 11)

‘Solomon the father of Rehoboam’
Slept with almost 1000 women. Deserted God and turned to idolatry (1 Kings 11)

‘Asa the father of Jehoshaphat’
Made an unholy alliance, cruelly imprisoned a prominent dissenter and ended his life as a brutal tyrant (2 Chronicles 16)

‘Manasseh the father of Amon’
An occult practitioner who burnt his own son as a human sacrifice.

All in all a pretty unpleasant catalogue of behaviour. Yet into this chaotic family was born the Rescuer who would bring light to a dark world.

What an amazing testimony to the grace of God and his astonishing ability to forgive and forget, and to bring good out of bad!

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