Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jim West <jwest AT highland.net>]

At 03:37 PM 7/14/03 -0400, you wrote:

>Thanks, Karl, though I wonder whether Matthew 1:5 really reflects a
>contemporary (late 1st c. C.E.?) Jewish tradition, or if the evangelist
>"grafted" Rahab onto Jesus' genealogy to get a message across.

Ray Brown pointed out a long while back now that the 5 women (including
Mary) of Jesus' family line were all of questionable moral character.
Including Ruth who uncovered Boaz "feet"- i.e., while the poor guy was drunk
she lay next to him, and when he woke up he assumed the worst and she didn't
set the record straight.  In short, all 5 were "unclean" in the mode of
harlot.  (one wonders if the old stories circulating about Jesus' dad being
a Roman soldier didn't have something to do with this).


Jim
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Jim West
Quartz Hill School of Theology
Adjunct Professor of Biblical Studies

Biblical Studies Resources
http://web.infoave.net/~jwest