Titus 2 Men And Women

I would like for us to consider five women who are named in the Bible. Now I’ve heard of all of them before, and so have you, but I don’t know that I had ever thought to study them together. We’ll start with the Old Testament women first.

In Bible days it was the practice if a married man died without children for his younger brother to marry the widow. When children were conceived in these later marriages, they were considered to be the son and heir of the first husband. Remember that God had given land to tribes and families as an ever-lasting covenant. The main inheritance and blessing went to the first born. In Genesis 38 we read the story of Tamar. Tamar was married to Er the oldest son of Judah. In verse 7 we read that Er "was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him". Following the custom of the time, Judah then told his next son "Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother."

Onan didn’t like that idea. Sure he was willing to have intercourse with Tamar, but not father a child for his dead brother, so he withdrew and ejaculated onto the ground so Tamar wouldn’t conceive. Verse 10 tells us that his action "displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also."

Judah then sent Tamar home to her father’s house to wait for his younger son to grow up. Let’s read verses Genesis 38:12-26 Tamar was a wronged wife. She was obedient to her father-in-law. She was not free to re-marry. She had no prospect of ever marrying again or having children so she took matters into her own hands. Tamar used trickery to became involved in an immoral relationship and bore twin sons with her father-in-law.

I can understand Tamar’s frustration and desire for children but her actions did not conform to the law of the Old Testament. I’m sure that we would all consider her actions to be wicked.

Rahab is our next woman. In Joshua 2 we read the story of Joshua sending two men to spy out the city of Jericho. Jericho was amighty, walled city. You had to enter the city through one of the gates. There were guards at the gate to watch for enemy attacks. If the city were threatened the gates would be closed. Yet, when two men came walking through a gate into the city, the King got nervous. The king’s guards began to search for the spys. God led the spys to Rahab the harlot’s house and Rahab believed that the Israelites would conquor the walled city!

You all remember how Rahab hid the spys and helped them escape. God had reformed a harlot because she believed. When the children of Israel marched around Jericho day after day Rahab kept right on believing.  How many of us would have begun to doubt? Not Rahab, she hung the scarlet cord in the window and believed the Israelites would win. Then let’s read Joshua 6:22-25

"But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her.

And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel.

And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.

And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho."

Next let’s consider Ruth. We all love the story of Ruth. She was a Moabite woman that married a Hebrew man and yet when her husband died she was supportive of her mother-in-law. She left her family, her country, and her customs to travel to Bethlehem with her Mother-in-law. In Bethlehem she met and married Boaz but remember Ruth 1:16 And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or return from following after thee: for whether thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God?  Ruth was a gentile woman that converted to Judaism.

Next let’s consider Bathsheba. We often hear of David’s sin and yes he did sin, but Bathsheba was an adult married woman. She didn’t know that if you bath on the rooftop that anyone with a higher window or roof could see her?  The Hebrew word that is translated ‘took’ in IISamuel 11:4 can be used to mean seize but is more often used to mean bring or invite. In fact there is no indication that Bathsheba resisted King David’s advances in any way. Not one word of protest is recorded in scripture that I have found. Bathsheba did mourn Uriah after his death but she still married David and became queen. Bathsheba became David's wife as the result of an adulterous relationship.

The last woman we are going to look at is Mary the mother of Jesus. What do we know about Mary before she became the mother of Jesus? We really don’t know very much. According to Luke 1:26-39 Mary was not from a respected place, she was from Nazareth, she was from the house of David, she was a virgin, she was engaged and she had a much older cousin named Elizabeth. History indicates that she was very young since the custom was for girls to marry soon after they reached puberty. Even though she was innocent society would have judged her to be immoral. She was just a nobody, who bore the stamp of immorality with her pre-wedding pregnancy.

Satan wants all of us to feel that we're too blemished for God to use. Satan wants you to feel unacceptable to serve God. Satan’s goal is to see each of us unable to function because of the sin of our past. 1Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:"

God has another plan. If we know Jesus as Saviour and allow Him to be Lord of our lives, God says forget the past...I have a job for you. Philippians 3:13-14

"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

We have studied Tamar the wicked immoral trickster, Rahab the prostitute, Ruth the nice person but dispised Gentile, Bathsheba the adulterous, and Mary the pure innocent little nobody. What did these women have in common beside their sinful nature? They are all in the list of Jesus' genealogy in Matthew 1:1-16. These 5 women are the only women mentioned in 42 generations of Jesus’ heritage. Every one of them was, not only a nobody, they were women anyone would consider "unworthy" of being in the Son of God's earthly family tree! Yet not only did God see fit to include them in the lineage of His Son, He made a point to record the fact!

Now what excuse are we using to not serve the LORD of our salvation?

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