Yes — God's grace manifests in Jesus' genealogy by including four women whose pasts were marked by immorality and unworthiness.
Les Feldick points out that only four women appear in Matthew's genealogy, and they are the very women most people would rather leave out. Tamar played the prostitute, and Rahab was a harlot. Les says their presence demonstrates the grace of God — not license — and shows that God's grace has always been active, reaching people despite failure and sin.
Matthew 1:1 — Opens the New Testament with the genealogical record of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Matthew 1:3 — Names Thamar (Tamar) in the messianic line, a woman whose story involved prostitution.
Matthew 1:5 — Names Rachab (Rahab) and Ruth in the line leading to David, showing Gentile and morally broken women in Jesus' family tree.
Matthew 1 opens the New Testament with a genealogy that begins with Abraham rather than Adam. The list names David and Abraham as Christ's primary ancestors. Within that list, the Bible records only four women: Thamar in verse 3, Rachab and Ruth in verse 5, and the wife of Uriah in verse 6. Scripture lists these women without comment, simply recording their names in the royal and messianic line. Rachab, also called Rahab, was a Canaanite woman from Jericho, yet the text records that Salmon begat Booz of Rachab. Thamar is named when Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar. These women are preserved as part of the divinely ordered family line of Jesus.
Les teaches that only four women appear in Matthew chapter 1, and they are exactly the four that readers would want to leave out. He points to Tamar, who 'played the prostitute,' and to Rahab, who was a harlot. Rather than being an embarrassment, these women show 'the grace of God, not the license.' The same grace is seen throughout the Old Testament: in the garden God pursued Adam and Eve; in the days of Noah, 'Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD'; and time after time Israel was spared because of His mercy and grace. Les summarizes that God has been a God of grace from day one, so their inclusion in the genealogy is not an anomaly but a revelation of who God is.
Les observes that there are only four women named in the genealogy, and they are 'the very four women that every one of us would just as soon leave out.' Tamar is the first, and Les reminds us that she played the prostitute. Rahab is another, a harlot who lived on the wall of Jericho. In each case, God saw fit to place them in the family line of the Messiah. Les's point is that their presence highlights God's grace, not a license for sin.
Les is emphatic that the genealogy points to 'the grace of God, not the license.' God is not condoning the immorality of these women. Instead, He is demonstrating that His grace can reach down to individuals whose moral failures would have excluded them under the Law. The very presence of Rahab — a harlot — in the Messiah's line is evidence that God's grace transcends human expectations.
Les stresses that God's grace did not begin with the Apostle Paul or the church age. When Adam and Eve hid themselves after sinning, it was God's grace that led Him to pursue them. In Genesis 6, 'Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.' Later, when Israel worshiped the golden calf and when they rejected the Messiah, God's mercy and grace withheld the judgment they deserved. So the grace revealed in Jesus' genealogy is the same grace at work from the beginning.
Only Four Women — Tamar Included
Les points out that Matthew's genealogy contains only four women, and Tamar, who played the prostitute, is the first; these are the very women readers would leave out, yet God included them.
Rahab and the Grace of God
Les says Rahab, a harlot, is one of the four women in the genealogy, and all four were immoral; this reveals the grace of God, not a license for sin.
Grace Sent God to Seek Adam and Eve
Les explains that God's grace is what led Him to go looking for Adam and Eve when they hid from Him in the garden.
Grace Before the Church Age
Les quotes Genesis 6:8 to show that even in Noah's day 'Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD,' proving God has always been a God of grace.
Grace Toward Wayward Israel
Les teaches that Israel's rescue from destruction after the golden calf and after they rejected the Messiah was due to God's mercy and grace.
Grace Reconciles Adam and Eve
Les distinguishes the eternal attribute of God's grace from church-age doctrine, but shows grace moved God to reconcile Adam and Eve to Himself.
Rahab in the Messiah's Family Line
Les reminds his audience that Rahab appears in the family line of the Messiah, showing God recognized her faith and placed her there.
God’s Foreknowledge vs. Free Will: How Salvation Works
Judah is one of the twelve tribes, and then Judah comes down to the line of David. David has Solomon. Now if I had a little more board, I'll just have to draw this in your mind. From Solomon, the genealogy split. On the one side we come down and we have the genealogy of Mary, which is the bloodline that goes all the way back to Adam and Eve, and on the other side of the genealogy we have the line …
Matthew 1:1: The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
This opening verse sets up the genealogy that contains the women through whom grace is shown.
Matthew 1:3: And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;
Tamar appears here in the messianic line, a woman whose story included prostitution.
Matthew 1:5: And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;
Rachab (Rahab) and Ruth are named in the line leading to David.
Genesis 6:8: But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Les uses this verse to show that God's grace was active before the Law and before the church age.
Les Feldick teaches that only four women appear in Matthew's genealogy, and they are the ones people would rather leave out — Tamar, who played the prostitute, and Rahab, a harlot. Their presence shows the grace of God, not a license to sin. God saw fit to place them in the messianic line to reveal His grace.
No. Les is clear that the point is 'the grace of God, not the license.' God does not condone the immorality of these women. Instead, their inclusion demonstrates that God's grace can reach beyond sin and failure, which is exactly what the genealogy displays.
Les says no. God has been a God of grace from day one. When Adam and Eve hid after sinning, God pursued them because of His grace. Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD, and Israel was spared again and again by God's mercy and grace. The genealogy of Jesus is just one more example of that same grace.
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