Jason B. Hood

Jason Hood's PhD dissertation addresses the breaks in the rhythm of Matthew's genealogy, seeking to answer why Matthew has included "and his brothers" and the supposed 4 named women. Concerning the women, he demonstrates that Matthew's focus in including the 3 named women (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth) + Uriah, not Bathsheba, in Matthew's genealogy is because they are Gentiles, not because they are sinful women or had irregular births. Uriah is the one named; Bathsheba is not the focus. Matthew's genealogy is telling Israel's story. Israel failed miserably at reaching out to the Gentiles, as had been part of God's plan for Abraham in Gen 12:1-3, but in these named outsiders in the genealogy, we see that God was faithful to his purposes. The trajectory through Matthew includes the Gentile magi in ch. 2 on through several positive Gentiles meeting Jesus and concluding with Jesus' command to take the gospel to all nations. He does similar careful work with "and his brothers" but my interest was to glean his insights on the women. I was delighted that these women (and Uriah) are positive, not negative examples, for Matthew's readers
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