re Thamar a harlot, Rachab another, Ruth the Moabitess, and
Bathsheba; three of them tainted in regard to womanly purity, and the
fourth, though morally sweet and noble, yet mingling alien blood in the
stream. Why are pains taken to show these 'blots in the scutcheon'? May
we not reasonably answer--in order to suggest Christ's relation to the
stained and sinful, and to all who are 'strangers from the covenants of
promise.' He is to be a King with pity and pardon for harlots, with a
heart and arms open to welcome all those who were afar off among the
Gentiles. The shadowy forms of these four dead women beckon, as it were,
to all their sisters, be they stained however darkly or distant however
remotely, and assure them of welcome into the kingdom of the king who,
by Jewish custom, could claim to be their descendant.

The ruling idea of the genealogy is clearly though unostentatiously
shown by the employment of the names 'Jesus Christ' and 'Christ,' while
throughout the rest of this Gospel the name used habitually is Jesus.
In verse 1 we have the full title proclaimed at the very beginning; then
in verse 16, 'Jesus who is called Christ' repeats the proclamation at
the end of the genealogy proper, while verse 17 again presents the three
names with which it began as towering like mountain peaks, Abraham,
David, and--supreme above the other two, the dominant summit to which
they led up, we have once more 'Christ.' Similarly the narrative that
follows is of 'the birth of Jesus Christ.' That name is never used again
in this Gospel, except in one case where the reading is doubtful; and as
for the form 'Jesus who is called Christ,' by which He is designated in
the genealogy itself, the only other instance of it is on the mocking
lips of Pilate, while the uniform use of Jesus in the body of this
Gospel is broken only by Peter in his great confession, and in, at most,
four other instances. Could the purpose to assert and establish, at the
very outset, His Messianic, regal dignity, as the necessary
pre-supposition to all that follows, be more clearly shown? We must
begin our study of His life and works with the knowledge that He, of
whom these things are about to be told, is the King of Israel.

THE NATIVITY

'Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother
Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was
found with child of the Holy Ghost. 19. Then Joseph her husband,
being