What other biblical examples show God working through unexpected family arrangements? Setting the stage with Sheshan’s family • 1 Chronicles 2:34-35: “Now Sheshan had no sons, only daughters, but he did have an Egyptian servant named Jarha. So Sheshan gave his daughter in marriage to his servant Jarha, and she bore him Attai.” • A Hebrew daughter marries a foreign servant; yet their line is carefully preserved in Judah’s royal genealogy (vv. 36-41). God’s purposes move forward through an arrangement no one in Israel would have predicted. Old Testament snapshots of divine surprises • Hagar and Ishmael (Genesis 16; 21:17-18) – Sarai gives her Egyptian maid to Abram; the child of this union receives a separate covenant blessing: “I will make him a great nation.” • Tamar and Judah (Genesis 38:26-30) – A widowed daughter-in-law secures the family line through twins Perez and Zerah; Perez becomes an ancestor of David. • Daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 27:7) – Five sisters inherit land because “the daughters of Zelophehad speak correctly”; God adjusts inheritance law through them. • Rahab of Jericho (Joshua 6:25; Matthew 1:5) – A Canaanite prostitute shelters Israel’s spies and is grafted into Messiah’s lineage through Salmon. • Ruth the Moabitess (Ruth 4:13-17) – A foreign widow clings to Naomi, marries Boaz, and bears Obed, grandfather of David. • Adoption of Moses (Exodus 2:10) – Pharaoh’s daughter raises a Hebrew baby, positioning him to deliver Israel. • David and Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9:7) – The king adopts Jonathan’s crippled son, restoring his inheritance and seat at the royal table. • Esther and Mordecai (Esther 2:7, 17) – An orphaned cousin becomes queen of Persia, securing her people’s survival. New Testament echoes • Joseph, Mary, and Jesus (Matthew 1:18-21, 24-25) – A betrothed carpenter embraces a divinely conceived Child; legal paternity establishes Jesus in the line of David. • The household of faith (Ephesians 2:19) – “You are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household.” Jew and Gentile form one redeemed family—an eternal, holy adoption. What these stories teach • God values faith over pedigree; obedience opens doors no bloodline can shut. • He weaves outsiders, widows, servants, orphans, and foreigners into His redemptive tapestry. • Family limitations—no sons, mixed marriages, unexpected pregnancies—cannot block His covenant promises. • Each unexpected arrangement foreshadows the gospel: grace reaches the unlikely, secures inheritance for the helpless, and builds a family that spans every nation and circumstance. |
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