Dr. Goodluck Ofoegbu

Prof. Oby Ofoegbu

Banking Blessings Ministry

San Antonio, Texas

USA

What We Will Learn

Perez, Boaz, Obed, and Solomon

Selected persons from genealogy of Jesus

God does not demand perfection

To grant favors to a person

Earned blessing and incurred punishment

Are God’s promises

Could coexist in parallel for a person

All Are Invited Part 1 of 2: Lessons from Genealogy of Jesus2

What We Will Learn

Two-part bible study

Perez and Boaz in Part 1

Obed and Solomon in Part 2

Matthew 1 and other passages

All Are Invited Part 1 of 2: Lessons from Genealogy of Jesus3

Selected Persons

from Genealogy of Jesus

Genealogy of Jesus

Includes several people

That could be considered “imperfect”

Or condemned outright

In present-day societies

Perez, Boaz, Obed, Solomon

And others not selected for this study

Matthew 1:1–6

All Are Invited Part 1 of 2: Lessons from Genealogy of Jesus4

1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah

the son of David, the son of Abraham:

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Matthew 1 (NIV)

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,Perez the father of Hezron,Hezron the father of Ram,

4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab

the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of

Salmon,

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Matthew 1 (NIV)

5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother

was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose

mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,

6 and Jesse the father of King David.David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

Perez, Son of Judah

Born by Judah’s daughter-in-law, Tamar

Judah had three male children

From his wife, a Canaanite

Married Tamar for his first son

Two oldest sons died

Lost favor with God

Youngest son too young to take over Tamar

Genesis 38:1–11 [11 read in session]All Are Invited Part 1 of 2: Lessons from Genealogy of Jesus

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11 Judah then said to his daughter-in-law

Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s

household until my son Shelah grows up.”

For he thought, “He may die too, just like his

brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her

father’s household.

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Genesis 38 (NIV)

Birth of Perez:

Judah’s Interaction with Tamar

Judah slept with daughter-in-law, Tamar

Thought she was a prostitute

Tamar tricked him

Gave birth to twin boys, Perez and Zerah

Genesis 38:12–30

[27–30 read in session]

All Are Invited Part 1 of 2: Lessons from Genealogy of Jesus9

27 When the time came for her to give birth,

there were twin boys in her womb.

All Are Invited Part 1 of 2: Lessons from Genealogy of Jesus

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Genesis 38 (NIV)

28 As she was giving birth, one of them put

out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet

thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This

one came out first.”

29 But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!” And he was named Perez.

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Genesis 38 (NIV)

30 Then his brother, who had the scarlet

thread on his wrist, came out. And he was

named Zerah.

Perez, Son of Judah cont’d

Judah inherited God’s promise to Jacob

Likely earned blessings himself

e.g., offered to be enslaved for Benjamin

Incurred punishment by marrying Canaanite

Blessing was fulfilled through Perez

Punished through other children

Earned blessing and incurred punishment

Are parallel promises fulfilled at their time

All Are Invited Part 1 of 2: Lessons from Genealogy of Jesus12

Boaz, Son of Salmon

Born by Rahab

Prostitute that helped Israeli spies

Two spies sent by Joshua

To scout Jericho and neighboring land

Stayed with Rahab

She protected and informed them

Because she feared God

Joshua 2:1–24 [1–5 & 8–14 read in session]

All Are Invited Part 1 of 2: Lessons from Genealogy of Jesus13

1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

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Joshua 2 (NIV)

2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of

the Israelites have come here tonight to spy

out the land.”

3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to

Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you

and entered your house, because they have

come to spy out the whole land.”

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Joshua 2 (NIV)

4 But the woman had taken the two men and

hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to

me, but I did not know where they had come

from.

5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city

gate, they left. I don’t know which way they

went. Go after them quickly. You may catch

up with them.”

All Are Invited Part 1 of 2: Lessons from Genealogy of Jesus

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Joshua 2 (NIV)

8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she

went up on the roof

All Are Invited Part 1 of 2: Lessons from Genealogy of Jesus

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Joshua 2 (NIV)

9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has

given you this land and that a great fear of you

has fallen on us, so that all who live in this

country are melting in fear because of you.

10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.

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Joshua 2 (NIV)

11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in

fear and everyone’s courage failed because of

you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven

above and on the earth below.

12 “Now then, please swear to me by the

Lord that you will show kindness to my

family, because I have shown kindness to

you. Give me a sure sign

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Joshua 2 (NIV)

13 that you will spare the lives of my father

and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all

who belong to them—and that you will save

us from death.”

14 “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured

her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we

will treat you kindly and faithfully when the

Lord gives us the land.”

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Joshua 2 (NIV)

Boaz, Son of Salmon cont’d

Israelites protected Rahab

When they destroyed Jericho

Joshua 6:15–25 [not read in session]

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What We Learned

(Judah)

Judah inherited blessing through Jacob

Earned blessing himself as well

May have incurred punishment

Married Canaanite

Both promises were fulfilled

Blessing fulfilled through Perez

Death of two sons

May have been his punishment

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What We Learned

(Boaz)

Boaz was a blessing to Rahab

Because she helped Israel

With fear of God

Any punishment for prostitution

Did not prevent her blessing

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What We Learned

Blessing and Punishment

Earned blessing is a promise from God

Incurred punishment is a promise from God

Both promises will be fulfilled

God may forgive promise of punishment

If sinner repents truly

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What We Learned

God Doesn’t Need Perfection

A person does not need to be perfect

To find favor with God

One can earn blessing

Even with existing incurred punishment

And can incur punishment

Even with existing earned blessing

Both can exist in parallel

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