Bad Into Good

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

7Solomon the father of Rehoboam,

Rehoboam the father of Abijah,

Abijah the father of Asa,

8Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,

Jehoram the father of Uzziah,

9Uzziah the father of Jotham,

Jotham the father of Ahaz,

Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

10Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,

Manasseh the father of Amon,

Amon the father of Josiah,

11and Josiah the father of Jeconiah^c and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

Thoughts: In the line of Jesus is a hint at adultery: "whose mother had been Uriah's wife."  David, the favorite king of scripture messed up.  He had an affair with another man's wife and made sure the mad was put in an unsafe position where he died.
Now the writer of Matthew could have pointed out many of the weaknesses of the kings.  Ahaz brought an altar from Syria into the Temple encouraging the worship of other gods- and at one point even closed the Temple.  Manasseh sacrificed a son to a foreign god.  But what he mentions was the great king's greatest sin.  When you look at kings lists in Egypt or Babylon or Assyria- you do not find mention of a king's weakness or a question that might aggravate his pedigree.  But the Bible is quick to mention reality- and real sin- as well as real forgiveness.  God is more gracious than we are- more patient but also more holy that we can imagine.  God takes a terrible sin- something that is horribly wrong- and ends up using it to be part of His greater plan.  He does that with our lives as well.  

Prayer: Lord, give me hope and grace in the midst of the horrible sin I see.  Let me endure evil with grace and hope that you will turn bad into good.