I Chronicles 2: David's Family Tree

Every family tree has a few nuts.

The lineage of David (and thus, subsequently, of Jesus) is detailed in I Chronicles 2.  It includes a few surprises, such as "His daughter-in-law Tamar also bore him Perez and Zerah.  Judah had five sons in all" (vs. 4) and "Boaz of Obed, Obed of Jesse" (vs. 12).

Reading between the lines reveals some startling twists in this family tree.  Most people do not have a child by their daughters-in-law, let alone children!  When you read the background in Genesis 38, you discover the story of how this came to be, and of how Tamar had twins by Judah.

Also woven into David's genealogy is the character of his great-grandfather Boaz.  Boaz had multiple foreign influences in his life.  His mother, Rahab, was a Canaanite prostitute from Jericho, saved under extraordinary circumstances by her decision to support the Israelite spies as described in Joshua 2 and 6.  Not only did Boaz have a non-Jewish mother, he also took a non-Jewish wife.  The Book of Ruth details how Boaz came to wed the Moabite widow Ruth.

All this goes to show that God can use anyone and anything in the story of salvation that He is writing.  Don't think that you or your family have issues that would preclude you from being incorporated into God's masterwork!