…And Arphaxad begot Shelah, and Shelah begot Eber…(1 Chronicles 1:18)
When we are committed to reading our Bibles through, all the way through, not skipping a word, we are tempted to wonder why God saw fit to include some things. Like the genealogies, and the details of travels, why are these in the Bible at all?
Well, you can be sure they are there for a reason, and perhaps we won’t know all of the richness of why in this life, but let me give you some things to think about. When we study we find out certain things have their rightful place in being included. For instance, notice that the two different genealogies in Matthew and Luke point to the two different lines of Jesus through Mary and Joseph, but both have roots in David. So these seem a necessity, in a sense.
What about those seemingly endless genealogies in the OT books, what are they there for? Well, when we see those endless names, think about the fact that God cared enough to put them there. Then think about this. When you are nothing but a name to everyone else, you are still important to God, important enough to be included even if no one else thinks you are worth the time. When you see where the Bible talks about the travels of the old timers and said they pitched a tent here or there, and then here or there again, and so on, think about the fact that when no one else cares where you are God knows exactly where you are, and He does care, every step of the way. God is interested in individuals.
When we see the personal greetings of Paul to certain individuals, think about the fact that although we don’t have much more information than their name, they were important to Paul, and they got their names in the Bible; don’t you wish that were you! Beside the Book of Life, that Bible is the one book I would want to get a recommendation in, it is better and more prestigious than any who’s who list you will ever get on this earth!
When someone takes an interest in you and your details, whether they know it or not, they are acting like Jesus. He has your hairs numbered, and even if your bald, He counted each one as it fell off your head. Use you head, and realize that those words in the Bible, they mean something. You may not care but God does. I may not ever know what all those names mean, but I know this, God wanted them included, and He wants you included, so be glad that God wants your name included when no one else thinks your worth the time. That means something to me.
6 comments:
even so--
From an historical perspective, I would say that the geneaologies in the OT are some of the most important sections. After all, to the Hebrews, their history--the names of their ancestors--represented the salvation of God in their midst. The amenesis--remembrance and rehearsal--of their collective story was a constant reminder of God's promise to Abraham. To remember their past, in an important sense, was to realize that God was in their present. Coming out of the exile, the recording and reading of these names would have been especially important and poignant: even though Israel had been removed from the land, their return--and the rehearsal of the national history--marked the truth that God was still faithful to the promise and covenant made with Abraham.
This same emphasis is clear in the NT writers' usages of geneaologies in their apologetics. To continue to rehearse the national/salvific history, and to show Christ as the culmination of the same, was to argue that not only was God continuing to fulfill the divine promise made to Abraham, but moreover that God's promise was completed in the person and work of Christ.
What I find equally as intersting is that Melissa and I were just discussing that this evening. Ministering Spirits? Have a good night.... Oh... 007 is finished if you have time.
Hmmmmmm.... 007? I just got that.
excellent, exist...glad to see you back, Happy New Year...and you are quite correct, so thank you...although I did not want to do all that in the post, thank you for doing that here in the meta, it is appreciated...perhaps I can condense that and include it in an updated version...
It feels special--like having a back-stage pass, when you find something that appears trivial on the surface but instead of glossing over... press on, bring out the tools and mine away, till you find out what makes that name, place, quantity, or sequence significant. I don't always do that, but it has been neat to draw up charts as I read, or do the math in Noah's genealogy, for example, and notice which deaths correspond with the start of the great flood.
Yeah, Craver, you are right, as I said in the last post, there is definitely meat on those old bones...
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