How To Read Genealogies in Scripture
Do your eyes glaze over when you encounter a genealogy in your Bible reading? Do you gloss over them or skip them altogether? Here is a short list of things biblical genealogies teach us and how we can approach them.
Genealogies are sprinkled throughout the Bible. Some books contain big portions of these lists of names and all of their descendants. If you’re like me, you tend to get hung up on how to pronounce some of the more difficult names. It is easy to get discouraged with Bible reading when you don’t understand why the genealogies are there.
As I’ve been reading through the Bible, I’ve encountered genealogies throughout, but when I landed in 1 Chronicles, and I saw chapter after chapter of lists, I decided to do some research. I wanted to understand why God included these lists for us in His Word.
Let me encourage you and challenge you not to gloss over genealogies as you come across them in Scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16 says,
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
(ESV)
Genealogies are not an exception to this verse, so they are profitable for us to read and study. This begs the question: What do genealogies teach us?
Genealogies Teach Us There Is Only One Race
One of the most important things genealogies teach us is that there is only one race—the human race. Especially given the current climate in our society, it is important to recognize that we can all trace our lineage back to Noah, and from Noah back to Adam. God was careful to show us in Scripture that He did not create different races. In fact, in reading the history of the Tower of Babel, we are shown that ethnicities were originally divided along language lines, not skin colors.
Genealogies Demonstrate God’s Faithfulness To Fulfill His Promises
In Genesis, God promised Abraham that He would make Abraham a great nation. God told him he would have descendants that would be like the grains of sand or the stars in the sky. When God gave us the book of Numbers and the genealogies thereafter, He showed us that He kept this promise.
Even through the captivities Israel survived (these were consequences for turning away from God), God’s faithfulness remained. When the Hebrews came back to the promised land, genealogies served to give the land back to the rightful tribes. God proved that He cares about restoration. Because the Israelites had genealogies, they could prove their identity as Jews and, for some, that meant proving their calling as Levites or priests.
God Doesn’t Show Favoritism, and He Does the Choosing
If you take some time to read the genealogies carefully, you’ll realize there are names included that seem not to fit. In the midst of the lists of names, we find names of women and names of Gentiles (non-Jews). While God was fulfilling His promise to Abraham to make him a great nation, He included unlikely people and grafted them into the Israelite family. An Israelite would never have chosen Ruth, a Moabite, to be the great grandmother of King David, yet God chose her to be in the lineage of the prophesied Messiah.
God Cares about Individuals
Take a moment to ponder that God lists his people by name. While the names are strange and difficult for us, He knows each one of them. He knows who they are and who their children are. Isaiah 43:1 says,
“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.'”
(ESV)
And Psalm 139:16 tells us,
“Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
(ESV)
God cares about us individually, He knows what is going on with us, and He knows what will happen in our future.
Genealogies Confirm Prophecy
Several genealogies in Scripture are there to prove that Jesus fulfills the prophecy of the Messiah. They show that Jesus was a descendant of David, and that He fulfills the words of Isaiah and other prophets in the Old Testament. Genealogies used in the Gospels are there to show who Christ is with the focus that specific Gospel has. He is the prophesied King, He is the Son of God.
Importance of Family
One important lesson we can learn from genealogies is the value Scripture places on the family. We are instructed to talk about God’s Word with our children:
“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
Deuteronomy 6:7 (ESV).
And we are promised blessings when we do—and not just any blessing, but blessings to a thousand generations:
“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.”
Deuteronomy 7:9 (ESV)
God knows you and your children by name. He cares about you and them. He doesn’t show favoritism based on your past or your circumstances. He is in control of your present and future. And you can trust Him. That is what genealogies teach.
This list is not exhaustive, but it’s a great place to start as you approach genealogies in Scripture. And they become even more interesting when you research meanings of names and the lessons taught through individual lives.
