Are Bible Genealogies Really Useful?
Oh no! You’ve opened your Bible for your daily Bible reading. And you’ve just realized that today you have to read genealogies in the Bible! Or maybe the challenge is even bigger for you! Maybe you’re a pastor, and as you’re preaching through a book of the Bible you’re faced with a list of family names that are unfamiliar and seemingly irrelevant. How are you going to preach about genealogies from the Bible? I think many of us would recognize that we should have a better attitude about it. After all, we’re talking about the Word of God, here! But parts of the Bible like this can sure seem like a bummer sometimes – because reading through the lists of names can often feel pointless.
Yet even though this is a common experience, I’d like to make the case that genealogies in the Bible are more meaningful than you might initially realize. I’d like to help give pastors ideas on how to preach a Bible genealogy effectively, and I’d like to help everyday Christians benefit from Bible genealogies, too. So I’ll mention nine ideas for how you can better appreciate the genealogies of Scripture, and the significance they still have for the Church today.
Tips for Appreciating Family Records in the Bible
Appreciating Biblical Historicity
The first thing you should appreciate about Bible genealogies is that they give evidence that the Bible is a historical book. Genealogies make it obvious that the Bible was consciously written to give a record of real people and events. It would be hard to think of a compelling reason why Jews would fabricate elaborate family trees, especially since the family trees connect them to infamous sinners such as Adam and Eve, the brothers of Joseph (who sold Joseph into slavery), and to other generations of Israelites who perished for their unbelief. It seems safe to conclude that the genealogies were maintained to report history accurately – not to revise it. So genealogies remind us of the historicity of the Bible.
Appreciating Human Dignity
Second, we should appreciate Bible genealogies because they confirm the value and dignity of human life. The people you’re reading about may have lived a long time ago, and they may have foreign-sounding names that are difficult to pronounce. But they are just as much a person as you and I are. Sometimes we need long, time-consuming lists in the Bible to remind us that the world doesn’t revolve around our personal life story. Every heart beat is valuable, and the people in those lists are just as much an image bearer of God as you are.
Appreciating God’s Orderliness
Third, we should appreciate that Bible genealogies are a way of bring order to a vast and complex world. As family records are organized in genealogical lists, it reminds us that we have a God of order and systems and organization. We can appreciate that the Jews wanted to honor God by reflecting his orderliness. And genealogies can help us appreciate God’s work to maintain order in a crazy world, as well.
Appreciating Theological Intent
Fourth, we should appreciate that some of the Bible genealogies actually make significant theological points. The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 connects Jesus to the promises made to Abraham and David. And the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3 makes an important comparison (and contrast) between Adam, the Son of God, and Jesus, the Son of God. Sometimes there’s a deeper point or principle that God is making by putting genealogies in certain parts of the Bible. And when we understand what that point is, the genealogy is easier to appreciate.
Appreciating God’s Omniscience (Absolute Knowledge)
A fifth pointer to help you appreciate family trees in the Bible is this: genealogies confirm to us that God is supernaturally attentive to every person. He knows everyone’s name. He knows every detail – even the ones we’re not particularly interested in. And that extends to the complex lists of names that he’s included in His book, the Bible. We have trouble keeping track of who was begotten of whom. But God knows all of it – and he never suffers from absentmindedness or memory loss. This is one of those things that should lead us to fall down on our face in worship as we remember how immense and impressive God is.
Appreciating Personal Examples
Here’s a sixth idea to help you appreciate Bible genealogies. Some Bible genealogies record the names of people who were a part of rather noble (and rather risky) enterprises. In the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, names are recorded of people who journeyed back to Jerusalem after the Babylonian empire had carried their families away decades earlier. Though these names may not seem all that important to us, each of these Jews who bravely returned to rebuild the city should encourage us to live out our faith bravely, even when suffering comes and it’s tempting to think God has left us. So certain temptations challenge us to consider – if we lived in that time, would we be recorded among the faithful men and women who walked with God? Or would we be among the unnamed ones – the ones who lived lives of complacency and cowardice? It’s certainly worth our time to think about it.
Appreciating Legal Importance
Idea number 7: Some genealogies in the Bible had important legal ramifications. In order to inherit land (or to be numbered among the Levites after the exile) you needed to have your genealogical records clear. We all recognize the importance of wills, and property deeds, and other forms of legal paperwork today. And when we recognize that the genealogies were a key part of upholding justice and legal property rights, it gives us another angle to view them as important.
Appreciating God’s Sovereignty
The eighth way you can appreciate genealogies more, is by remembering that those genealogies aren’t accidents. Instead, every family tree and genealogy is overseen and ordained by God. In my own family’s history, I can pick out a number of key events that God orchestrated in a very specific way to bring about my existence, and to direct the course of my life. And in Bible genealogies, every instance of “Bob was the father of Tommy” has an untold story behind it – an untold story of how God preserved lives, and formed families, and ordered the events of their lives. The genealogies remind us that God is active in history, and each person in that list was put on earth by God, and included in that specific family tree for his mysterious purposes. Incredible to think about, isn’t it?
Appreciating the Faith of Genealogy Recorders
But here’s idea number nine, on how to appreciate genealogies. You should remember that genealogies weren’t written down for people in the past – or even just written for the sake of people in the present. But genealogies are written for people in the future. As the people of God meticulously wrote down family lines of people in the past – it was an expression of faith, that God wouldn’t cause their families and their faith to fizzle out on earth – but that God would continue to work in their families in the years to come. And as we consider genealogies, it’s right for us to entrust the future to God – and to work (and to keep records) and to do all that we do with the eager expectation that God will make it profitable for the future.
Appreciate Bible Genealogies
Who would have thought that Bible genealogies could be so useful? As I pastor Fellowship Reformed PCA, a church in Mt Pleasant, MI, I want to help people appreciate the full scope of what God has given us. I hope you’re encouraged as you read and utilize the Scriptures for spiritual good!
