blog

What we learnt, God is a God of

• Grace – through the tragic beginnings of the family of Judah comes a line of men and women who prevail against the odds and whom God is happy to use for His purposes despite their failure
• Sovereignty – He was, is and will always be the ultimate sovereign, ruler

1 Chronicles 1
First and Second Chronicles were likely written after the return from Babylon. Thus whilst there are similarities with the First and Second book of Kings, both offering a history of the the Jewish monarchy, the perspective in Chronicles is more one of reflection and only the details of the Southern Kingdom are recorded. Perhaps there was even a wished for notion in his mind of the writer that there should only have ever been one kingdom and to the extent that the whereabouts of the Northern Kingdom and its peoples were largely unknown, he reflects on and record only what he deems are the note-worthy details of the nation that remains.

Having established the particular character of this record we should note:

• chapter 1 is a genealogy which will clearly embed Jewish history in the context of world history as a whole.
• As he moves toward documenting the history of the monarchy he includes reference to other power influences in the region – hence the mention of the Dukes of Edom.
• As the genealogy develops we can see that he is really only interested in the Kingly line and chapter 4 begins with Judah, overturning the order of birthright which would place Reuben first.
• The question arises at this point as to why the Kingly line comes from Judah. And the kingly line ultimately will be the Messianic line. Why wasn’t it from Joseph? It’s an interesting point because some of the later writers will refer to the Southern Kingdom as Ephraim – one of Josephs Son’s – but the Kings that reigned there came from Judah’s line. There were many things which made Judah an unlikely candidate:
  • he wasn’t the first-born
  • his mother was  Leah – not Jacobs favourite
  • he consents to Josephs death along with the other brothers
  • he engineers the sale of Joseph and the other brothers follow his lead
  • he mercilessly deceives his father with the rest of them
  • in Gen 38 a whole chapter is given over to Judah which makes for very unpleasant reading including his ungodly friendships and his lurid relations with his own daughter-in-law – it might be asked – ‘why would a whole chapter be given over in this way’
  • the answer of course is because the events therein are absolutely pivotal in setting the scene for Judah’s ascendancy. What emerges from this is fascinating:
    • Judah is deprived by God of two of his sons reducing his chances at posterity (a poignant situation given he had deprived Jacob of one of his)
    • the two sons that come from Judah’s relations with Tamar – the birth event is recorded in particular detail owing to the unusual circumstances – the firstborn is named Pharez (Perez) because he evidences the characteristic that he overcame the odds. Against all expectations he overcame. This of course is the very characteristic of the Messianic line but it also signals a change in the life of Judah himself
    • and so when we come to chapter 42-43, the focus on Judah narrows. Initially, all the brothers are in view. Reuben underlines his unsuitability as the leader with his rash comment to his father, ‘“Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you”. By contrast Judah takes proper charge and is recorded as having said “I will be a pledge of his safety” – he makes a composed and mature pledge that convinces his Father to allow Benjamin to head to Egypt.
    • and then finally, it is Judah, when Benjamin’s life is in the balance (no doubt reflecting on the pain himself, of have being deprived of two sons and contemplating the bitter anguish it would bring to Jacob), he steps up to Joseph (Gen 44:18) and pleads with genuine, deep-felt, desperate emotion, Joseph’s mercy. It is these words from Judah which break Joseph down and reconciliation ensues. Judah breaks forth against the odds and overcomes. And with that crescendo, we are not surprised to hear Jacob’s blessing, ‘Judah, your brothers shall praise you…the scepter shall not depart from Judah’
  • this meta-narrative is patently obvious when you realise how significant Judah is to the end of the book of Genesis. Genesis being the book of beginnings of course, the seed-plot for the bible
  • and so we answer the question as to why it is that Judah, despite his pitiful beginnings, became the tribe from which the Messiah would come. It is a story of one thing – God’s abounding grace.

What’s not there

• no mention of Dan (cf. Judges 18)

Intro

a study on the Genealogies of the Bible – we are the people our History has made us. That is somewhat to state the obvious but when we speak of History we are ultimately referring to God’s unfolding revelation and not a story of our own making.

What we learnt, God is a God of

• History – our faith is not based on legend and myth, we saw from Genesis that the events of Eden, the Flood and Babel shaped our world as it appears today
• Purpose – God has a plan, a big big plan and He will work it out – nothing can get in its way
• Promise – God reveals His purpose to us in promises, binding Himself to do what He says He will
• Family – this is the ultimate vehicle through which He will bring into the world The ‘seed’ and reminds us of the common brotherhood we all have (Acts 17.?)

Gen 4 & 5
Cains family is detailed in Gen 4.17-22. Note:

• the lack of age related information – age data is a distinctive feature of those genealogies from which the ‘seed’ would come (cf Gen 10,11 & 36,37); God is careful to establish accurate genealogical data to establish the families of the promised One
• the record of natural gifts (famers, shepherds, musicians, metallurgist)

Seth’s family is detailed in Gen 5. Note:

• the record of spiritual men characterised by ‘Calling upon God’ (Gen 4.26), ‘Walking with God’ (Gen 5.22) & ‘Believing in God’ (Gen 5.29)
• the refrain ‘and he died’, reminding us that though this family were waiting for promised ‘seed’, being from Adam they inherited Adams sin and death

Visual Aids
Chart showing overlap in generations of Seth
Longevity: Compare Adam to Noah with Shem to Abraham

Gen 10 & 11
Between these genealogies and those of cha 4 & 5 the following events occur

• the flood takes place
• it is possible that the cataclysmic conditions of the flood would cause spread in land mass or that this occurred in the days of Peleg during which according to Gen 10.25, the earth was divided (continental drift)
• God mandates Noahs family to replenish the earth 9.1 & 9.7
• God establishes three families on the basis of Noah’s three sons – Shem, Ham & Japheth
• because of Hams sin in dishonouring His father, Ham’s family would serve Shem & Japheth whilst Japheth would dwell together with Shem – this prophecy which was evidently imparted through Noah by God, is startlingly evident from history; Ham has both served in a technological sense (the Hamitic nations were the first to advance technology) and in a political sense (though Ham’s slavery is not in view, God does not condone slavery)

The genealogies of Noah’s sons are detailed in Gen 10. Note:

• the families of Japheth: we only recognise Tarshish (from the story of Jonah), being located in Spain; historians understand the other locations to be simarlarly located in Europe
• the families of Ham: Ham = hot; Cush = Black and ono ancient maps occupied the are of Ethiopia; and so it is understood that the families of Ham settled in modern day Africa; Nimrod was a mighty warrior against God, his name means rebel
• the families of Shem: from which came Eber, the father of the Hebrews; it is possible that the families of Shem spread out Eastwards to occupy the land occupied today by Asia (the family of Joktan for instance).

Visual Aids
Map showing territories occupied by Noahs sons (bear in mind that exact territories are debatable)
Graphics used to illustrate continental drift discussion
Map used to illustrate how families would have spread after flood using land bridges

Other notes:

• it is obvious that Adam and Eve’s children included women and that God permitted Cain & Seth to take their sisters to wife; this was only outlawed under the Mosaic law and was as much to avoid children being born with deformities (see next point)
• Adam and Eve’s genetic makeup would have been highly stable and only with the entrance of sin did the potential for bad genetic mutations begin; this would have been exacerbated after the flood since the eight that came out of the ark had far less stable genetic makeup (relatively limited gene pool – this would also go some way to explain why longevity free-fell after the flood)
• If Eden was located in the middle east, it is probable that Adam and Eve were Arab looking in appearance with a balanced amount of melanin (defines skin colour) in their skin; this would have ensured that even whilst fully naked their skin would be protected from harmful radiation (though the effects of such would not really have been a problem anyway before the fall) whilst at the same time receiving enough sunlight to produce sufficient vitamin D to support a healthy body. The absence of the canopy which was released during the flood would also have increased harmful radiation further accelerating the level of bad genetic mutations and ultimate disease, especially by those families that settled in any climates where they had not adapted to the different levels of sunlight
• Even modern secular history traces us all back to one mother, apparently in Africa but at least, to a common ancestor; this mother is known as Eve

Comedic news article about the confusion at Babel: