Why are there Genealogies in Scripture?
Here is the genealogy of Terach. Terach fathered Avram, Nachor and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. Haran died before his father Terach in the land where he was born, in Ur of the Kasdim. (Genesis 11:27, 28)
Throughout Scripture, both in the Hebrew and Apostolic Scriptures, we are given genealogies of the patriarchs, King David and of Adonai Yeshua, the Lord Jesus. Why? What are the purposes of these?
There are five (5) distinct reasons[1] why our Bible, in its various translations, contains genealogies. Through these listings of one’s ancestors, the Bible lets us know God cares about history. All too often, when we forget about those, who came before us, we lose sight of our history. Why is this important to us? When we know what has come before us, we are better able to understand who we are today. The same is true of the Bible.
If we do not believe in the historical accuracy of Scripture, we are placed into a world of believing the Bible is fantasy, created by man alone. Thus, all of God’s promises to us are lies. As Rav Sha’ul, the Apostle Paul, writes in 1 Corinthians 15:16, 17, For if the dead are not raised, then the Messiah has not been raised either; and if the Messiah has not been raised, your trust is useless, and you are still in your sins.
Through biblical genealogies, we get a sense of Yahveh interacting with real people. Can you imagine what it would be like to view our ancestors as cardboard cut-outs, rather than the real people they were? The same is true with biblical personalities.
Each person mentioned in Scripture is real, with real quirks, real problems, real joys and a real need for Messiah Yeshua. Thus, we are given an insight into the real lives of those who led us, eventually, to our Messiah.
Those who came before, give us an understanding of Yahveh using people’s imperfections for His purposes. How comforting is this! This means He uses our imperfections, for His purposes, whatever they may be. I find this very comforting.
King David, for example, had an adulterous relationship with Bat-Sheva, which resulted in the birth of a child. One of the unfortunate results of this relationship was the murder of death of Uriah, Bat-Sheva’s husband. How did Yahveh use David’s sin? Bat-Sheva was within the birth line of Adonai Yeshua. Thus, our Messiah belonged to the house of Y’hudah and part of King David’s line.
God shows us, through Genealogies, He cares about families and the lives that each family brings to this world. Clearly He values the existence of families and continuously emphasises this, throughout Scripture.
Finally, we are given a clear understanding of Yahveh’s care of our situations. Remember, we are given the knowledge of Adonai Yeshua being 100% human and 100% divine. His temptations were real and He showed us how to stand up to those and reject them, as He did. The pain he experienced, we may experience, and His resurrection will some day be our resurrection. Thus, through the life of our Messiah, we are given confidence in the way our Messiah lived to confidently approach the throne from which God gives grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need.
May the God of Avraham, Isaac and Jacob bless you richly.
[1] I am indebted to Kevin Halloran, , https://unlockingthebible.org/2013/01/five-reasons-why-we-should-love-the-genealogies-of-the-bible/, for his Blog.
https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=A+Journey+Through+Torah+%3A+An+Inroduction&ref=nb_sb_noss