Lineages: What's the Point?

Well, when I read the Bible I am often discouraged when i come across a large portion of scripture dealing with the family tree of some famous Bible character. You start out strong, but after about five verses of sounding out names which have way too many syllables, you find yourself skipping along to the end of that portion of scripture and to the next topic. This was true until i began trying to figure out who all of these mysterious names were that i came across in the book of Matthew.

Now, i love the fact that Jesus' lineage is so perfectly ordered. I mean, you have 14 generations from Abraham to David and then 14 generations from David to Babylon and then 14 generations from Babylon to Jesus. This made digging deeper easy for me because i could cut this big pie in thirds.

Today, let's just take a peek at the first 14 generations talked about in Matthew and a few highlights from their lives:

1. Abraham - This man has an incredible story that needs to be read by all. A few highlights are: God cutting covenant with Abram, God giving him his son Isaac at the age of 100, Meeting God as He was heading into Sodom, God's provision in every area of his life, etc. (If you are unfamiliar with any of these stories, please stop reading this and open up a Bible to Genesis 12 and start reading. I promise you that you won't be disappointed!)

2. Isaac - This is God's promised son to Abraham. He was born when Abraham was 100 years old and taken to the mountain to be sacrificed at the demand of God. However, God provided a ram to be sacrificed in his place at the last moment.

3. Jacob - I have an entire blog posting on Jacob, but a few quick facts are: He was a mama's boy, he deceived his dad and stole the blessing from his brother Esau, he fell in love with Rachel and was deceived into marrying her sister Leah before her and then ended up with their slave women also, he became the father of the 12 tribes of Israel, his name was changed to 'Israel' and he was the father of Joseph and the technicolor dreamcoat.

4. Judah - This one was the greatest shocker for me. God provides an entire section in the OT about Joseph, yet uses Judah in his lineage. Not only that, but Jacob's true love was Rachel and Judah's mom was the girl that Jacob didn't even want - Leah. Here we see God using something that was entirely out of the control or plans of Jacob for His glory! Now, Judah had three sons - Er, Onan and Shelah. Er got married to Tamar and he ends up dying. Onan is ordered to impregnate her and takes advantage of the task without following through on the obligation and God kills him. Judah promises the third son's seed to Tamar when he gets older, but doesn't deliver. So Tamar dresses like a prostitute and lures Judah in after his wife's death. He sleeps with her - not knowing who she is. She takes some of his possessions and later, when she's found pregnant, he wants to have her killed until she brings out his possessions, looks at her belly and says, "Who's Your Daddy?" (not really. i added that) So Tamar has Judah's babies - twins - named Perez and Zerah.

5. Perez - not much said about him

6. Hezron - or him

7. Ram - or him

8. Amminadab - with a name like that i wish the Bible talked more about him

9. Nahshon - not much said about him

10. Salmon - or him, but i bet he was a fisherman

11. Boaz - Now Boaz is important for two reasons. The first is that the Bible says that his mother was Rahab. Rahab is an important piece of the puzzle because her story can be found in Joshua two. At that point in her life she was a harlot, or prostitute, and decides to help Joshua's army by hiding them and protecting them. She is promised protection when they come back to destroy the city and her entire family is spared. Later, she marries Salmon and enters into the lineage of the Messiah.

12. Obed - His mother was Ruth. This is very important to understand because Ruth was from the land of Moab, which was a foreign land. This is a country who did not worship the Lord Jehovah as the Jewish people did. Yet, God brings Ruth to a land and brings her and Boaz together. God shows us that the Messiah is for all people through this simple act of allowing Ruth to be part of His lineage.

13. Jesse - not much is said about Jesse except for the fact that he was a father and he ended up having a son and this son has provided some of the greatest life lessons of all time as we've witnessed God's hand on his life. And this son was...

14. David - If you don't know about David, please stop right now and read about his life. From being a boy and chopping the head of Goliath off to his infidelity with Bathsheeba to the final blessing of his family, it is a page turner. He has brought me much understanding into the heart of God and i'm sure it'll do the same for you.

Well, there it is! The first 14 generations of Jesus highlighted in the book of Matthew. I hope you enjoyed, but most of all i hope that you'll look at those long, boring lists in the Bible as nuggets of truth that will encourage us to serve God in a greater way! Be blessed.

GP

http://www.gphintz.com/