What is the use of the numerous long lists of hard names which we find in the Bible? The reply is not far to seek, “ All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
The Word of God would not be complete without these family registers, for such these records are; and if we open our Bibles, and turn to some of these passages,—those to which I will now briefly refer—we shall, I trust, discover how very useful and profitable these very lists of hard names are.
Genesis 4:16-24, gives us a list of the descendants of Cain. We read here also, how Cain the murderer went out from the presence of the Lord, and built a city. Of his children, Jabal is the first man we read of that dwelt in a tent, Jubal the first man that played a musical instrument, and Tubal-cain appears to have been the first mechanic in the world. The children of Cain tried to make themselves comfortable, although they were “afar off” from God.
Now turn to 1 Chronicles 1:1. Here we read simply, “Adam, Sheth, Enosh.” Not a word is said about Cain and his children here. Why? They went on in their own way, they led their brethren, the other children of Adam, into sin; and the last we read of these sinful men is, that “The flood came and took them all away.”
Genesis 5 gives us a list of the children of Seth, among whom are found the names of Enoch and Noah; men that “walked with God” in those days of sin before the flood.
In Genesis 10 we find how the earth was divided amongst the families of the sons of Noah. Verse 25 informs us when the said division took place. (The object of the division is found Deuteronomy 32:8.) Nowhere else can there be found, upon this subject, a record so old, and yet so true as this is. Learned men can find no other record to equal this; all have to confess, that this Chapter is the very best, as well as the oldest explanation of the division of the earth amongst the nations.
In Genesis 36 we find a list of the children of Esau or Edom. From this passage we know that for a very long time kings had reigned over Edom, before there in as any king over Israel, but with Hadar the Bible records of the kings of Edom cease. Why? It is very evident that the children of Esau were not counted worthy to be traced any further by the pen of inspiration. This reminds us of the words: “Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.”
When David was king over Israel, “all Israel were reckoned by genealogies.” Lists were carefully made of the descendants (or sons) of each of the sons of Israel. The leading members of each great family are to be found given in that particular part of the first book of Chronicles, which treats of the tribe to which they belonged. For instance, in 1 Chronicles 4, we get the family register of the tribe of Judah. In the next chapter we have that of Reuben, etc. And these were deemed by the children of Israel to be of very great importance.
These family registers of each tribe, too, give us a few details of private history, some of which we get nowhere else recorded in the Bible. Thus 1 Chronicles 7:20- 9, informs us that some of the sons of Ephraim, were slain by the men of Gath, during Ephraim’s lifetime: “and Ephraim their father mourned many days.”
In 1 Chronicles 2:3-17, we get a list of David’s forefathers. In 1 Chronicles 3, we get a list of David’s descendants, (including the royal line of the Kings of Judah,) unto Zerubbabel, the prince that led back the first captives from Babylon in the days of the great Cyrus.
The line of the priests of the sons of Ithamar is not recorded in the Bible. This may be because of the iniquity of the house of Eli. For the house of Eli was of the sons of Ithamar. And it is written in the word of God “For evil doers shall be cut off.” But the direct line of the priests of the house of Eleazar is to be found in 1 Chronicles 6:4-15. Many of these, whose names are here given, were during their lifetime the high priests of Israel.
As for the sons of Moses, the man of God, they were not priests, as were their brethren of the house of Aaron; but the two great divisions of Moses’ sons as Levites held very high positions. See 1 Chronicles 26:24-28, for it is written, “The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.”
Many of the Psalms have this heading, “A Psalm for the sons of Korah.” These sons of Korah were the descendants of the very man who led the great rebellion in the wilderness. See Numbers 16. Korah died in the midst of his sin, but of his sons we read, “Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not” Numbers 26:1;1. Now turn to 1 Chronicles 6:31-38. Here we discover that Heman was of the “sons of Korah.” Well might he take the lead as one of the chief sweet singers of Israel for Asaph, of the sons of Gershom, stood on Heman’s right hand, while Ethan (or Jeduthan) of the sons of Merari, stood on Heman’s left hand, as, together with their sons, and their brethren, they sung the “songs of the Lord.” Thus they stood, and they praised the Lord by day and by night, 1 Chronicles 9:33 etc.
The grandfather of Heman was the great prophet Samuel, (see Chron. 6:33) or Shemuel, as his name is here spelled. So that Samuel the prophet was of “the sons of Korah!” Truly the Lord’s thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our ways His ways.
In Matthew 1:1-17, we get “the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Verse 17 divides the forefathers of Jesus into three fourteens. Among the names of the first fourteen (Abraham to David) are to be found the names of those, who while they lived, “confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth,” and “God is not ashamed to be called their God.” The second fourteen (David to the captivity wore the Royal diadem, and if the remaining fourteen were not allowed this dignity, (Ezekiel 21:26, 27,) among them were surely to be found those who in evil days “feared the Lord,” and “spike often to one another.”
On the return of the captives from Babylon, there were some who claimed to be priests; but, because they could not prove this by genealogy, these were, as polluted, put from the priesthood, Ezra 2:61-63. This shows the very great importance of the family registers, in the eyes of the godly Jews. But when the Holy Ghost baptized all believers into one body, whether they were Jew or Gentile, whether they were bond or free, no further regard was to be paid to “endless genealogies.” See 1 Timothy 1:4.
It makes no difference to any child of God by faith in Jesus Christ, as to whether he be descended from Abraham, or from Esau. All are now “one” in Christ Jesus. But there will come a time when these old Bible family registers, to which I have referred, will once more be deemed of great importance.
Who knows where the ten tribes of Israel are? Yet at the proper time it will be known, who of these belong to the tribe of Dan, and who to the tribe of Ephraim, and so on. In that day the Lord will in wisdom allow each tribe to prove their descent from their forefathers.
We may notice in closing that the Lord Jesus, in heaven, speaks of Himself as being the Root and the offspring of David, and that even there He is entitled the Lion of the tribe of Juda. He still remembers family ties, and even in glory does not forget that according to flesh He is the son of David and of Abraham.