Jesus was about thirty years old when He began His public ministry. Jesus was known as the son of Joseph. Joseph was the son of Heli.
Heli was the son of Matthat. Matthat was the son of Levi. Levi was the son of Melki. Melki was the son of Jannai. Jannai was the son of Joseph.
Joseph was the son of Mattathias. Mattathias was the son of Amos. Amos was the son of Nahum. Nahum was the son of Esli. Esli was the son of Naggai.
Naggai was the son of Maath. Maath was the son of Mattathias. Mattathias was the son of Semein. Semein was the son of Josech. Josech was the son of Joda.
Joda was the son of Joanan. Joanan was the son of Rhesa. Rhesa was the son of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the son of Shealtiel. Shealtiel was the son of Neri.
Neri was the son of Melki. Melki was the son of Addi. Addi was the son of Cosam. Cosam was the son of Elmadam. Elmadam was the son of Er.
Er was the son of Joshua. Joshua was the son of Eliezer. Eliezer was the son of Jorim. Jorim was the son of Matthat. Matthat was the son of Levi.
Levi was the son of Simeon. Simeon was the son of Judah. Judah was the son of Joseph. Joseph was the son of Jonam. Jonam was the son of Eliakim.
Eliakim was the son of Melea. Melea was the son of Menna. Menna was the son of Mattatha. Mattatha was the son of Nathan. Nathan was the son of David.
David was the son of Jesse. Jesse was the son of Obed. Obed was the son of Boaz. Boaz was the son of Salmon. Salmon was the son of Nahshon.
Nahshon was the son of Amminadab. Amminadab was the son of Admin. Admin was the son of Arni. Arni was the son of Hezron. Hezron was the son of Perez. Perez was the son of Judah.
Judah was the son of Jacob. Jacob was the son of Isaac. Isaac was the son of Abraham. Abraham was the son of Terah. Terah was the son of Nahor.
Nahor was the son of Serug. Serug was the son of Reu. Reu was the son of Peleg. Peleg was the son of Eber. Eber was the son of Shelah.
Shelah was the son of Cainan. Cainan was the son of Arphaxad. Arphaxad was the son of Shem. Shem was the son of Noah. Noah was the son of Lamech.
Lamech was the son of Methuselah. Methuselah was the son of Enoch. Enoch was the son of Jared. Jared was the son of Mahalalel. Mahalalel was the son of Kenan.
Kenan was the son of Enosh. Enosh was the son of Seth. Seth was the son of Adam. Adam was the son of God.
Luke 3:23-38
Do we even want to look at this? Maybe it is just better to skip it like we skip most other genealogies. After all how can anything good come out of a genealogy? And beside Luke and Matthew are contradictory. Let’s just put it in the too hard basket. Agreed? I am hardly likely to do that but I also have to balance detail against being excessively pedantic with all the names. I am not sure how I will handle this yet. Remember I turned Romans 16 into almost a month’s worth of Gems (Gem 274 to 299). I don’t plan to do that this time but I never know what I will find when I apply the principles to study this passage. I don’t know what I will do with this Genealogy, but we will see what unfolds as we go along. Interact with me along the way. This is sharing my live Quiet Time with you.
Take time now to look at the passage above and probe and poke it and see what you can come up with.
Why do we even bother to look into genealogies? They seem pointless. Why are they even in the Bible? When I am preaching something I have found in a genealogy I will often ask people what they honestly do with the genealogies in the Bible. Most skip over them. They just don’t bother reading them, let alone study them or do anything deeper. Take time to look deeper into the genealogies.
Genealogies are filled with all sorts of interesting things as you will see tomorrow. But have you ever stopped to consider that maybe the genealogies are in the Bible for people of another culture other than yours. There are many cultures in the world like the Binumarien, of Papua New Guinea.
Back in the early 1970’s there were a 110 of them left. They had been typical Papua New Guinean warriors and they had gone out and savaged other villagers and those tribes had come in reprisal and revenge upon them, and their numbers were being decimated. When Des and Jenny Oatridge first went into their village in 1959 there were 110 people left. People could be forgiven for saying to them as they did at the time, and saying to me as Director of Wycliffe Bible Translators, why on earth send a couple to work with 110 people in Papua New Guinea?  Why just a 110? God cares for all people groups. The Word says that all people groups will be standing before His throne in glory.  Â
Back then Des and Jenny stared with Matthew’s gospel, they started with the first gospel. He opens to Matthew 1. What is in Matthew 1? The genealogy. Des probably had the same reaction as you would. He figured “I’ll do  the genealogy later; I’ll start with the real story.  He went through 2 to 28 over a period of time working with Sisia, his co-worker. Finally Des and Jenny were ready to go back for furlough, and came to the point of thinking it was time to leave, when Des thought, “No, I should finish off Matthew, if we go on home assignment I should finish Matthew.” Â
So he spent one day with Sisia working through the genealogy. It didn’t take long. Once you have the formula it is just a matter of putting the names in there. Des said Sisia went strangely quiet. Normally at the end of a translation session he would excitedly tell the others what had happened, but he went strangely quiet. He left the translation house but told Des to bring what they had been working on to the men’s long house. Then Des heard the sounds of the men gathering in the men’s longhouse and excitedly talking. He said he went down there.
As Des walked in Sisia said to him “Master Des, why didn’t you ever tell me this was true?” Des said to Sisia, “But I have”. He knew what Sisia was on about, “Sisia, I have, I have told you that Jesus walked this earth, I have told you the things we have been working on are the words of Jesus when he walked on earth.” Sisia said, “O master Des you never told me it was true.” What had clicked in Sisia’s mind that day was the genealogy. He knew that nobody writes this kind of stuff, and writes that he’s the son, the son of, the son of, without it giving the pedigree of the people. For the Binumarien people that was the seal of fact upon the gospel of Matthew and that was the beginning of the Binumarien church, through a genealogy of Matthew.Â
You see if I told you a story and started with “Once upon a time in Galilee Jesus went about teaching and healing people . . . “ what would you think? Notice how I started the story. What does that mean? It is how we start a fairy story. With the Binamarien if you are going to tell a story of real life stuff from tribal history you have to place the hero of the story in the lineage of the tribe. You give his genealogy so people know where he fits. Genealogies for many people groups around the world are absolutely essential to include so that they to know that this is not myth, this is fact. Whether you think genealogies are boring or not in immaterial. The genealogies maybe in the Bible so people of cultures like the Binamarien can know the Bible is fact not myth. But you will see tomorrow there are some amazing things in genealogies, Pay attention to them
Take time today to read this genealogy through a number of times; my dear departed Greek Professor would say, “Read it seven times”. Up to you how many times you read it but read it at least once. See what you notice in Luke’s genealogy of Jesus. Later (or now) you need to read the Matthew version and see what differences you can find.
That’s enough for now. I don’t want to load you with too much to do. I will share something amazing found in a genealogy in the next Gem. I hope it will whet your appetite for looking into genealogies.
Genealogies – Chasing your own tale!
Anon
Genealogists live life in the Past Lane.
Anon
Only a genealogist regards a step backwards as progress.
Anon
After 30 days, unclaimed ancestors will be adopted.
Anon