Day 115 — I Chronicles 6 – 7

The genealogies in I Chronicles seem to go on forever; however, it should be obvious that they are far from complete. Likely they simply covered the names and relationships that were known to the returning exiles, which probably were the most notorious or most pertinent to the people who had returned and needed to establish their family relationships. Again, more time was spent in the tribe of Levi to establish who would serve where in the Temple, should they ever be fortunate enough to re-institute Temple worship. Possibly they were also establishing inheritance of the land to which they were returning. Remember how important that was to God?

Note that there wasn’t much to say about some of the tribes, and some of the tribes aren’t mentioned at all. That is because some tribes had no descendants returning from exile; they are considered lost tribes. Yesterday’s reading in Psalm 78 reminded us how many times God showed mercy to Israel, and how He was merciful despite their lack of sincerity toward Him. These genealogies show that there were limits to His mercy.

Some of the names of the men David put in charge of the music in the house of the Lord will be seen in the introductions to the psalms. Asaph is one. He was the worship leader’s right-hand man. The worship leader Asaph served was a grandson of the prophet Samuel. I like knowing these connections, as they make the reading seem more real. That is another reason to value these genealogies, tiresome as their reading may be.