“Boaz the father of Obed and Obed the father of Jesse.”
~ 1 Chronicles 2:12
Hi James and Ellen,
What do you do when you get to a chapter in the Bible that has nothing but names in it? Throughout the Bible there are chapters that have mostly names listed in their verses. Lists of names that are found throughout the Bible are often genealogies. A genealogy is much like a family tree. 1 Chronicles 2 is the genealogy or the family tree for the Judah tribal clan. Your grandpaa does not like reading aloud verses that are found throughout the Bible that are a part of a genealogy or family tree. When your grandpaa was a kid, your grandpaa stuttered. Do you know a kid who stutters? When your grandpaa was a kid and because your grandpaa felt really embarrassed when he stuttered, your grandpaa – unless he was asked to speak, never spoke in a class in front of his classmates. The more embarrassed that your grandpaa felt when he stuttered in front of other kids the more self-conscious your grandpaa became which caused your grandpaa to stutter ever more. A guy, gal or kid who stutters has difficulty saying certain sounds or letters – such as a d. When your grandpaa’s mouth would not cooperate with what his brain was trying to tell it to say, your grandpaa would feel angry because he could tell that the guy, gal or kid who he was talking to was not grasping what he was trying to say. The guy, gal or kid would then think that your grandpaa was angry with him or her because . . . even though your grandpaa does not stutter anymore, your grandpaa oftentimes will ask a guy or gal to read out loud what your grandpaa wants read from the Bible – especially if there are names in the verses that your grandpaa would like read out loud. Because there are a lot of names in the Bible that are not like the names that have been given to their friends by their dads and mas, many guys and gals find reading Bible names challenging to do.
The chronicler went ‘all over the map’ when he listed the Judah tribal clan’s genealogy or family tree. Judah was the fourth boy born to Jacob and Leah. Reuben was the first boy born to Jacob and Leah. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. As Jacob’s or Israel’s oldest son, Reuben was the kid who was supposed to get the family birthright inheritance – which means that Reuben should have been the kid when his dad died who would get a double portion of his dad’s possessions. After Rueben messed up, Judah ended up being the kid in his family who was blessed by his dad and given his family’s birthright inheritance. Your grandpaa would like to know where the chronicler got all the data from that he included in what he scribed in his historical missive. The chronicler seemed to have had access to documents which had Jacob’s – or Israel’s, extended family info in them which some of the other Old Testament historians – such as Moses, did not have. The chronicler in the historical account that he scribed – that was divided into two books, picked up where Moses stopped recording genealogies or family trees in his Pentateuchal Books. It seemed to be very important to the chronicler that Judah’s genealogy or family tree led to David. Familiar names listed in verse 12 are “Boaz the father of Obed and Obed the father of Jesse.” Jesse was David’s dad. Do you know who Boaz was? Boaz ended up marrying Ruth. Ruth’s story is remembered in a Bible book that is named after her.
The chronicler did not just list the names of guys – and sometime gals, when he put together a genealogy or family tree; the chronicler also seemed to enjoy making comments as he wrote. Before recording Judah’s tribal clan’s genealogy or family tree, the chronicler – whoever the guy was, recounted Jacob’s twelve sons who Jacob fathered with four different gals. The chronicler than went directly to Judah’s extended family or tribal clan. The chronicler skipped over Judah’s first two sons – Er and Onan. God put Er and Onan to death when Er and Onan messed up their lives. Moses wrote in his Genesis Book what Er and Onan did. The chronicler focused more on writing about Judah’s third son – whose name was Shelah, and about a gal whose name was Tamar. Tamar was Judah’s daughter-in-law. Tamar was also the ma of Judah’s two youngest boys – Perez and Zerah. Perez and Zerah were twins. Tamar was first to married Er. When Er died, Tamar married Onan. When Onan died, Tamar tricked Judah to get Judah to marry her. The names who the chronicler listed under Zerah’s extended family are guys who may have lived during the time that David and Solomon were alive. Heman and Ethan were possibly two musicians in David’s chorale. The chronicler is implying here that a guy or gal who is from the Judah tribe clan or extended family could become a member of the Levi tribal family clan or extended family. God had designated the Levi tribal clan or extended family to be the one tribal clan from the thirteen Israelite people group’s tribal clans of guys and gals to make animal sacrifices and burnt offerings to Him and who would praise Him through songs and special times of worshipping Him. The chronicler than hit on a guy by the name of Achar. Achar messed up by violating a ban on taking to use for himself devoted things. Achar’s name is much like Achan’s name. Achan is the guy who messed up by taking some things after it had been made very clear to all the Israelite people group’s tribal clans of guys and gals that no guy or gal was to take any loot or bounty for themselves after the Jericho walls came tumbling down. The chronicler did not hesitate to include the names of gals in the list of names included in the genealogy or family tree of the Judah tribal clan. The chronicler did not hesitate to include exploits of some of the guys in the list of names included in his genealogy or family tree of the Judah tribal clan. It may be boring to you to go through a genealogy that a Bible book author has included in what he wrote but genealogies are very important as they link together the lives of a family – Abraham’s extended family, over hundreds and hundreds of years – right to Jesus.
1 Chronicles 2 (333)