Scripture Commentaries

The Drawing Power of Roots: Genealogies
Irene Nowell, OSB

Originally published in God’s Word Today
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In the last several decades there has been a growing interest in discovering the stories of one’s ancestors. It is a point of pride to be able to trace one’s line back to the Revolutionary War or the Massachusetts Bay Colony or to distant relatives in the “old country.” Native Americans tell stories of the days before the Europeans came. African Americans, inspired by Alex Haley, look to Africa for their stories of origin.

The same need to find one’s place in a long line of ancestors began to be felt by Jews during the Babylonian Exile. They had seen Jerusalem destroyed, their Temple burned, the king blinded, and his sons killed. They had been deported from the land of promise. It seemed that they had lost everything. Had God’s promises to Abraham of land and descendants failed? Were they no longer a chosen people, a royal priesthood? How could they worship God now that they had no holy place? How could they maintain their identity in this strange land with its strange gods and customs? One way to cling to their identity as God’s people was in tracing their ancestry. Thus genealogies became very important.

The final edition of the Pentateuch was established during the Exile. Genealogies, called toledoth in Hebrew, thread their way through its five books. The people are even given encouragement to trace their story back to the very beginning! The great story of God’s creation in seven days ends with the statement: “Such is the story (toledoth, the genealogy) of the heavens and the earth at their creation” (Gen 2:4). Genesis 5 presents the genealogy from Adam to Noah. In Genesis 11 the line becomes more particular, following the descendants from Noah’s son Shem (the ancestor of Semites) to Abraham (Gen 11:10-30). In between is a genealogy of all the other nations (Genesis 10). Through the rest of Genesis short genealogies help us keep up with the identity of the people in the stories (see Gen 22:20-24; 25:1-4, 12-16; 35:22-26; 36:1-5, 10-43; 46:8-27).

Exodus begins with a list of the sons of Jacob, so that we will not forget how to connect this story to Jacob and Abraham and Adam (Exod 1:1-5). Exodus 6 tells us the genealogy of the all-important Exodus leaders: Moses and Aaron (Exod 6:14-27), so that their descendants can claim them. The line of Aaron is significant, since priests must be his sons (Num 3:1-4). The book of Numbers gets its name from the list of Jacob’s descendants and the number of men fit for military service in each tribe (Num 1:1-46). At the end of Numbers, as the people prepare to enter the promised land, a second census is taken to determine the number of fighting men (Num 26:1-51). The Levites, who are outside the count because of their religious duties, are also named by clan and numbered (Num 26:57-62). In addition there are a few hints throughout this crucial story of Exodus and wilderness wandering that other people are also added to the line: the midwives (Exod 1:21), a crowd of mixed ancestry (Exod 12:38), and the family of Moses’ wife (Num 10:28-32).

In the books from Samuel through Kings the important genealogy is that of David, since the kings of Judah will come from his line. The Book of Ruth roots David’s genealogy in Perez, the son of Judah and Tamar (Ruth 4:18-22; see Genesis 38). After David becomes king, first of Judah and then of all Israel, lists of his sons begin to appear (2 Sam 3:2-5; 5:13-15). The story of the struggle for the throne will reveal the personality of some of those sons (2 Samuel 13-1 Kings 1). After the accession of Solomon, the genealogies virtually disappear except for the standard notice of son succeeding father on the throne and, in the case of the kings of Judah, the name of the new king’s mother. For example, “Rehoboam, son of Solomon, reigned in Judah . . . . His mother was the Ammonite named Naamah” (1 Kgs 14:21; see also 1 Kgs 14:20, 30; 15:1-2, 8-10, 25, 33).

Other genealogies identify specific people. Some of the prophets are identified at least by the name of their father (see Isa 1:1; Jer 1:1; Zech 1:1). The longest of these is the genealogy of the prophet Zephaniah: “the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah” (Zeph 1:1). The main characters in the edifying stories are also presented with genealogies, so that we can test their authenticity: Tobit, descended from Naphtali (Tob 1:1), and Mordecai, descended from Benjamin (Est A:1). Esther herself has no genealogy because records were rarely kept for women. But Judith has the longest genealogy of anyone outside the Pentateuch (and Chronicles), with sixteen generations that trace her origins back to Jacob (Jdt 8:1).

The genealogies of Jesus in the New Testament have various purposes. Matthew, writing for an audience of Jewish Christians, is eager to identify Jesus as a descendant of David, and thus the Messiah, the true heir of David’s kingdom. He also wants to identify Jesus as a descendant of Abraham, and thus one of the covenant people and heir of the promises (Matt 1:1-17). Luke is writing for an audience that is predominantly Gentile. So he takes Jesus’ genealogy all the way back to the beginning of Genesis: “the son of Adam, the son of God” (Luke 4:23-38). Both of these genealogies trace Jesus’ ancestry through Joseph. Because she was a woman, Mary’s genealogy would not have been available. Joseph is Jesus’ legal father, thus the one through whom he gains his identity.

The prize for genealogies, however, goes to the Chronicler. The first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles form the most extensive genealogy in the Bible. This genealogy absorbs characteristics of most of the other genealogies in the Old Testament. It begins with Adam (1 Chr 1:1-4; see Genesis 5), lists the descendants of Noah from the table of nations (1 Chr 1:5-23; see Genesis 10), and follows the line of Shem to Abraham (1 Chr 1:24-27; see Genesis 11). Between Abraham and Jacob, the direct line is traced, but also the offshoots: the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham’s other son; the descendants of Keturah, Abraham’s other wife; the descendants of Jacob’s brother Esau, whose other names are Seir and Edom (1 Chr 1:26-54).
Two chapters are devoted to the line of Judah (1 Chronicles 2-3). In the Chronicler’s time most of God’s people were descendants of Judah, called Judahites or Jews. The Chronicler also wants to emphasize the Judahite David and his descendants The stories of Tamar and Ruth’s husband Boaz are suggested (1 Chr 2:3-4, 11-12). Bathsheba is named as the mother of four sons (1 Chr 3:5). Echoes of these chapters are found in the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.

After the rest of the descendants of Judah are listed (1 Chr 4:1-23), the descendants of the other eleven tribes are named (1 Chr 4:24-8:40). The longest list belongs to the tribe of Levi (1 Chr 5:27-6:66), including the descendants of Aaron (1 Chr 6:35-38). This list is very important to the Chronicler, since it indicates who is eligible for ministry in the Temple and for the priesthood (1 Chr 6:16-18, 33-34).

The final genealogy is a list of the families living in Jerusalem after the Babylonian Exile (1 Chr 9:3-9) and those who had various positions of service in the Jerusalem Temple from the priests to the sacristans (1 Chr 9:10-34). Then the story the Chronicler really wants to tell begins with the genealogy of Saul, Israel’s first king (1 Chr 9:35-44).

We may not find the genealogies interesting reading. Our own genealogies are not very interesting either to those who do not know the stories behind all these names. One way to read any of the genealogies is to look up the stories of these people that are told in the Bible. The cross references can be a great help in finding their stories. These stories can even make the reading of Matthew 1 at Christmastime an interesting experience! Finally, how do we pray with genealogies? These lists remind us that God continues to work through human beings, one generation after another. The story of our salvation is carried through the millennia as God calls each one of us by name, inspiring and strengthening us to live the good news of God’s undying love for us and to tell this good news to the next generation. We belong in these genealogies too.