Ancestral Roots

Genealogies—Records of God's Grace

The genealogies of Abraham's sons, Ishmael and Isaac, are far more than just a collection of names or an extended family tree. They tell the story of God's work and purposes from generation to generation.

As such, these genealogies have much to teach us today about how we look at our heritage. They remind us to…

Look back with gratitude. Genealogies show us our roots. As the Israelites looked back on their past, they had much for which to praise God. He had chosen them as His people, brought them out of slavery in Egypt, given them a land, and established a kingdom. Through it all, He had remained faithful to His promises to such leaders as Abraham, Moses, and David.

Look around at our connections. First Chronicles reminds the reader of the kinship between Edomites and Israelites—a fact that has important implications to this day. In a world where ethnicity so often seems to divide, Scripture encourages us to look also at what we have in common.

Look ahead with faith. The past is often an indication of the future. Because Israel's past showed God's faithfulness to the people's forebears, it gave a basis for trusting God to fulfill His Word among their descendants. Likewise, we today can count on God to honor what He has told us.

Following God is more than just an immediate, momentary experience. Certainly it involves what we do in the here and now. But our spirituality is also part of the tapestry of history—a history that God oversees and in which He participates. In 1 Chronicles 1–8 we see His work in the history of one family. How has God been involved in the people from whom you are descended?

Jesus' Roots

Matthew opens with a family tree of Jesus' ancestors (Matt. 1–16). Don't skip this genealogy and begin at verse 18! Matthew includes it for at least three important reasons:

To show that God's Son was also a real, flesh-and-blood human. This was a crucial concept for Matthew's first-century audience.

To show that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah of Israel. Notice the prominence of David and Abraham.

To show that Jesus is also the international Christ, the Savior of the whole world. His genealogy reaches beyond Jews to include several ethnic groups that populated the Middle East during Israel's Old Testament history. Jesus came to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matt. 28:19).

The Gift of an Ethnic Heritage

Culture provides people with a common set of experiences and values that bind them together over time. As Paul concludes his letter to the Colossians, he mentions three men who shared his Jewish heritage: Aristarchus, Mark the cousin of Barnabas, and Jesus who was called Justus (Col. 4:10–11). He says that they were the only Jews still working with him.

Even though Paul was “the apostle to the Gentiles”.he still cherished his Jewish roots. No Gentile could fully appreciate what it meant to grow up and live with the traditions of Judaism. But Aristarchus, Mark, and Justus could. No wonder Paul calls them “a comfort” to him.

God never asks us to reject our roots. We can affirm our ethnic heritage as a rich gift from Him, no matter how our surrounding culture regards it. To be sure, ethnicity ought not to create barriers with other people (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11). But we need not hide the cultural background from which God has called us. We need never deny who God has created us to be.

The Three Sisters

Family resemblances account for a great deal, not only among families, but among cities and nations as well. Ezekiel's prophecy showed that as he warned the exiles from Judah about Jerusalem's imminent collapse under God's judgment.

The primary reason for that judgment was idolatry, and in order to illustrate the extent of that sin, the prophet likened Jerusalem to a woman born into a family of idolators (Ezek. 16:44–47). Just as we have the saying, “Like father, like son”.so the people of Ezekiel's day were apparently fond of saying, “Like mother, like daughter” (16:44). Applying that proverb to Jerusalem, Ezekiel said that its parents were members of two Canaanite tribes, the Hittites and the Amorites.

Ezekiel was not saying that the Israelites were actually descended from a Canaanite couple; the Hebrews came from Abraham and Sarah, who were of Aramean stock (Deut. 26:5, where “Syrian” means Aramean). Instead, Ezekiel was saying that because of their extensive idolatry, the Israelites might as well have come from the Canaanites, who were notorious idolators.

But in addition to the Canaanites, Ezekiel linked Jerusalem to two other symbols of idolatry and wickedness, the cities of Sodom and Samaria. These were “sisters” to Jerusalem in that both tolerated so many evils that God eventually destroyed them in judgment. Sodom (see Gen. 18:20) and her four “daughter” cities were consumed by brimstone and fire for numerous sins, including injustice to the poor in the midst of incredible wealth (Ezek. 16:49) and sexual immorality (Jude 7).

Likewise, Samaria (see 1 Kin. 16:24), the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel, and her “daughter” cities had been captured by the Assyrians in 722 b.c. as a punishment for their entrenched idolatry (2 Kin. 17).

Apparently the Judeans thought that God was willing to overlook their own idols, but they were wrong. Devastating wrath was coming because Jerusalem had outdone her “sisters” in turning to other gods (Ezek. 16:48–52).

In drawing application for today from Ezekiel's ancient prophecy, it seems clear that we need to take our spiritual “roots” seriously, both as individuals and societies. Biologically we may not be related to people and cultures who disobey and dishonor God, or who perhaps do not even believe in God. But that matters little if we import their spiritual beliefs and attitudes, and adopt their godless practices. We might as well be members of the same family. If we bear that family resemblance, we will join them in facing God's judgment.