Why The Old Testament Matters: Chronicles and Why Genealogies Matter

Why The Old Testament Matters: Chronicles and Why Genealogies Matter

Have you ever written out your family tree? It can be fun to see it all laid out—your siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Imagine extending it out to further generations, like your great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents, and all of their children too. At that point, it starts to get a little harder to keep track of, and for most of us, the fun can start to fade. Now imagine looking at the family trees of strangers. If we have a hard time looking at our own families past a handful of generations, reading several generations for a person we’ve never met can quickly leave us confused. “This guy was related to what lady?” we feel compelled to ask. Now try multiplying that times a lot. That’s what it’s like for the first several chapters of 1 Chronicles. After reading the fourth or fifth list, it can be easy to forget where we started, and it’s natural to question why these people even matter. And why do we have to read so many genealogies before we get to a story?

Our goal with this article is to help answer those questions and give you a better understanding of the value of 1 and 2 Chronicles. The word “chronicle” is similar to the word “ledger,” in that it describes a written record of facts presented in order with little to no commentary or interpretation, the key difference being that a chronicle reports events while a ledger reports transactions. While events are generally more exciting than transactions, it can still be difficult to read dry facts about people so far removed from yourself. However, there are good reasons why God gave us these chronicles without editorializing them.

First, as the word “chronicles” in the title implies, these two books were meant to be an official record of the things they contain. When searching through official records, we aren’t expecting them to give us someone’s personal opinions or tell us what we should think about what happened. They just tell us what happened, which leaves room for the events to speak for themselves. That being said, we should not understand this to mean that the author of Chronicles had no specific intentions when writing. The author seems to have intended quite a bit, which we will get to in a moment, but they seemed to feel like the facts were clear to the intended readers, and they wanted those facts to say what they had to say.

Now, as to the author’s intentions, what the books focus on and include gives us an idea of their purpose. The opening genealogies start with Adam, the first man, and end with the family of Saul, the first king over Israel. Then the remainder of the content stays close to the kingdom and the temple, spending a lot of time on the reigns of David and his successors. It follows the kings in the Southern Kingdom of Judah (mostly ignoring the Northern Kingdom of Israel) and devotes many chapters to the building and dedication of the temple.  So what can we understand from the author’s emphasis on these elements? Well, the genealogy from the first man leading up to the monarchy helps draw a connection between God and Israel, His chosen people. That connection is reinforced by spending so much time talking about David, the man after God’s own heart (see 1 Samuel 13:14), and by dedicating so many pages to the establishment of the temple, which was the place where the people were to worship God. Since most scholars believe these books were written after the Northern and Southern Kingdoms returned from exile, it’s likely that the author wanted the people to refocus their attention on God, not just personally but as a whole nation, and to remember that they should worship Him.

…everyone who knows the joy of having a relationship with God wants other people to come to know Him and share in that same joy. We are all better off when we worship God, …

Even though most of us reading this article are not Jews who can trace their family history back to King David, these messages are still important for us. Although we may not be Israelites by heritage, we are still connected to God, especially if we are Christians. Those of us who have decided to follow Jesus have turned ourselves toward God already, but the invitation is open for anyone. And everyone who knows the joy of having a relationship with God wants other people to come to know Him and share in that same joy. We are all better off when we worship God, and despite the immense separation between us and the happenings of 1 and 2 Chronicles, those books help us see how much better it is for us to worship God and stay close to him.

This idea is demonstrated well in 1 Chronicles, where we find a record of a song David sang when the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem. Notice some of the things he said:

“Give thanks to the Lord; call on his name;

proclaim his deeds among the peoples.

Sing to him; sing praise to him;

tell about all his wondrous works!

Boast in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice…

He is the Lord our God;

his judgments govern the whole earth…

Let the whole earth sing to the Lord.

Proclaim his salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory among the nations,

his wondrous works among all peoples…

Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness;

let the whole earth tremble before him….

Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice,

and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”

(1 Chronicles 16: 8–10, 14, 23–24, 29b–30a, 31).

David may have been king of one particular nation, but he knew that God wasn’t just for Israel. He reaches out to all people, and the whole world would be better off if they lived with their hearts and minds devoted to Him.

The next time you try to read 1 and 2 Chronicles, try looking for the ways each chapter points toward God and the value of being connected to Him, especially when reading those chapters that seem the hardest to understand. For instance, you yourself are not going to offer a sacrifice in a temple in Jerusalem, but if you can understand how those practices contributed to the worship of God and then look at your own life, you can start to see why your own worship of God matters and how important it is to take your relationship with the Lord seriously.

If you would like more guidance on this, check out our resource Understanding the Bible. It’s a podcast with a workbook that you can go through on your own or in a group. It is available wherever you listen to your podcasts, on the church’s app, or on our website, experiencecc.com.