Genealogy

Matthew 1: 1-17

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:

2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.

3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram.

4 Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon.

5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,

6 and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.

7 Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa.

8 Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah.

9 Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah.

10 Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah.

11 Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon.

12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel.

13 Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor.

14 Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud.

15 Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob.

16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.

I have a friend who is all into genealogy. She spends hours and hours doing research and learning interesting details about her family. I, on the other hand, only have a fleeting interest in knowing the roots of my family. I'm not really sure why except for the fact that I know knowing all that wouldn't change who I am. Maybe there are deeper reasons but I don't even care to know that either. The confusing part to me is that I absolutely love history and can spend hours and hours reading and exploring the events and people that have lived before me. Perhaps it's because I like to see the big picture and leave the details to others. Perhaps it's because I don't want to do the historical research myself, but want to read what others say. I don't know.

The verses this morning and the genealogy listed are very important. It's not just a useless list, but rather it shows the fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis 12:3. That's the chief intention but looking deeper at the names, there are some I recognize immediately as not being such good people. This also serves as a marker for us to realize what a big deal it was for Jesus, who knew no sin, to come down to our level taking on the form of man. This is how much He loved us. It is for His sacrifice I am thankful for on this Thankful Thursday.

Oh, by-the-way, my brothers name is Willam Asa Russell. He was named after both our grandfathers, George William Slaughter and Asa Russell. I just realized I don't know the full name of my grandfather Russell. Guess I should do something about that at least.



Tom, Brent, Phyllis Franklin - Circa 1974



"Summer Love" - The Blackbyrds - Circa 1974