The Hebrews in the Old Testament were also extremely interested in genealogy. In modern days, we have first names and surnames. For example, I'm Diane (my first name) Schultz (my surname). But in Old Testament times, a man was referred to as "the son of ____," and sometimes, a second "the son of _____" was added. Occasionally, the tribe of which the man belonged was added - for example, Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.
2 Chronicles 1-9 lists all of the generations of Jewish men up until Saul. A listing of all the people who returned to Israel from Babylon is found in Ezra 2. Evidently, the genealogies were kept up during the exile in Babylon, because in Ezra 2:62, it states that some of the men who thought they were priests were not found in the genealogies and therefore, they were defiled. Ezra outlines his own genealogy in Ezra 7, and it shows that he is a descendant of Aaron, the chief priest. Therefore, he was extremely qualified to teach the law.
Ezra 8 lists all the names of the families that returned to Israel with him. Interestingly, there is a Daniel listed. But is it the Daniel from the book of Daniel? The "son of _____" designation is not used for Daniel in the book of Daniel. Since Daniel was in Babylon by this point, who his father was is not important, and he may have been dead by that time. In Daniel 1:4, Daniel and his companions are listed as "young men." If Daniel was 18 years old at the time of the captivity and Israel was in exile for 70 years, that means he would have been 88 years old at the time of the first trip back to Israel. The Daniel listed in the book of Ezra is listed as one of the sons of Ithamar, who was one of Aaron's sons. These Daniels may be one and the same, but I couldn't find any corroborating evidence in my brief research. I will add this to the list of questions I will ask the Lord once I get to heaven.
You may wonder why the Hebrews were so interested in genealogy. As noted above, the genealogies showed which people were real Hebrews and which people were not. The main reason, however, that the Hebrews were interested in genealogy is that the Messiah would come through one of the Hebrews' family lines. This was predicted in Genesis 3:15 after the serpent (Satan) tempted Eve to eat the apple from the Tree of Life: "And I will put enmity, Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” The Seed, of course, is Jesus. Jesus was to come through the line of Adam and Eve and later, through the line of David. Jesus is referred to as the Son of David in the Bible. Jesus confounded the Pharisees in Matthew 22 by asking them who they thought whose son the Christ was. They replied that that Christ was the son of David, but Jesus said in verse 45, "“If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” The genealogy of Jesus through Joseph, His earthly father, can be found in Matthew 1, and the genealogy of Jesus through His mother Mary can be found in Luke 3. Mary's genealogy listing goes all the way back to Adam, while Joseph's genealogy listing only goes back to Abraham. Both Joseph and Mary were from David's family line, although they were from different branches of David's family tree.
Throughout the Gospels, the "son of _____" wording is still used when men are introduced into the story. But starting in the book of Acts, the "son of _____" designation is no longer used. Why? you may ask. I think there are two reasons. First, Jesus the Messiah had already come (and returned to Heaven), and the Hebrew genealogies didn't matter anymore as far as the Messiah was concerned. Second, the members of the Christian church were not only Jews but people from all over the known world, thanks to Peter's sermon at Pentecost and Paul's missionary journeys. The "son of _______" designation was no longer necessary. As church members, we are members of the family of God and the only father that is important (besides our biological fathers) is our heavenly Father. So dear reader, you are my brother or sister in Christ and God is our heavenly Father!
I have traced my family line on Ancestry.com and other genealogy websites back two generations. I would like to know a little bit more about my great grandparents. I would also like to know what countr(ies) my ancestors emigrated from. The results of the DNA testing will be very interesting.
Thanks as always for reading! See you next time!
Diane
