Joel M Bradshaw

1So all Israel was recorded in genealogies, and these are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. And Judah was taken into exile in Babylon because of their breach of faith.–1 Corinthians 9

1. Think of all these genealogies through the lens of a people returning from foreign exile and needing historical and national data.
2. The lists of names and families would have been helpful to begin to put the pieces back together.
3. The chronicler didn’t mention the northern 10 tribes of Israel, because the Assyrians had already destroyed them.
4. Judah was listed, because that was the only nation to remain.
5. The reason for Judah’s exile was because of a breach. They failed to observe their covenant with God.
6. It was also a matter of faith. Their failure involved giving their trust to other deities.
7. It’s only fair to consider your own situation and faith. As part of the new covenant relationship, Jesus expects you to deny yourself daily (Luke 9:23) and to love your enemies (Luke 6:35). Those are both very difficult and counter-cultural. The self-justified, stubbornly unrepentant soul is also living with a functional breach of covenantal faith.–JMB