9/20/13- Nehemiah and Genealogies

6 These are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive (they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town, 7 in company with Zerubbabel, Joshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum and Baanah):(Nehemiah 7:6-25)

The list of the men of Israel: 

8 the descendants of Parosh	2,172
9 of Shephatiah	372
10 of Arah	652
11 of Pahath-Moab (through the line of Jeshua and Joab)	2,818
12 of Elam	1,254
13 of Zattu	845
14 of Zakkai	760
15 of Binnui	648
16 of Bebai	628
17 of Azgad	2,322
18 of Adonikam	667
19 of Bigvai	2,067
20 of Adin	655
21 of Ater (through Hezekiah)	98
22 of Hashum	328
23 of Bezai	324
24 of Hariph	112
25 of Gibeon	95

These are the men of various towns in Israel.  It is the same as the list in Ezra 2.  Genealogy is important in the time of the exile to establish the claim of the people of Judah to the land.  They were essentially saying, "My great-grandfather was here- and we are coming back to his land."  It was kind of like a title search claim (as my real estate friend Robby says).  In a similar way today- there are some who doubt the claim of the Jews to Palestine (so the former president of Iran doubts the Holocaust and the claims of the Jews to the land).  The writer of the Pastoral Epistles (Paul) says to avoid endless genealogies arguments about the law (1 Ti. 1:4; Titus 3:9). We are not saved by our grandparents' faith or our bloodline.  We are saved by grace through faith.

Prayer: Lord, help me to know my claim to you by faith.  Bless me as I seek to lay claim to my place in the City of God.