Listening to God in Genealogies

A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David the son of Abraham (Mt. 1:1)

But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. (Titus 3:9)

Thoughts: If all scripture is inspired by God and profitable (II Tim. 3:16,17), how do the genealogies of the Bible fit in?  Why does the whole New Testament start with a genealogy?  How does God possibly speak through a genealogy?
    The common answer is to look for the exceptions in the genealogies.  So in 1 Chronicles- look for the prayer of Jabez.  So in Matthew, look for the women Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Uriah's wife and focus on these things.  But this still misses the bigger picture of why God allowed genealogies and how we can learn from them.
     Genealogies provide a real historical link to the past.  It says we didn't come from nowhere, but God has been dealing with me and my ancestors for many years.  In the South, we often ask before anything else- "Where are you from?"  Or "Who are your parents?"  These things help us identify the person we are talking to- for DNA- heredity and environment play important roles in who we are.
Believe it or not, there are still people today who say the Jews do not have a historical claim on their land, or even that Jesus was not a real person.  The genealogies help show us where the Jews came from and also that Jesus was a real person.
      Yet Genealogies may be abused and over-emphasized.  It is not that our pedigree means we are wonderful.  The human spirit goes beyond our heredity or our environment.  This is what Titus 3:9 (and 1 Timothy 1:4 too) emphasize.  The place of the genealogy is to connect us together and to claim our past as a part of our present, and a recognition that we are also part of our future genealogy.  The good news is God is the same from generation to generation- yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Prayer: Lord, thank you that you stepped into history- as messy as it is.  Help me to appreciate your sacrifice and that you chose to come to us.