Read 1 Chronicles 3:1-24
Our last reading identified that King David descended from Judah, one of Jacob’s twelve sons. Today’s reading gives us a snapshot of David’s family. He was quite the fruitful one, bearing 19 children. But only seven of the moms are listed here, and this number doesn’t even account for sons born to concubines! And only one daughter, Tamar, is named. That was quite a household!
The Chronicler doesn’t follow every offshoot of David’s family line here. That would be exhausting. The names he did include were meaningful, displaying the Davidic line. The Chronicler spends more time on David’s family because this was the royal dynasty that will never end.
Jesus is our current and forever reigning king. This fulfills the promise God made to David that there would always be someone from his line on the throne. We see here a list of those kings in succession up through and including Josiah. The kingly successions after that get a little “messy” with the fall of Jerusalem and exile to follow.
The Chronicler speaks of David’s descendant, Jehoiachin who was taken into exile in Babylon. That fact gives us a time stamp to place that generation. From reading other Old Testament books, we know that the Babylonian exile lasted seventy years before God intervened.
Here, the Chronicler tells us Jehoiachin had seven sons, and chooses one of them, Pedaiah, to add 11 more generations. Or so it seems. We’re not told if those descendants stayed in captivity, settled someplace else, or returned to Jerusalem.
However, Jehoiachin’s grandson, Zerubbabel, is written about in the book of Ezra as being in leadership at the time the temple in Jerusalem is restored. In that reference, his father is not Pedaiah, but Shealtiel, who according to the Chronicler is Zerubbabel’s uncle.
Don’t let the monotony of the genealogies bog you down. Think of this as confirmation that God’s people were fruitful and multiplied, just as God intended. (Genesis 1:28) The Chronicler is setting the scene for the story he’ll begin to tell a couple chapters from now.
Take time today to thank God for your family. Whether you can trace your family roots back one generation or ten, you have been placed in this moment to bloom. How we live our life is our gift back to God.
Let’s pray. Thank you, God, for putting me in this moment of time. I cherish each moment I can spend with you. I love seeing your handiwork on my life as I strive to shine brightly for you. I do miss my family but am so grateful for the creative ways you have provided for us to stay in touch. Keep my family safe, wherever they are in the world. I trust you are helping them to bloom, too. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
