The Genealogies of the Bible: A Neglected Subject

On my desk I have a little snuff box. When we were children we used to use snuff and I still recall how remarkably refreshing it was. It was somewhat like opening a window and getting a sudden, exhilarating breath of completely fresh air blowing away all the mental cobwebs. I don’t know quite why it went out of fashion: perhaps it came under some Drug Act. This little snuffbox is made of whale bone, and on the lid it has a small silver plaque with my initial and name on it: “A. Custance.” But it is not really my name, because underneath that is the date: 1766.

I often used to wonder who this forebear was and, not unnaturally, assumed that his first name was, like mine, Arthur. But then a few years ago, as a result of an odd circumstance, some of us Custances began to try to reestablish the lines of relationship between different members of the family in England and Canada and the United States. In due time the genealogy was completed without any breaks backward some five hundred years. In this genealogy there appeared the original owner of my little snuff box. But unfortunately his name was not Arthur! His name was Adam (1713 -1782).

Anyway, it was a bit of fun. And even when they are not our own, genealogies can greatly stimulate the imagination and provide a framework for historical events for which there is really no substitute. For anyone who has roamed widely and deeply in history, they serve somewhat the same purpose that maps do for those who have roamed widely and deeply over a country. The historian pores over the genealogy as the traveler pores over his map. Both provide insights into relationships and a kind of skeleton about which to hang much else that has stirred the imagination. Unlike the very ancient maps, however, which have a tendency to be grossly distorted, many of the most ancient genealogies are quite precise. Kalisch has observed, “The earliest historiography consists almost entirely of genealogies: they are most frequently the medium explaining the connection and descent of tribes and nations.”1 And they quite often insert, where appropriate, brief historical notes, such as those relating to Nimrod and Peleg in Genesis 10. The little notes have their counterpart in maps which often contain little inset pictures of local events such as where battles took place, and so forth.

To continue reading this Bible article, click here.

Author: Arthur C. Custance

Keywords: Genealogy, Genealogies, Family tree, Descendants, Descendents, Ancestor, Jesus genealogy, Christ's genealogy, Genealogies of the Bible, Old Testament genealogies

Bible reference(s): Gen 4:1, Gen 4:17-26, Genesis 5, Gen 7:13, Gen 9:18, Gen 9:26-27, Gen 10:21-31, Gen 11:10-32, Gen 22:20, Gen 22:23, Gen 24:15, Gen 24:24, Gen 24:47, Gen 29:16, Gen 29:32-35, Gen 30:1-25, Gen 35:18, Gen 35:24, 1 Chron 1, 1 Chron 2, 1 Chron 3, 1 Chron 4, 1 Chron 5, 1 Chron 6, 1 Chron 7, 1 Chron 8, 1 Chron 9, Mat 1, Luke 3:23-38

Source: Arthur C. Custance The Hidden Things of God’s Revelation.

Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.