GEMS IN GENEALOGY (PART 4)

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Other Clans of Judah

The descendants of Judah:

Perez, Hezron, Karmi, Hur and Shobal.

Reaiah son of Shobal was the father of Jahath, and Jahath the father of Ahumai and Lahad. These were the clans of the Zorathites.

These were the sons of Etam:

Jezreel, Ishma and Idbash. Their sister was named Hazzelelponi. Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer the father of Hushah.

These were the descendants of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah and father of Bethlehem.

Ashhur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah.

Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni and Haahashtari. These were the descendants of Naarah.

The sons of Helah:

Zereth, Zohar, Ethnan, and Koz, who was the father of Anub and Hazzobebah and of the clans of Aharhel son of Harum.

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.

Kelub, Shuhah’s brother, was the father of Mehir, who was the father of Eshton. Eshton was the father of Beth Rapha, Paseah and Tehinnah the father of Ir Nahash. These were the men of Rekah.

The sons of Kenaz:

Othniel and Seraiah.

The sons of Othniel:

Hathath and Meonothai. Meonothai was the father of Ophrah.

Seraiah was the father of Joab, the father of Ge Harashim. It was called this because its people were skilled workers.

The sons of Caleb son of Jephunneh:

Iru, Elah and Naam.

The son of Elah:

Kenaz.

The sons of Jehallelel:

Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria and Asarel.

The sons of Ezrah:

Jether, Mered, Epher and Jalon. One of Mered’s wives gave birth to Miriam, Shammai and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa. (His wife from the tribe of Judah gave birth to Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soko, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah.) These were the children of Pharaoh’s daughter Bithiah, whom Mered had married.

The sons of Hodiah’s wife, the sister of Naham:

the father of Keilah the Garmite, and Eshtemoa the Maakathite.

The sons of Shimon:

Amnon, Rinnah, Ben-Hanan and Tilon.

The descendants of Ishi:

Zoheth and Ben-Zoheth.

The sons of Shelah son of Judah:

Er the father of Lekah, Laadah the father of Mareshah and the clans of the linen workers at Beth Ashbea, Jokim, the men of Kozeba, and Joash and Saraph, who ruled in Moab and Jashubi Lehem. (These records are from ancient times.) They were the potters who lived at Netaim and Gederah; they stayed there and worked for the king.

Simeon

 

The descendants of Simeon:

Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah and Shaul;

Shallum was Shaul’s son, Mibsam his son and Mishma his son.

The descendants of Mishma:

Hammuel his son, Zakkur his son and Shimei his son.

Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers did not have many children; so their entire clan did not become as numerous as the people of Judah. They lived in Beersheba, Moladah, Hazar Shual, Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad, ³⁰ Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag, Beth Markaboth, Hazar Susim, Beth Biri and Shaaraim. These were their towns until the reign of David. Their surrounding villages were Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Token and Ashan — five towns — and all the villages around these towns as far as Baalath. These were their settlements. And they kept a genealogical record.

Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah son of Amaziah, Joel, Jehu son of Joshibiah, the son of Seraiah, the son of Asiel, also Elioenai, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah, and Ziza son of Shiphi, the son of Allon, the son of Jedaiah, the son of Shimri, the son of Shemaiah.

The men listed above by name were leaders of their clans. Their families increased greatly, and they went to the outskirts of Gedor to the east of the valley in search of pasture for their flocks. They found rich, good pasture, and the land was spacious, peaceful and quiet. Some Hamites had lived there formerly.

The men whose names were listed came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. They attacked the Hamites in their dwellings and also the Meunites who were there and completely destroyed them, as is evident to this day. Then they settled in their place, because there was pasture for their flocks. And five hundred of these Simeonites, led by Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi, invaded the hill country of Seir. They killed the remaining Amalekites who had escaped, and they have lived there to this day.

1 Chronicles 4

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

For the last three days, I have been selecting nuggets of interest from the genealogical lists compiled by the writer of 1 Chronicles. If you are someone who has really spent time to read these lists then go to the head of the class because most people skim right over them and head to Chapter 10 where the writer actually begins a narrative about King Saul. My hope over the nine days and first nine chapters is that we’ll all either learn something new about the scriptures that we didn’t know prior or we’ll be reminded of biblical accounts of men and women who faithfully, or in some cases unfaithfully, responded to God’s call to service. Let’s look at today’s gems from 1 Chronicles, Chapter 4

GEM 1

Have you ever heard about a man named Jabez? You may have through a book, The Prayer of Jabez, written in 2000 by Bruce Wilkinson.

Now if someone writes a book about a biblical figure, you might assume that they are very prominent with a lot of content written about them in the scriptures. This is definitely not the case about Jabez.

For as you look into his place in the Bible, you’ll discover that he occupies all of two verses and both of them are in the 4th Chapter of 1 Chronicles. Here they are:

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.

It’s only two simple verses but we can all relate to much of what is said about this man, even though we don’t know much about his heritage. His father is not mentioned and the only thing we know about his mother is that she was the one who named him after delivering him in pain. Interestingly enough, Jabez’s name actually means “born in pain”.  

What we do about Jabez can be summed up in the following:

1. He was a man of honor.

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers.

I don’t know about you but I hope that people will say the same about me when they recall my life and the way I lived it. There aren’t many better compliments to receive than being proclaimed as a person who served the Lord honorably and in doing so was viewed as one who was honorable.

2. He was a man of prayer.

Jabez cried out to the God of Israel.

Jabez knew where to turn in times of need. He didn’t rely on himself or others but rather looked to God. We need to follow his lead.

3. He trusted God to help him.

Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.”

Jabez knew that God and God alone was the source of blessing and rescue, provision and protection.

4. His prayer was received and granted by God.

And God granted his request.

When you are a person of honor who trusts God and relies on Him solely for everything, then you can expect that God will respond and assist you when you call on Him in accordance with His will.

He did it for Jabez and he will do it for us as well.

Onto Gem 2.

GEM 2

Another biblical character that many people may have not heard of is a man named Othniel.

You’ll recall that Joshua had been appointed as the head of the Israelites after Moses’ death and was tasked by the Lord to lead them into the Promised Land where they were to drive out all occupants and take custody of Canaan for themselves.

In the process of doing this, Joshua was commanded by the Lord to grant a portion of Judah (Hebron) to Caleb who I’ll talk about in Gem 3. Caleb led an initiative from Hebron and defeated the Anakites before turning his attention to Debir. He sought a man to attack and capture Debir and as a reward, Caleb promised his daughter Aksah in marriage to whoever successfully did it.

Scriptures tell us that the man who stepped up and fulfilled Caleb’s wishes, gaining his daughter in marriage, was none other than Caleb’s younger brother, Othniel (Judges 1:11-13).

His bravery not only served him well in gaining Aksah as his wife but we sense that Othniel also found favor with God for his story was far from over.

Judges, Chapter 3 shares that the “Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.” As a result, the Lord’s anger “burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.”

How would Israel get back in good standing with the Lord?

Scripture tells us that “they cried out to the Lord” and when they did “He raised up for them a deliverer.”

Who was the deliverer?

You guessed it. It was none other than Othniel who saved them as the “Spirit of the Lord came on him” and appointed him “Israel’s judge” before he went to war against Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram who the Lord delivered “into the hands of Othniel who overpowered him.”

As a result of Othniel’s victory and during his rule, Israel “had peace for forty years” until their brave judge died.

GEM 3

We mentioned Caleb earlier as being given special tasking from Joshua to defeat and take over land within Judah.

This wasn’t the first dealings that Joshua and Caleb had together.

For go back to the Israelites’ 40-day exodus from their Egyptian captivity to the shores of the Jordan River, to the place where they were on the brink of entering the land God had promised them while under the leadership of Moses (Numbers 13).

Before they entered, the Lord sent a command to Moses to send men ahead into Canaan to explore and then come back and make report of what they had found. One man was selected from each tribe with Caleb selected to represent the tribe of Judah and Moses gave them the following guidance:

“Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)”

And so the men went and did as Moses commanded and when they came back after 40 days, they gave the following assessment to the whole assembly, showing them the fruit of the land:

“We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”

This report was something that all of the explorers agreed upon. However, what came next was contradiction and conflict.

First, Caleb said the following after the report:

“We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

This was followed by the majority of the men who were with Caleb saying:

“We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are. The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

And scripture tells us that this bad report was spread among the Israelites (Numbers 13:32a). In other words, the well had been poisoned. As Numbers, Chapter 14 begins, we find the people expressing their reluctance to enter Canaan, grumbling against Moses and Aaron while saying:

“If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt? We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

Note something very important here. The people of Israel were not even entertaining the possibility that God would be with them and deliver them. How quickly they forgot how He rescued them from the Egyptians and the Pharaoh. For as the Israelites fled, they would not have escaped had God not divided the sea and allowed them to pass on dry land, closing the seas behind them and engulfing Egypt’s leader and his army.

Wouldn’t God deliver them again?

It was this matter that deeply troubled Moses and Aaron. And they fell facedown before the assembly of Israelites while Joshua and Caleb addressed the people saying:

“The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, He will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”

The people would have none of it and threatened to stone Joshua and Caleb. Their mind was made up and they were not going to cross into the land God promised them.

Well, this obviously didn’t make God very happy. In fact, he wanted to strike all the people down with a plague but Moses interceded and pleaded for God to spare the Israelites. God agreed but with a condition: none of the Israelites that opposed Him would get to experience entering the promised land. And with that, God sent them back into the wilderness for 40 years, one year for each day they traveled to get there from Egypt the first time.

As for the men who explored Canaan, God struck them down with the plague and killed them all with the exception of the two men who trusted Him, Joshua and Caleb.

In Joshua and Caleb, we find two men who would not lose their faith in God, no matter how much the odds seemed stacked against them. This was in deep contrast to how the greater assembly of Israelites behaved.

As we examine our own lives, we need to closely look at our own faith. Do we look at circumstances and see them as impossible to overcome and then grumble against God for placing us in those circumstances, like the Israelites? Or do we trust in God no matter what, knowing that He is ever with us and able to do all things, no matter the odds, like Joshua and Caleb?

My prayer is that we’ll all be Joshuas and Calebs in our world today, living with strong resolve because we have a God through whom nothing is impossible.

Tomorrow, chapter 5’s gems.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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