GEMS IN GENEALOGY (PART 7)

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In Christ, Mark

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

Issachar

The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashub and Shimron — four in all.

The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam and Samuel—heads of their families.

During the reign of David, the descendants of Tola listed as fighting men in their genealogy numbered 22,600.

The son of Uzzi: Izrahiah.

The sons of Izrahiah: Michael, Obadiah, Joel and Ishiah. All five of them were chiefs.

According to their family genealogy, they had 36,000 men ready for battle, for they had many wives and children. The relatives who were fighting men belonging to all the clans of Issachar, as listed in their genealogy, were 87,000 in all.

Benjamin

Three sons of Benjamin: Bela, Beker and Jediael.

The sons of Bela: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth and Iri, heads of families — five in all. Their genealogical record listed 22,034 fighting men.

The sons of Beker: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Beker. Their genealogical record listed the heads of families and 20,200 fighting men.

The son of Jediael: Bilhan.

The sons of Bilhan: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Kenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish and Ahishahar. All these sons of Jediael were heads of families. There were 17,200 fighting men ready to go out to war.

The Shuppites and Huppites were the descendants of Ir, and the Hushites the descendants of Aher.

Naphtali

The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, Guni, Jezer and Shillem — the descendants of Bilhah.

Manasseh

The descendants of Manasseh:

Asriel was his descendant through his Aramean concubine. She gave birth to Makir the father of Gilead. Makir took a wife from among the Huppites and Shuppites. His sister’s name was Maakah. Another descendant was named Zelophehad, who had only daughters. Makir’s wife Maakah gave birth to a son and named him Peresh. His brother was named Sheresh, and his sons were Ulam and Rakem.

The son of Ulam: Bedan.

These were the sons of Gilead son of Makir, the son of Manasseh. His sister Hammoleketh gave birth to Ishhod, Abiezer and Mahlah.

The sons of Shemida were: Ahian, Shechem, Likhi and Aniam.

Ephraim

The descendants of Ephraim: Shuthelah, Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son, Zabad his son and Shuthelah his son.

Ezer and Elead were killed by the native-born men of Gath, when they went down to seize their livestock. Their father Ephraim mourned for them many days, and his relatives came to comfort him. Then he made love to his wife again, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. He named him Beriah, because there had been misfortune in his family. His daughter was Sheerah, who built Lower and Upper Beth Horon as well as Uzzen Sheerah.

Rephah was his son, Resheph his son, Telah his son, Tahan his son, Ladan his son, Ammihud his son,

Elishama his son, Nun his son and Joshua his son.

Their lands and settlements included Bethel and its surrounding villages, Naaran to the east, Gezer and its villages to the west, and Shechem and its villages all the way to Ayyah and its villages. Along the borders of Manasseh were Beth Shan, Taanach, Megiddo and Dor, together with their villages. The descendants of Joseph son of Israel lived in these towns.

Asher

The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah. Their sister was Serah.

The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malkiel, who was the father of Birzaith. Heber was the father of Japhlet, Shomer and Hotham and of their sister Shua.

The sons of Japhlet: Pasak, Bimhal and Ashvath. These were Japhlet’s sons.

The sons of Shomer: Ahi, Rohgah, Hubbah and Aram.

The sons of his brother Helem: Zophah, Imna, Shelesh and Amal.

The sons of Zophah: Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah, Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran and Beera.

The sons of Jether: Jephunneh, Pispah and Ara.

The sons of Ulla: Arah, Hanniel and Rizia.

All these were descendants of Asher — heads of families, choice men, brave warriors and outstanding leaders. The number of men ready for battle, as listed in their genealogy, was 26,000.

1 Chronicles 7

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

Genealogies in the Bible can look mundane and boring. There are far more interesting parts of the scriptures to read for sure. But I hope through the prior six devotions from 1 Chronicles that you can see there are gems nestled within the myriad of lists, gems that bring us back to important stories or introduce us to ones we might not be aware of. Today, we look at the gems in Chapter 7.

GEM 1

Think about our recent history and some of the advances in women’s rights.

The late 1800’s into the early 1900’s found women fighting for and being granted the right to vote. In the early 1960’s, legislation was passed ensuring women would be paid the same if they held the same job a man would hold. Later in the same century and into the early 1970’s, more laws were passed to prevent gender discrimination in the workplace. More recently, women serving in the military were allowed to serve in combat roles that were reserved solely for male service members prior.

Now rewind to the Old Testament and our passage from Chapter 7. You’ll find this seemingly obscure entry:

The descendants of Manasseh:

Asriel was his descendant through his Aramean concubine. She gave birth to Makir the father of Gilead. Makir took a wife from among the Huppites and Shuppites. His sister’s name was Maakah. Another descendant was named Zelophehad, who had only daughters.

See anything interesting here? On the surface, you would say no. But look into the descendant named Zelophehad who scripture tells us “had only daughters” and you will find this gem. Consider this passage from Numbers, Chapter 27:

The daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, belonged to the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. The names of the daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirzah. They came forward and stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders and the whole assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said, “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among Korah’s followers, who banded together against the Lord, but he died for his own sin and left no sons. Why should our father’s name disappear from his clan because he had no son? Give us property among our father’s relatives.”

So Moses brought their case before the Lord, and the Lord said to him, “What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and give their father’s inheritance to them.

“Say to the Israelites, ‘If a man dies and leaves no son, give his inheritance to his daughter. If he has no daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers. If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. If his father had no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan, that he may possess it. This is to have the force of law for the Israelites, as the Lord commanded Moses.’” (verses 1-11)

The issue at hand was the law regarding inheritance. Typically when a man died, his son received his inheritance but in the case of Zelophehad, he had no sons, only five daughters. So when he died, his daughters were in a position where they would receive nothing.

They decided to take their case before Moses, the leader of the Israelites, requesting that they receive an inheritance. Moses in turn took the case before the Lord and the women were granted what they asked for with the following edict issued:

“Say to the Israelites, ‘If a man dies and leaves no son, give his inheritance to his daughter.”

Through their actions, Zelophehad’s daughters had gained a great victory for the rights of other Israelite women who would find themselves in situations similar to their own.

GEM 2

Before we leave this matter of Zelophehad’s daughters and their successful attempt to have the law modified to grant them an inheritance they were very much entitled to, we need to examine one more gem that is contained in this story. That gem has to do with Moses.

For note what Moses did as the petition came to him from Zelophehad’s daughters. In a patriarchal society like early Israel, the women could have easily been discounted and voted down by the male leadership. Moses could have just made the call himself or he could have called together his advisors to get their advice toward what decision to make but he did neither. No, Moses did what he should have done. He consulted the Lord and then waited for the Lord to grant Him direction.

Friends, how often do we make decisions or enlist others to help us make decisions without ever considering just asking the Lord what we should do? I know I have done it too many times in my life and most of those times, the Lord taught me the following lesson:

If you want to really mess up matters in your life, go ahead and make decisions without consulting Me.

I can honestly say that I have learned my lesson as I have found that the Lord will always guide me right, no matter the situation and that’s something that no one else can do for me.

It’s obvious Moses felt likewise.

GEM 3

Back to the passage from Chapter 7 and you’ll see the clans of Manasseh and Ephraim. Listed separately, their story is far from separate. Before we look at a passage from Genesis, Chapter 48, consider what we already know from prior gems across the first six chapters.

First, we know that Reuben was the firstborn to Jacob, the first of 12 sons. He had everything going his way until he decided to sleep with his father’s concubine, an act that cost him his birthright which was given instead to Joseph.

Second, you’ll recall that Reuben did what he could to ensure Joseph was not killed by his jealous brothers. This led to Joseph ending up in Egypt where he would later be in a position to save his brothers and his father from the famine that had struck Canaan.

Now during his time in Egypt, Joseph had two sons with a woman named Asenath. His firstborn was names Manasseh and his second Ephraim.

Now let’s look at Chapter 48 of Genesis and the account of how things played out for these two sons of Joseph. I think you’ll quickly see some interesting plot twists as we do.

Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him. When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.

Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.’”

“Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. Any children born to you after them will be yours; in the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers. As I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).

When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, “Who are these?”

“They are the sons God has given me here,” Joseph said to his father.

Then Israel said, “Bring them to me so I may bless them.”

Now Israel’s eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.

Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too.”

Then Joseph removed them from Israel’s knees and bowed down with his face to the ground.  And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel’s left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them close to him. But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.

Then he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm — may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly on the earth.”

When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. Joseph said to him, “No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”

But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.”

He blessed them that day and said, “In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’”

So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.

The irony in this passage is amazing to me.

Go all the way back to Jacob and how he deceived his father Isaac to give him the blessing and birthright that rightfully belonged to his brother Esau. You’ll recall that Isaac’s eyesight was very bad and he relied on touch to identify who he was talking to. Because of this, Jacob’s mother Rebekah, a party in the deception, covered Jacob’s hands and neck with goatskins so Isaac would reach out, feel hair, and believe he was blessing Esau. You’ll recall that Jacob was successful and gained the birthright even though he was younger than Esau.

Now Jacob, who had his name changed to Israel by the Lord, was older and unable to see as he went about the business of passing on the blessing to one of Joseph’s two sons.

As we read, Joseph had positioned his sons so that Manasseh would receive the blessing he was entitled to being the firstborn and older brother. The blessing would be granted to whoever Israel’s right hand was laid upon. But as we see, Israel (Jacob) had other plans.

For as the two sons were placed in position to be blessed, Israel crossed his arms and placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, blessing him over Manasseh. Once again, the younger sibling was blessed ahead of the firstborn!

Well, Joseph protested but Israel refused to relent and Ephraim was placed ahead of Manasseh.

Fascinating stuff and we still have two more chapters to cover. Can’t wait to explore tomorrow’s gems and hope you’ll join me as we look at Chapter 8.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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