Students,
I made up this genealogical chart (below), tracing Creation from Adam to Jesus upon request by a student in one of my previous Bible classes. The chart lists only key parents, not all parents!
Genealogy is very important in the Bible, especially in the Priest source text (the "begats" are from that source).
The genealogy becomes important down to the life of Jesus, because it is important that Jesus come from the line of David, because that's the line from which a Messiah ("anointed" king) is expected to come to save Israel. Matthew and the other gospels stress this point, though the Virgin Birth and Jesus' own quote of Psalm 110 seems to weaken the claim of his descent from David! We'll go more into this later.
The main point is that, as you know from the Jacob story and the musical, there are 12 tribes (12 children of Jacob, in his relationships with Rachel, Leah, and his wives' maidservants). These 12 tribes are symbolic of Israel. Yet for Christians they are also a type fulfilled in Jesus Twelve Apostles, who, symbolically, replace the 12 tribes (one apostle for each tribe) to create a new Israel; an Israel of the Spirit rather than the Flesh.
In fact the drama of genealogy becomes important from the very beginning to Jesus;
a) first to obey the command to "be fruitful and multiply";
b) then to fulfill God's promise of "a great nation";
c) finally, to produce the Messiah, whom Christians believe was Jesus.
So the Bible is very much a drama of childbirth! And the Bible writers were fully aware of this too: thus,
a) the emphasis on an old couple having a baby (against all odds);
b) the emphasis on Abraham's "only son" of the Promise almost being sacrificed;
c) the difficult births of Jacob's children;
d) the near death of Joseph; and, finally (for Christians),
e) the miracle of Jesus' birth: both in
1. the sense of the miracle of the Virgin Birth, and
2. the difficult genealogy that led up to Jesus:
a) the many women of ill repute,
b) the non-Jews like Ruth,
c) a prostitute like Rahab,
d) another non-Jew like Bathsheba,
e) and the incestuous relationship (between Tamar and her father-in-law, Judah) that finally led to the birth of the Christian Savior, Jesus.
This drama of the fulfillment of the Promise was carefully written to make a point: namely that God works, through troublesome history, to keep his word, in the fulfillment of time.
I made up this genealogical chart (below), tracing Creation from Adam to Jesus upon request by a student in one of my previous Bible classes. The chart lists only key parents, not all parents!
Genealogy is very important in the Bible, especially in the Priest source text (the "begats" are from that source).
The genealogy becomes important down to the life of Jesus, because it is important that Jesus come from the line of David, because that's the line from which a Messiah ("anointed" king) is expected to come to save Israel. Matthew and the other gospels stress this point, though the Virgin Birth and Jesus' own quote of Psalm 110 seems to weaken the claim of his descent from David! We'll go more into this later.
The main point is that, as you know from the Jacob story and the musical, there are 12 tribes (12 children of Jacob, in his relationships with Rachel, Leah, and his wives' maidservants). These 12 tribes are symbolic of Israel. Yet for Christians they are also a type fulfilled in Jesus Twelve Apostles, who, symbolically, replace the 12 tribes (one apostle for each tribe) to create a new Israel; an Israel of the Spirit rather than the Flesh.
In fact the drama of genealogy becomes important from the very beginning to Jesus;
a) first to obey the command to "be fruitful and multiply";
b) then to fulfill God's promise of "a great nation";
c) finally, to produce the Messiah, whom Christians believe was Jesus.
So the Bible is very much a drama of childbirth! And the Bible writers were fully aware of this too: thus,
a) the emphasis on an old couple having a baby (against all odds);
b) the emphasis on Abraham's "only son" of the Promise almost being sacrificed;
c) the difficult births of Jacob's children;
d) the near death of Joseph; and, finally (for Christians),
e) the miracle of Jesus' birth: both in
1. the sense of the miracle of the Virgin Birth, and
2. the difficult genealogy that led up to Jesus:
a) the many women of ill repute,
b) the non-Jews like Ruth,
c) a prostitute like Rahab,
d) another non-Jew like Bathsheba,
e) and the incestuous relationship (between Tamar and her father-in-law, Judah) that finally led to the birth of the Christian Savior, Jesus.
This drama of the fulfillment of the Promise was carefully written to make a point: namely that God works, through troublesome history, to keep his word, in the fulfillment of time.
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