Biblical Historical Context: A Good Reason to Pay Attention to the Geneaologies in Chronicles

As someone who recently got done reading 1-2 Chronicles, I can attest to the fact that some parts of it are unbelievably boring. This is especially true of the genealogies. I can appreciate why they are there but I loathe reading them and more often than not I just zone out when I do. But Twitter user @bibhistctxt wrote a post last year on his blog demonstrating why reading the Chronicler’s genealogy can reveal quite a bit. He writes, 

The first few chapters of Chronicles are a real slog to read through. Name after name; genealogy after genealogy; tongue-twister after tongue-twister. If we force ourselves to read the chapters our eyes quickly glaze over and we tune out. But if we do that, we’ll miss out. No, seriously. In this instance we’ll see the Chronicler subtly remove both Israel’s sojourn in Egypt and the Exodus from their history.

He shows that based on the genealogy that the tribe of Ephraim did not participate in the Exodus but instead was already in the land of Canaan! But why would the Chronicler deliberately contradict the Torah and its narrative? @bibhistctxt writes,

Why does the Chronicler ignore the Exodus? Because he wanted to ground the Jews in their ancestral homeland. Reminding them of the fact that they weren’t natives of it but in fact were at one time foreigners did not suit his purpose. So, the Exodus is skipped right over.

I don’t want to steal any more of his thunder because the post is very good. Read the rest of it here!

Featured image: By Philip De Vere – https://www.flickr.com/groups/the_phillip_medhurst_collection_of_bible_prints/pool/phillip_medhurst_bible_pictures, Philip De Vere is owner and curator of the prints in the User:Phillip Medhurst Collection of Bible illustrations. Medhurst’s purchase and collation of prints illustrating the Bible (“The Phillip Medhurst Collection”), now housed at Belgrave Hall Leicester, was made possible by (and was within the terms of) the Kevin Victor Freestone Bequest. See https://www.flickr.com/groups/the_phillip_medhurst_collection_of_bible_prints and https://www.flickr.com/groups/phillip_medhurst_bible, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44602793