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Context No. 1331 of 4322 · 1 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

1 Chronicles 6:1-15: in context

1The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 2The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. 3The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 4Eleazar became the father of Phinehas, Phinehas became the father of Abishua, 5Abishua became the father of Bukki. Bukki became the father of Uzzi. 6Uzzi became the father of Zerahiah. Zerahiah became the father of Meraioth. 7Meraioth became the father of Amariah. Amariah became the father of Ahitub. 8Ahitub became the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Ahimaaz. 9Ahimaaz became the father of Azariah. Azariah became the father of Johanan. 10Johanan became the father of Azariah, who executed the priest’s office in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem. 11Azariah became the father of Amariah. Amariah became the father of Ahitub. 12Ahitub became the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Shallum. 13Shallum became the father of Hilkiah. Hilkiah became the father of Azariah. 14Azariah became the father of Seraiah. Seraiah became the father of Jehozadak. 15Jehozadak went into captivity when the LORD carried Judah and Jerusalem away by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.

This passage traces the priestly line of Israel through the generations: the sons of Levi, down through Kohath and Amram to Aaron, then Aaron's line through Eleazar and Phinehas, generation after generation, Bukki, Uzzi, Zerahiah, on through Zadok who served under Solomon, down to Jehozadak. And the list ends on a somber note: Jehozadak went into captivity when the LORD carried Judah and Jerusalem away by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. A long chain of names, most of them otherwise forgotten, handing the priesthood down from father to son across the centuries, until it walked into exile.

A genealogy like this is easy to skip, but it carries a quiet lesson about being a link in a chain we did not begin and will not end. Each of these men received the priesthood from a father he did not choose and passed it to a son whose life he would not see completed; most are only a name, remembered for nothing but their place in the line. And yet the line held, generation after generation, each one faithful enough to hand on what he had received, so that the priesthood of Israel came down intact across the centuries. There is a place in that for the way faith is actually passed on, not usually by the famous or the remarkable but by ordinary people who received the faith from those before them and handed it on to those after, most of their names now forgotten. We are each a link in a chain like this, receiving what we did not originate, from parents and teachers and a whole line of believers stretching back, and charged to hand it on to those who come after us. And notice how the list ends, in exile: even when Jehozadak was carried off to Babylon, the line was not finally broken, for it was his son Joshua who would serve as high priest when the exiles returned. What God preserves, even judgment does not sever. The chain holds, through faithful, forgotten people, and even through exile.

Do I see myself as a link in a chain of faith I did not begin, faithfully receiving what was handed to me and handing it on to those who come after, content to be a forgotten name if only the line holds through me?

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