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Context No. 943 of 4322 · 1 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

1 Chronicles 4:1-8: in context

1The sons of Judah: Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal. 2Reaiah the son of Shobal became the father of Jahath; and Jahath became the father of Ahumai and Lahad. These are the families of the Zorathites. 3These were the sons of the father of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash. The name of their sister was Hazzelelponi. 4Penuel was the father of Gedor and Ezer the father of Hushah. These are the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah, the father of Bethlehem. 5Ashhur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah. 6Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni, and Haahashtari. These were the sons of Naarah. 7The sons of Helah were Zereth, Izhar, and Ethnan. 8Hakkoz became the father of Anub, Zobebah, and the families of Aharhel the son of Harum.

This is a genealogy, one of the long lists of names that make up the opening chapters of Chronicles. Sons of Judah, then their sons, then families and clans, most of them names that appear here and nowhere else: Reaiah, Jahath, Ahumai, Hazzelelponi, Anub, Zobebah. We know almost nothing about these people beyond that they existed, were born, had children, and belonged to Judah's line.

It is tempting to skip a page like this, and understandable, but there is something worth pausing on in a list of forgotten names. The Chronicler, writing to a people rebuilding after exile, was reminding them who they were by naming their ancestors, including the ones no story remembers. Most of the human beings who have ever lived are like these names, real, loved, part of a family and a people, and yet entirely unremembered by history, their whole lives compressed to a single line in a register. And God kept them in his book. He did not record only the kings and prophets and heroes; he had the obscure Zorathite families written down too. It is a quiet answer to the fear of insignificance, the fear that a life no one will remember does not matter. To the God who inspired this genealogy, a life is not measured by how many stories it generates. Hazzelelponi, whoever she was, made it into scripture by name. The unremembered are remembered by him.

Do I secretly measure my worth by how much I will be remembered, when God writes down and treasures even the names history forgets?

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