1 Chronicles 7:6-12: a reflection

6The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, and Jediael, three. 7The sons of Bela: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri, five; heads of fathers’ houses, mighty men of valor; and they were listed by genealogy twenty-two thousand thirty-four. 8The sons of Becher: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Becher. 9They were listed by genealogy, after their generations, heads of their fathers’ houses, mighty men of valor, twenty thousand two hundred. 10The son of Jediael: Bilhan. The sons of Bilhan: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar. 11All these were sons of Jediael, according to the heads of their fathers’ households, mighty men of valor, seventeen thousand two hundred, who were able to go out in the army for war. 12So were Shuppim, Huppim, the sons of Ir, Hushim, and the sons of Aher.

Amid the long genealogies of Chronicles, this passage lists the descendants of Benjamin across generations, family by family, name by name, each generation recorded and counted. To us these lists can seem tedious, but they carry a quiet significance: they show that God kept track of his people across the generations, each family remembered, each generation part of a continuing line stretching back and forward through time.

Notice what the genealogy testifies to: continuity across generations. God's people are not merely a scattered collection of individuals in the present moment, but a line stretching across generations, each one receiving from those before and passing on to those after. The names recorded here are links in a chain, ordinary people who lived and died and passed on their place in God's people to the next generation. The faith, and the people, continued through them.

That is a reminder that we, too, stand in a long line. We did not begin the faith; we received it from those before us, and we are called to pass it on to those who come after. Our lives are links in a chain of generations, part of something far longer than our own brief span. Honor those who passed the faith to you, and take seriously your part in passing it on to the next generation. You are one link in a long line of God's people; receive faithfully what was handed to you, and hand it on, so that the line continues through you as it continued through the generations before.

Lord, the long genealogies show that you keep track of your people across the generations, each family remembered, each generation a link in a continuing line. Help me see that I, too, stand in a long line. I did not begin the faith; I received it from those before me, and I am called to pass it on to those who come after. Make me faithful in my part of that chain. Help me honor those who handed the faith to me, and to take seriously my responsibility to hand it on to the next generation. Let the line continue through me, as it continued through the generations before, so that those who come after receive faithfully what was passed to them.