I. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT GENEALOGIES:

A. Def.: “Genealogy” is the study of beginnings (of people/family).

– Genesis, “In the beginning…” – Genesis + logy = Genealogy– Genealogists recorded genealogies

I. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT GENEALOGIES:

B. Purpose:

1. Genealogies served as the chronological basis for histories. • Take “Who” and add “What.”

• E.g., Ge. 10

2. Genealogies serve to confirm God’s word, Ge. 12:3 Lk. 3:34

I. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT GENEALOGIES:

Many cultures kept genealogies:

• Acusilaus of Argos (500 B.C.)• Hecataeus (550 B.C.), Genealogiai

Many cultures used genealogies to trace their lineage back to a god: Hecataeus

II. INDIRECT TESTIMONY FROM ANCIENT SECULAR GENEALOGIES:

About ancient science About long life-spans before the flood

A. Ancient science:

• “Hecataeus traced his family tree and connected himself with a god in the sixteenth generation; but the priests countered by constructing a family tree by their method of reckoning, because they would not take it from him that a man had been born from a god.”

• “In eleven-thousand three hundred and forty years, said the priests, there had never been a god in man-shape.” (Herodotus, 2, 142-3)

A. Ancient science:

• This event affects us.

– Modern critics reject the supernatural.

– They charge that the ancients were ignorant, naïve, and without scientific method.

– Therefore, we (AD 2006) should not believe that the miracles of the Bible actually happened.

A. Ancient science:

• This event affects us.

– Modern critics reject the supernatural.

– They charge that the ancients were ignorant, naïve, and without scientific method.

– Therefore, we (AD 2006) should not believe that miracles, as recorded in the Bible, actually happened.

A. Ancient science:

• Modern Skeptics Are Wrong!

1. The ancient world was full of skeptics:

– The E. Priests, Hecataeus, Herodotus

– Gideon, Jdg. 6:12-17, 36-40

– “Doubting” Thomas (Jn. 20:24-28)

– The Athenians, Ac. 17:31, 32

A. Ancient science:

• Modern Skeptics Are Wrong! (cont.)

2. The method used to disprove Hecataeus:

345 statues Critically observed, rationalized, and

recorded history Compared and contrasted

If the Bible can stand in that audience, it can stand in any!

B. Long life spans before the flood:

• From the list of Sumerian Kings:

– Pre-flood, 8 kings, “30,150 years” each

– After the flood:• “1200 years”• 5 – 50 years

– Ge. 5-10!

The Sumerian list contains erroneous numbers but is based in fact.

Indirect testimony to the flood.

III. CONSIDERING ALLEGED GENEALOGICAL DISCREPANCIES:

• Some attack the NT by claiming its genealogies lie; e.g., was Joseph’s father Jacob or Eli?

• No 1st. cent. Jew (or Gentile) rejected the Biblical genealogies. Mt. 21:15-16:

Their dispute was that only God could receive such praise. “Hosanna,” Ps. 28:1, 9 (Jer. 31:7)

Their dispute wasn’t:

– Calling Jesus, “Son of David” (Mt. 1:20)

– Jesus’ lineage, v. 9.

IV. GENEALOGIES EMPHASIZE:

A. Objective science is a friend to the Gospel!

– Many people today want to pit science against the Bible.

Myths fell. The Bible stands. Why?

IV. GENEALOGIES EMPHASIZE:

“If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.” (Charles Darwin, 1859)

DNA

IV. GENEALOGIES EMPHASIZE:

B. The power of the Gospel:

– The first to assert “Contradiction!” was Emperor Julian (A.D. 363).

– "One hundred years from my day there will not be a Bible in the earth…"

(Voltaire, d. 1778).

– 1 Pe. 1:23-25

IV. GENEALOGIES EMPHASIZE:

C. The purity of the Christian:

• Ezra 2:59-62

• Rv. 20:12-15; Phil. 4:8-9

IV. GENEALOGIES EMPHASIZE:

D. The compliance of the Christian:

– Genealogies influenced many aspects of an Israelite’s life, see Numbers:

• 1, leadership• 2, military duty• 3, priesthood and priestly duties• 26:53, addresses

IV. GENEALOGIES EMPHASIZE:

D. The compliance of the Christian: (cont.)

– If you’re a part of God’s family, He affects everything in your life!

– Must we look for authority for everything we do?

• Col. 3:17

IV. GENEALOGIES EMPHASIZE:

E. The comfort of the Christian:

– Mi. 5:…5, a Savior would come and bring peace. (Ge. 12; 49; 2 Sm. 7; etc.)

– Genealogies are important to God because by them He proves His faithfulness.

– A.D. 2006?!?

– Php. 4:7!