Articles
Lessons from a Genealogy (3)
Some people have an avid interest in family history. I can remember as a child spending some of our vacation time traipsing through old cemeteries, looking for markers of distant relatives. Others have little regard for such things. Among other reasons, they may be afraid of what they will find!
Matthew’s gospel opens with Jesus’ genealogy, and it is certainly a “mixed bag” of characters. On the one hand, there are outstanding people such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. These men were not flawless by any means—the Bible writers objectively record their failures along with their successes—but they were good, faithful men. On the other hand, the list includes some of the most ungodly men in Judah’s history.
One section of the genealogy particularly stands out to me: “Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham was the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah” (vv. 9-10).
Uzziah was a good king until his pride took over late in his reign (2 Chronicles 26). His son Jotham was also a good man (2 Chronicles 27). But Jotham’s son Ahaz was among the worst of Judah’s kings, going so far as to offer one of his sons to an idol (2 Kings 16:3). Ahaz’s son Hezekiah was a great king, who did all he could to restore service to the Lord (2 Chronicles 29-31). Yet his son Manasseh was a terrible man whose first order of business was to undo all of Hezekiah’s reforms. “He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger” (2 Chronicles 33:6). Amon was just like him, but then Josiah was more like his great-grandfather Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 34-35).
This section of the genealogy vividly reminds us that godly children do not just happen. What went wrong in some generations? I do not know. Perhaps some of these fathers were more inconsistent examples than we know. They may not have been active enough in teaching their sons or firm enough in disciplining them. They may have been too busy running the kingdom and neglectful at home. On the other hand, they may have done their very best, but their sons chose to reject their good upbringing. It happens. The point is, parents must never just assume their children will learn to do right. We must make every effort to “bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
