Your Family Tree
Introduction
My father never spoke to me about his life before he had come to England and married my mother. I knew virtually nothing about his background. A few years ago, I was contacted by The Judaica Museum in Berlin. They were doing some research into the Gumbel family. They sent me a copy of my family tree. I discovered that my great-great-grandfather was called Abraham Gumbel. My great-grandfather was called Isaac and his brother, Moses!
My father was Jewish. He qualified as a barrister and became a Doctor of Law at the University of Tübingen in 1927. Later he read Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and knew what was likely to happen to someone like him who was known as ‘Israelitisch’. He came to England and qualified as an English barrister as well. His sister and parents eventually came too. Many of the rest of my family, on my father’s side, were murdered in Dachau, Riga and other Nazi concentration camps.
The treatment of the Jewish people through the centuries has been complex, and at times tragic. Sometimes even passages in the Bible have been misinterpreted and misapplied as a weapon of abuse against the Jewish people.
The people of God in the Old Testament were the nation of Israel. The people of God in the New Testament are all those who put their faith in Jesus Christ. We share a common history and family tree. We worship the same God and, the apostle Paul tells us, the way of salvation is the same for us all.
Psalm 89:14–18
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
love and faithfulness go before you.
15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
who walk in the light of your presence, LORD.
16 They rejoice in your name all day long;
they celebrate your righteousness.
17 For you are their glory and strength,
and by your favour you exalt our horn.
18 Indeed, our shield belongs to the LORD,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.
Commentary
Your God is the God of Israel
The Lord, whom we worship, is the Holy One of Israel. ‘All we are and have we owe to God, Holy God of Israel, our King!’ (v.18, MSG).
The psalmist says of the Lord, ‘The Right and Justice are the roots of your rule; Love and Truth are its fruits’ (v.14, MSG). God’s choice of the people of Israel does not make him unrighteous and unjust. He is a God of love and faithfulness. He loves all people. The foundation of his throne is righteousness and justice. He will act in a way that is right and his treatment of other nations will never be unjust.
God intended that all nations would be blessed through his choice of Israel (see Genesis 12:3). This has now been made possible through Jesus. You too can walk in a right relationship with God and experience the blessing that this psalm talks about: ‘Blessed are those who… walk in the light of your presence, O LORD. They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness. For you are their glory and strength’ (Psalm 89:15–17). As a result, ‘We’re walking on air!’ (v.17, MSG).
Prayer
Lord, help me today to walk in the light of your presence and to rejoice in your name all day long.
Romans 9:22–10:4
22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory — 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says in Hosea:
“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”
26 and,
“In the very place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”
27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:
“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,
only the remnant will be saved.
28 For the Lord will carry out
his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”
29 It is just as Isaiah said previously:
“Unless the Lord Almighty
had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.”
Israel’s Unbelief
30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. 33 As it is written:
“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall,
and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
10 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Commentary
Your salvation began with Israel
God’s plan of salvation began with Israel. His plan for Israel (the Jews) and the rest (the Gentiles) is inextricably linked. What does this mean for you now?
God had a plan ‘to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory – even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles’ (9:23–24). His plan of salvation is wider than just the nation of Israel.
Salvation is based on:
- faith – not your good works
- mercy – not what you deserve
- belief – not where you were born.
Paul goes on to demonstrate this by drawing on the words of Hosea. God had said that he would call people who were ‘not my people’ – that is, the Gentiles – ‘my people’, ‘my loved one’ and ‘children of the living God’ (vv.25–26).
It is an amazing privilege to be part of God’s people, loved by God, called to be his children, the object of his mercy, prepared in advance for glory in order that he might make the riches of his glory known (vv. 23–24).
Under the new covenant, no one is excluded. Everyone can be saved. God has made possible, through Jesus, a righteousness by faith (v.30).
Jesus is the way of salvation. Some will stumble over him, but ‘the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame’ (v.33).
Paul loves the people of Israel. They are his people. He longs for them to be saved. He intercedes fervently for their salvation. ‘Believe me, friends, all I want for Israel is what’s best for Israel: salvation, nothing less. I want it with all my heart and pray to God for it all the time’ (10:1, MSG).
There is only one way that they will be saved, and that is by faith, through ‘the righteousness that comes from God’ (v.3). This righteousness comes through Christ. ‘Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes’ (v.4).
‘Christ is the end of the law’ is a huge, ground-breaking, life-changing, history-making statement. There has been a great deal of debate about exactly what Paul meant. However, some things are clear.
- ‘Christ is the end of the law’ in that he has fulfilled the law. Jesus once described himself as having come to ‘fulfil the law’ (Matthew 5:17). The purpose of the law was to point us to Jesus (Galatians 3:24). Now Jesus has come, its role has been completed.
- ‘Christ is the end of the law’ in that he has satisfied the law. Jesus was the only person who has ever fully kept the law, yet through the cross you receive the benefit of his obedience.
- ‘Christ is the end of the law’ in that he has set you free from the burden and condemnation of the law. As we are constantly failing, we live life under a black cloud of condemnation. Because of Jesus, ‘there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1).
- Jesus has set you free from seeking salvation through the law. No one can be saved by the law. No one, apart from Jesus, has ever managed to keep the entire law. ‘Christ is the end of the law’ in that he has set you free from trying to establish your own righteousness. Instead, you are now given ‘the righteousness that comes from God’ (10:3).
Prayer
Lord, thank you that salvation is open to all through faith in Jesus. I pray today for the people of Israel: ’My heart’s desire and prayer to God… is that they may be saved’ (v.1).
1 Chronicles 1:1–2:17
Historical Records From Adam to Abraham
To Noah’s Sons
1 Adam, Seth, Enosh, 2 Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, 3 Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah.
4 The sons of Noah:
Shem, Ham and Japheth.
The Japhethites
5 The sons of Japheth:
Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshek and Tiras.
6 The sons of Gomer:
Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.
7 The sons of Javan:
Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites and the Rodanites.
The Hamites
8 The sons of Ham:
Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan.
9 The sons of Cush:
Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raamah and Sabteka.
The sons of Raamah:
Sheba and Dedan.
10 Cush was the father of
Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on earth.
11 Egypt was the father of
the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 12 Pathrusites, Kasluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites.
13 Canaan was the father of
Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites, 14 Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 15 Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 16 Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.
The Semites
17 The sons of Shem:
Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.
The sons of Aram:
Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshek.
18 Arphaxad was the father of Shelah,
and Shelah the father of Eber.
19 Two sons were born to Eber:
One was named Peleg, because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.
20 Joktan was the father of
Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 21 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 22 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 23 Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.
24 Shem, Arphaxad, Shelah,
25 Eber, Peleg, Reu,
26 Serug, Nahor, Terah
27 and Abram (that is, Abraham).
The Family of Abraham
28 The sons of Abraham:
Isaac and Ishmael.
Descendants of Hagar
29 These were their descendants:
Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 30 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, 31 Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. These were the sons of Ishmael.
Descendants of Keturah
32 The sons born to Keturah, Abraham’s concubine:
Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah.
The sons of Jokshan:
Sheba and Dedan.
33 The sons of Midian:
Ephah, Epher, Hanok, Abida and Eldaah.
All these were descendants of Keturah.
Descendants of Sarah
34 Abraham was the father of Isaac.
The sons of Isaac:
Esau and Israel.
Esau’s Sons
35 The sons of Esau:
Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam and Korah.
36 The sons of Eliphaz:
Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz;
by Timna: Amalek.
37 The sons of Reuel:
Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah.
The People of Seir in Edom
38 The sons of Seir:
Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer and Dishan.
39 The sons of Lotan:
Hori and Homam. Timna was Lotan’s sister.
40 The sons of Shobal:
Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho and Onam.
The sons of Zibeon:
Aiah and Anah.
41 The son of Anah:
Dishon.
The sons of Dishon:
Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran and Keran.
42 The sons of Ezer:
Bilhan, Zaavan and Akan.
The sons of Dishan:
Uz and Aran.
The Rulers of Edom
43 These were the kings who reigned in Edom before any Israelite king reigned:
Bela son of Beor, whose city was named Dinhabah.
44 When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah succeeded him as king.
45 When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites succeeded him as king.
46 When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, succeeded him as king. His city was named Avith.
47 When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah succeeded him as king.
48 When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the river succeeded him as king.
49 When Shaul died, Baal-Hanan son of Akbor succeeded him as king.
50 When Baal-Hanan died, Hadad succeeded him as king. His city was named Pau, and his wife’s name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-Zahab. 51 Hadad also died.
The chiefs of Edom were:
Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, 52 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 53 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 54 Magdiel and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom.
Israel’s Sons
2 These were the sons of Israel:
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, 2 Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
Judah
To Hezron’s Sons
3 The sons of Judah:
Er, Onan and Shelah. These three were born to him by a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shua. Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the LORD put him to death. 4 Judah’s daughter-in-law Tamar bore Perez and Zerah to Judah. He had five sons in all.
5 The sons of Perez:
Hezron and Hamul.
6 The sons of Zerah:
Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Kalkol and Darda—five in all.
7 The son of Karmi:
Achar, who brought trouble on Israel by violating the ban on taking devoted things.
8 The son of Ethan:
Azariah.
9 The sons born to Hezron were:
Jerahmeel, Ram and Caleb.
From Ram Son of Hezron
10 Ram was the father of
Amminadab , and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, the leader of the people of Judah. 11 Nahshon was the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, 12 Boaz the father of Obed and Obed the father of Jesse.
13 Jesse was the father of
Eliab his firstborn; the second son was Abinadab, the third Shimea, 14 the fourth Nethanel, the fifth Raddai, 15 the sixth Ozem and the seventh David. 16 Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. Zeruiah’s three sons were Abishai, Joab and Asahel. 17 Abigail was the mother of Amasa, whose father was Jether the Ishmaelite.
Commentary
Your history is bound up with Israel
In today’s passage we see another family tree. This is my family tree. It is also yours.
‘Names launch this story,’ writes Eugene Peterson, ‘hundreds and hundreds of names, lists of names, page after page of names, personalnames... Holy history is not constructed from impersonal forces or abstract ideas; it is woven from names – persons, each one unique. Chronicles erects a solid defense against depersonalized religion.’
There is more than one way to tell a story. The two books of Chronicles cover the same period as the books of Samuel and Kings. The new writer (possibly Ezra), writing a hundred years or so later, traces the history of Israel from Adam to the return from exile.
We see in these chapters that Israel’s history is our history. Our history goes back to Adam (1:1) and the beginning of the human race.
The church goes back to Abraham. ‘Abraham was the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel’ (v.34). Both Israel and the church of Jesus Christ look to Abraham as their father.
In chapter 2, the chronicler traces the history of Israel through the sons of Israel right down to David (2:15). Again, Israel’s history is your history. The church began with God’s call to Abraham and continues right down the ages until now.
Whether the church is popular or unpopular, big or small is relatively unimportant. People talk about the church as if it is a fairly marginal phenomenon only interested in gaining popularity. The only question the media ask is whether it is popular or not.
But as Bishop Lesslie Newbigin pointed out, this is absurd. The church has outlived great empires, philosophical systems, totalitarian systems. The things that seem to occupy the whole horizon of public thinking now will be simply phantoms, half remembered from the past, twenty years from now. But the church will still be there. This given reality needs to be at the centre of our thinking as Christians.
Prayer
Thank you, Lord, for our common family tree with the people of Israel. Thank you for the extraordinary privilege of being part of the people of God, who trace our history back to the beginning of the human race, through Adam, Abraham and Israel, and right down to the present day.
Pippa adds
In Psalm 89:14 it says,
‘Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.’
With all the political unrest and changing governments around the world, righteousness and justice needs to be the bedrock of any form of governance. Don’t stop praying for our world leaders.
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References
Eugene Peterson, The Message: 'Introduction to 1 and 2 Chronicles' (NavPress, 1993).
Lesslie Newbigin, Discovering Truth in a Changing World (Alpha International, 2012), p.96.
The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel (commentary formerly known as Bible in One Year) ©Alpha International 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Compilation of daily Bible readings © Hodder & Stoughton Limited 1988. Published by Hodder & Stoughton Limited as the Bible in One Year.
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.
Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.