Okay, so it isn’t the most interesting text to read in worship. Trust me, though: it meant more to the original readers. For starters, they knew all these names. First century Jews knew their genealogies, knew whom they were descended from, and which lines of descent were important. Last May, when I was in New Zealand, I heard a Maori bishop of the Anglican Church recite from memory his family genealogy going back for at least 500 years. Biblical Jews had that kind of respect for genealogy.
Sermon Notes