Belonging
So all Israel was enrolled by genealogies; and behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. 1 Chronicles 9:1a NASB
Genealogies – All those names. Mostly unfamiliar, difficult to read out loud. So we skip over them. Go ahead. Try reading 1 Chronicles 8 without stumbling. And this is not the only list. In fact, 1 Chronicles is filled with these lists. Why?
Why just go through all the generations? Why try to list every father, every important son, every tribal connection? Why bother? We don’t do that sort of thing, do we? What matters to us is who’s alive now. Most of us really have no idea who our ancestors were one hundred years ago, or one thousand years ago. We’re focused on what’s coming. We want to know as best we can what the future holds, not the past. After all, the past is over and done with. It can’t be changed. It’s a fossil, not a living thing.
Ah, but the Hebraic worldview says that this sort of thinking is dead wrong (pardon the pun). You see, in Hebrew thought you are the summation of all those past generations. You aren’t the independent, autonomous center of your world. You don’t even exist without all those others. Therefore, you have a responsibility, a debt to be paid for even being alive. And that debt is owed to those who brought about your appearance on the earth. So, to begin with (another pun, sorry), you’ll have to start at your real beginning. And for Israel, this is Abraham.
That isn’t the end of this story. You are also saddled with another task. You are responsible for what comes from you. You owe a debt to all who will come after you too. You must pay it forward. In case you haven’t noticed the pattern yet, this is the ground of hesed, that uniquely Hebrew word that describes what “relationship” is all about. You owe the past and the future. That’s why you need to know who you belong to. You need to know how God interacted with all those ancestors because how He was involved with them makes you who you are today. And you need to know who you are today so that you can do something that will change the lives of all those who come through you. Genealogies aren’t about people. They are about payments.
Now here’s a bit of insight. This verse does not use the usual word of “generations.” In fact, “was enrolled by genealogies” is just a single Hebrew word—hityaḥsu. The idea of the verb (yāḥaś) is “to be enrolled.” And in Hebrew, this means “be part of the list of all whom you belong to.” In Hebrew, you are the summary of all you belong to. You are the collection of all those relationships. And they have all happened because God is the engineer of human involvement.
We, who have embarked on this journey into the dark, have two anchors. We look toward the past as we row our little boats. We see where we have been, and where all those who came before us traveled. We are anchored to their experiences. But we row toward a future we cannot see, a dark place behind our heads. We feel that anchor because we feel the pull of those who await our choices. The “bloods” that cry out from the ground. We must not disappoint. You are enrolled because He knows your name. Row, and carry the world with you.
Topical Index: genealogies, to be enrolled, yāḥaś, 1 Chronicles 9:1
THANK YOU: Thank you for another year of investigation. Thank you for sticking around during this journey. Thank you for supporting my work and the intersections with other needs along the way. I hope it was worthwhile and that you’ll continue.
Thank YOU Skip for your perseverence and dedication to your calling. As long as you continue we will be in tow with you!
I thank you Skip! It has definitely been worthwhile looking forward to continuing the journey!
Thanks to you Skip for all the effort and dedication to serve your fellow companions in this trip… you help us row our little boats!
Skip, you certainly have our continued support and prayers for your work, hook line, sinker and rowboat. You have brought to an unforgettable place in our lives that we will treasure forever. You are stuck with us. Long may it be thus. Shalom.
Shalom skip where is approaching the only thing that will remain change… As always without much direct confrontation.
Truth Remains the Same. We Are Family. We are connected. I have been sharing about the tree to the branches are broken off, and some are grafted in,. This whole purpose you saw that those that were broken off and we grafted back in. Many believers have never heard of this story. Prophet Ezekiel talks about two trees other side of the altar. I think this is speaking of today’s Church. I don’t think we need to be reminded of. The anointing comes to and from the God of Israel!
Many times it has been said , two steps backward two steps forward. Most are still One Step behind. Everyone needs a Hebrew connection . Not only in word ,but in deed also. Skip you and your team really are Trailblazers. And I start my morning with you post everyday. Some have asked me ,why you don’t do a weekly Torah Portion ? This is a question not for me to answer, I will commit not your calling perhaps. I think people are too involved in wanting to correct other people which causes division. Whatever the case may be keep doing what you’re doing and finish well, do not grow weary in doing good. The Lord directs the paths of his people and they will not stray to the left to the right, but they will stay on the straight and narrow. Prayers and blessings.
I think what makes the journey so difficult is, we live in this Greek world with all its systems and 5 year plans and goals and everything operates that way, and then God says, “Go to the land I will show you.” The constant tug of war of living God’s life, one day at a time, in a world that thinks that’s “crazy:” I often think about, knowing some of my family descends from Europe, what did they go through, with all the wars and plagues, etc, to bring my family life. It would be neat for the Lord to show us one day.
Thanks for all you do Skip
Thanks Skip for all you do for this community , and as another Gregorian year has ended , we as a family a large one at that will be towing the boat right along with you May YAH bless you and your family ,
Skip, what do you think the scriptures teach about the common Christian notion, teaching, and exhortation about the intentional endeavor of “leaving a lasting legacy”? So often, it seems to me, and maybe I’ve judged wrongly, it seems to be about building one’s own kingdom and making a name for oneself, but maybe that’s just how I have tended to see most Christian and Messianic or Hebrew Roots pastors, leaders, and churches in general. Whereas the scriptures do speak about the significance of the concern for one’s own posterity, it doesn’t seem to speak of the significance of the concern for ones own legacy.
Are the only concerns about the intentional endeavor of “leaving a lasting legacy” having to do with one’s motives, methods and the exact nature of the legacy one seeks to leave behind, how one goes about doing it, and what the actual legacy itself is that one seeks to leave, i.e whether it is selfish ambition for one’s own prideful reputation or the selfless endeavor for the remembrance and honor of YHWH and His kingdom? Have you even questioned or been concerned for this yourself? What’s your position?
Skip,
Thanks for your willingness to be where God wants you.
The narrow road ain’t easy, but it’s loaded with treasure!
Many blessings to you and Roseanne.
This Hanukkah and Christmas season was a testimony of the importance of our past and it’s imprint on our future. Last night my bi-polar sister’s two children met for the first time both now in the mid 30’s with families of their own. They had different fathers. Elizabeth had been put up for adoption as an infant. She was colicky, her father a Viet Nam Vet had untreated PTSD and was doing drugs and would rage. My sister Wendy was alone in another state with the Harold, who was trying to start over again when Liz was born. It did not work for any of them they where all overwhelmed, alone and afraid. Wendy in desperation held her crying infant up to “God who was in the storm clouds above standing in the back yard..Please help, please take her God I can’t handle her…”.
It was at that very moment that Harold called my father to take Liz from Wendy. After some family drama she was adopted out of the family. Fast forward 30 years. Liz contacted our family a few years back after doing some on line research. She named her daughter Teanna and calls her Tae. My grandmother was named Tae. She, true to my sisters hopes has found God in her life, while her adopted mother had no relationship with Him at all. Liz’s husband is a believer. This year I gave to each of my nieces and nephews including Elizabeth and her brother Gabriel an original 1914 picture of their great grandfather Henry Bleacher in his WWI uniform. We had interestingly just enough of the original printed photo’s for each of his 5 great grandchildren to receive one. Tae looks just like her great, great Aunt Matilda Bleacher. It was important for Liz to know she had been loved and wanted by her mother and her mothers family. I have prayed for her for years not knowing anything about her life. While she was actually growing up 40 min away from us for many years. She needed to know her mom simply knew someone else would care for her better, and had made the very hard decision to give her up. It was important for Liz to find out ” how God interacted with all those ancestors because how He was involved with them makes you who you are today. ” . She is being released and healed by that process as we all are.
What a wonderful story of faith and the Faithful One. Presently I can’t say I agree entirely as that process we are all part of is Grace & sometimes the Truth of Grace is it being rejected & the reality of not grafting back & not the receiving of the healing side. Sometimes it is the stripping away for the fire and that is devastating to be connected to. Some will not be grafted back in no matter what the heartfelt prayers of men of the present, the past determination has ended the future & still I say it is the merciful One who also judges in righteousness. There are those who rant & rave in unacceptance & refuse to give into love and distort the true reflection of whom they are to the very core and break the heritage. Thank God he takes in the orphan from these places. Praise our Father in Heaven.
Another thankyou Skip. I am also grateful for the comment about judging below. May I use the measure so it is not vain pride & the love so it is for life, not with fear but hope. Teaching seems more the word. Thankyou Skip for helping me to think about thinking about reality, more clearly. I took a lot of my life without thought nor reality.
Rowing is good and not for wimps even though we may start out as wimps, mercy is a wonderful encourager & the life matures in the tasks given by wisdom.
I pray Godspeed to you both and all of us. As it is only He who truly knows what we can bear for His purpose & brings us circumstance. It is good to comprehend in the rowing, there is His timing when we trust. Our continued rowing is the trust even as feeling tired or hungry & uncertain if we only have the strength of ourselves in mind.
The waves, the tides for and against, the shore; leaving and arriving. May we trust. Seems so many of your on-line family are in the midst of truly feeling the rowing against every nuance of the known of a regular rowing course because of the drawing of the Father.
Not because we were off course, necessarily but perhaps because we are getting closer to the shore and need refinements to land it just the right place.
I like ‘the pull of those who await our choices’ too. There are many forces in the spiritual realm that are currents and eddies to our rowing. May we perceive correctly & adjust accordingly to that which is behind us in both senses, so we land in the right place of His call on us.
Blessings to all.
Skip, I would not be where I am without your courage to step forward to reveal the truths of HaShem’s word. The work that you do reveals the true love that you have, not only for our Father, but to those He has put in your care. Be Blessed this New Year! Step forward with courage as He directs you! Thank you!
Thank you, Skip, for another year of dedication and investigation and for taking us along on this incredible journey.
Thank you Skip for the blessing you have been in my walk with our Mesiah. You are making a difference in so many lives!! Blessing to you and Roseann……i will be with you as you continue. Trish
Very interesting and thought provoking an excellent topic for bible study. Is this the reason the Chinese and Japanese honor their ancestors? Skip, the Father is with you and Rosanne
Thank you, Skip, for opening a door of discovery and walking ahead, faithfully, pointing here and there to things, ideas, thoughts and understandings that have assisted in opening our eyes, pulling at our hearts, enlightening our souls and challenging our life direction. Few instances in my life have been as valuable. I’ve actually shed tears of contentment remembering the journeys I’ve traveled via your TW’s revelations. You have been a genuine blessing in our lives. Shalom!