Dr. Nancy Dawson: Bible Genealogies and the Family of God

Ever wondered how ancient genealogies reveal God's character and His relationship with humanity? Join us on the Bible Basics Podcast as we unpack the fascinating world of biblical genealogies with the renowned Dr. Nancy Dawson. Learn about the two main formats of genealogies—linear and segmented—and discover the profound significance of patrilineal descent in the Bible. Dr. Dawson shares her unique insights, including the nuanced continuity of genealogical lines across various biblical books and the often-overlooked role of Elishema. This episode promises to expand your biblical understanding and offer enlightening moments for your personal study.

But that's not all! We also explore the transformative inclusion of Gentiles into God's family, emphasizing faith in Christ over ethnic heritage. With compelling examples like Ruth, Saul, and Moses, Dr. Dawson illustrates how genealogies provide a window into historical periods and societal structures. Plus, get valuable tips on enhancing your Bible study with extra-biblical resources.  Don't miss this illuminating discussion, perfect for your commute, walk, or personal time of reflection.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
 All the Genealogies in the Bible
Author: Nancy Dawson, PhD (​For questions, speaking engagements, or podcast requests, she can be reached at nsdawson@me.com.)
Publisher: Zondervan Academic

RELATED EPISODES
Historical / Cultural Context: How to Study the Bible
Living by the Book Pt 2: Observation
Living by the Book Pt 3: Interpreting Romans 12:1-2


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Note: All scripture references are from the NIV translation unless otherwise indicated.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 2:07 Format of Genealogies
• 4:06 Dr Dawson's Ahas
• 9:33 Gentiles in the Family of God
• 14:29 Bible Study Resources

Transcript

Jacqui: 0:26

Welcome teacher and theologian Dr Nancy Dawson. In our last episode, we explored the profound significance of biblical genealogies and how they illuminate God's grand narrative throughout history. Today we're continuing our journey with Dr Dawson. Her keen analytical skills and insightful approach to researching biblical genealogies have made her a respected voice in biblical scholarship. Her new book, All the Genealogies in the Bible, is a testament to her meticulous research and dedication to unveiling the intricate details of scripture. In this episode we'll uncover the aha moments Dr Dawson experienced in her studies and gained valuable insights into the inclusion of Gentiles in the family of God. Her discoveries promised to deepen our understanding of the Bible. So, whether you're on a walk, commuting or just taking a break, get ready to be inspired as we continue this enlightening discussion with Dr Nancy Dawson. Well, welcome everyone. I'm your host, Jacqui Adewole, and this is the Bible Basics Podcast where, weekly, we break down the Bible into understandable, bite-sized chunks. We start with Nancy answering a question I had about the format of genealogies or how they look in the Bible. Here's her response.

Dr. Dawson: 2:19

The genealogies basically come in like two formats. One is a long linear list of names. It's typically this father, son, father son. But the genealogies that form more of a segmented branch, it's called segmented genealogies. That shows like one father, sometimes the father and the mother and then the offspring. Like one father, sometimes the father and the mother and then the offspring. So they may have three or four children, and then the lineages are traced for each child down from there and then they branch off sometimes. So I totally understand and empathize as a person that's read through scripture.

Dr. Dawson: 3:10

You can get so lost with these names and it's frustrating and there's a complexity to them. Sometimes one person has two different names or even three different names. Person has two different names or even three different names and they can be found. Even I found in the same chapter of like Chronicles and you're like, oh my gosh, why can't they just stick with the one name? And so I could tell by the genealogical information and the tracing of that lineage that that is the same person, even though they have different names. And sometimes different people have the same name. So yeah, so the confusion is now. You know we've banished all the confusion with these lineages. You know we've banished all the confusion with these lineages.

Jacqui: 4:06

I love that Were there any ahas that came out of your study of these genealogies about any particular lineage or person or anything like that.

Dr. Dawson: 4:21

Well, I would say just a couple of things. One aha is that God is telling you something about himself. And second, he's telling you something about his people. So he's telling you that there's a passage in Deuteronomy that says the Lord is described as the God of your ancestors. So we need to know who those ancestors are. And then there's another passage in Deuteronomy, in Deuteronomy 32: 9, that says the Lord's portion is his people. Oh my gosh, that means we are his ultimate inheritance. Because we're saying, you know, in new testament we're saying well, I want to be an heir of the promise, I want to have a spiritual inheritance. In that Old Testament verse it's telling you that we are his inheritance. It's so magnificent, and so that's an aha moment, that he's telling you something about himself, his relationship to his people.

Dr. Dawson: 5:37

And then I guess, if I had one, maybe one or two charts, one thing was that, as I did all the Old Testament charts, I could tell that all of these are patrilineal descent. And I was like, oh my gosh what, we should have some women in there. And we do have women. But scripture does not trace matrilineal descent. It's through the father, it's even if it's a woman, it's through her father or the man's father. So that's patrilineal descent, and and. And that was a key to understanding what was going on with Jesus' genealogy. It's in two places, but I knew both of them were going to be tracing the patrilineal, ancestral descent of Jesus not through his mother Mary, but through Joseph, his earthly father. Obviously his heavenly father is his real father, but his earthly father, joseph. So that was one thing, and then I guess another aha was, I could be reading along in Genesis and then I would just sort of do my little drafting of the family trees and then they would just sort of peter out and I was like, oh, oh, you know that must be the end. But then I would continue and then it might pick up again in Samuel or end up in, you know, say more information in Chronicles, and then I would say, well, some of those people that were descendants of the people back in Genesis, they end up going into Babylonian exile and then Ezra or Nehemiah will say, oh well, this family came back to Jerusalem and so I could trace the original family and then these descendants through different periods of time you know as going going, you know forward, and I thought that was really great.

Dr. Dawson: 7:50

One person in particular. I don't think this has ever been noticed that I know of. When I got to Chronicles Chronicles, chapters one through nine is so dense. It's, you know, the microchip of genealogies. It has so many names in every word of every sentence, of every paragraph and pericope. So I saw where there was this great digression. And there is a person's genealogy that is sort of hidden, and I don't mean that it's secret, but just sort of like. I don't think anybody noticed it. It's a lineage about 50 names long and this guy at the end, his name is Elishema and he was a scribe under one of the kings just before they go into exile. And that guy is telling you his heritage was important and I feel like he was the chronicler, he was the one that was taking all of these genealogical records and he is the one that is assembling them, and so he's this great person. But he does not say I am ela, the chronicler of first and second, but he tells you his status by his genealogy. So you know that's an aha.

Jacqui: 9:36

That's interesting. I had an aha too, I understand, about Gentiles being engrafted into the family of God and somehow in my mind, I mean, and I knew there were Gentiles, and particularly women, in Jesus's genealogy, but still the whole idea of Gentiles coming in, I felt like that was New Testament mostly, right, right, right, mostly. So I, just as I was particularly going through the book and looking at the genealogies and looking at some of your commentaries, I came across Caleb. Caleb who was one of the spies that went into Canaan and came out with Joshua saying oh, we can do this and you know it. Just, there's an assumption that he, along with everybody else, was an Israelite. I didn't think about how many non-Israelites were able to become part of the family of God, in this case through marriage.

Dr. Dawson: 10:32

Yes, yes.

Jacqui: 10:34

It's very important. I was surprised about that. We've been talking a lot about context, the importance of understanding what was going on in whatever you're reading, whatever scripture you're reading historical context, cultural context and this added some shown some light on cultural context about how these Gentiles were able to come into the family of God, even back then.

Dr. Dawson: 11:02

Gentiles were able to come into the family of God even back then. Yes, I'm glad you bring out that point because you see it all along, but it's not like front and center. I mean, you see it when Abraham circumcises all of his family, well, these are, you know, slaves as well as you know people that came along with him from Mesopotamia and came into Canaan with him. But you see Kenites, you see Kenizzites, you see some Canaanites, you see somebody like Ruth the Moabite, and these are pivotal people. And so you think, well, they are not part of this covenant family. And in fact, with the Moabites because their ancestral origin was sort of an issue with incest, Lot and his daughter having relations, it's like, wow, that is not a good way to get a whole new line going. But you see that the Moabites and the Ammonites, they were excluded from worship. But in God's grace, thank goodness, we have God's grace to allow us all.

Dr. Dawson: 12:15

You see somebody like Ruth the Moabite. Or you see somebody like Rahab the Canaanite. And so, yes, that grafting begins way back in Old Testament and then continues more in New. In fact, in New Testament it says you know, if you're an unbeliever, even though you might be ethnically of a Jew If you do not believe in Jesus. That is. The final arbiter of being in the family of faith is whether you believe in Christ. It's not our ethnicity or our racial heritage, even it's that you are a believer and that is the final. It puts everyone at the foot of the cross, the same and yes yes, nancy, I had to.

Jacqui: 13:20

I had this, had to open my book because I have this highlighted and I just want to read this to the listeners. This is out of the. This is part of the introduction to the book, and Nancy says Thus the ultimate covenant family of God transcends bloodline, ethnicity, gender and national, religious and cultural backgrounds. Faith in Christ becomes the final arbiter for identity, inclusion and security in the kingdom of God. There is neither Jew nor Gentile. There you go to the promise.

Dr. Dawson: 14:14

There you go, that's falling words, right there that are. You know that Galatians 3 passage, it tells you that. It's very clear we are Abraham's seed, the intention of what was those promises to Abraham, and I really like that you're pointing your listeners to the cultural and historical context of scripture. You know, when I study I keep an atlas around. Oftentimes place names are something that you'll find like a person interesting the name Bethlehem. The other name that Micah explains is called Bethlehem Ephrathah or Bethlehem Ephrathah and that is a woman and so that is a place name. Bethlehem is a place name that originates from a woman.

Dr. Dawson: 15:17

The other things, culturally, you know you're seeing the societal status. There is a hierarchy that's going on. You're seeing different time periods and certain genealogies, kind of transition, like something like in Ruth, the very end of the book of Ruth. You know that story of Ruth and Naomi and Elimelech and then Ruth's husband, and all of that occurs at the end of the time of the judges, of the judges. But that genealogy functions to transition to the time of the kings, because ruth and boaz are going to be the great grandparents, great, great grandparents of king david and so, um, um, you'll have different functions sometimes.

Dr. Dawson: 16:06

so there's a structure of genealogies, there's a function of them. Sometimes they seem to be a little bit at odds with one another, but it's just because they're functioning different. Like this is especially true in the tribe of Saul. Sometimes you're talking about his ancestors and descendants. Sometimes they're talking about, like, the military complement within that tribe. Sometimes they'll tell you about, well, these Saulite descendants ended up living in this particular area around Jerusalem or near Jerusalem, and so they kind of can be a little bit confusing, but it's because they are having different functions.

Dr. Dawson: 16:57

Then, sometimes, when you're tracing descendants, one of those aha moments was I was doing Moses and Aaron and Miriam brothers, mary and a sister, and what you find is they're from the tribe of Levi and Moses' descendants. Of course, that's all, even before they go into the promised land. Remember, he brings them out of exile in Egypt before they go into the promised land. But his descendants are counted as part of the tribe of Levi and they become these Levitical servants in Solomon's temple, which is, you know, that's like a thousand years later. You know, because Moses we're talking about, you know, 1400 or earlier, slightly earlier, and then the temple isn't built until 966, not a thousand years, more like 500 years. So sometimes genealogies are telling you kind of the rest of the story these people have functions over time.

Dr. Dawson: 18:15

Sometimes the very end of a genealogy, the final person in the genealogy will tell you something about when that genealogy was written down, because they're the last terminus figure and so they'll kind of tell you well, this is the author and this is when he's the last person. If they're living in, you know, 444,. Well, that's kind of when that book or that portion of that book was written down. So it's wonderful that you're stressing biblical interpretation. You know you read what does this mean and how does it apply to me. But you have to kind of know these other running ground rules if you will, and that means you need to have lots of resources, just like you do. I can see your bookshelves behind you. Just start with some good commentaries, a good atlas, a good Bible dictionary and some good different Bibles and some good different Bibles.

Jacqui: 19:31

Thank you, dr Dawson, and thank you, listeners, for joining us for part two of our conversation on Bible genealogies. We've gained some valuable insights into the inclusions of Gentiles into the family of God, of Gentiles into the family of God, how we can make use of genealogies in terms of understanding historical or cultural context, and even some encouragement regarding our approach to Bible study, of observing, interpreting and then application and the use of great extra biblical resources. So in our next episode, we'll conclude our conversation with Dr Dawson by exploring the significance of the genealogy of Jesus as presented in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke For new Bible readers. This will be an especially enriching discussion. For new Bible readers, this will be an especially enriching discussion, so stay tuned and keep your curiosity sparked until next time.

Jacqui: 20:37

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