2023_03_08 Insight Post- Rusty Coram
This week’s reading- Psalms 105, Hebrews 11, 1 Chronicles 2, Matthew 22
When reading the Old Testament, we run across a lot of names that are not only unfamiliar but uncommon and difficult to pronounce. This is even tougher (on the ego) when reading these names aloud – like we often do for our Monday night Bible Study/Prayer Night! Even though they can seem odd or even unnecessary, here are three reasons these names and the lists of them are extremely important.
- The names show that what we are reading is the real history of real people. Unlike many other religions, Christianity is rooted in true historical events that can be verified. Unlike stories that begin with “Once upon a time…”, in the Bible, we hear “At the time when Abraham and Sarah left Ur…”. We read about the specific order of when people were born, the individual children that followed generationally, and where they lived.
- The names show the integrity of the Bible. The names mentioned include men and women of great faith and courage (see Hebrews 11) and also those who lacked character and were not faithful. For instance, among Jacob’s family, we hear about one of Judah’s sons, Onan, in 1 Chronicles 2:3. Earlier in Genesis, we discovered that his legacy was that he seriously disrespected his family. It would have been easy to have left Onan and several others out of the lineage, but the Bible is honest history, so it includes them all. This leads us to the third reason.
- The names give us hope! It would be understandable if only heroes of the faith and their successes were recorded, but God has a greater purpose. He wants us to be inspired by faithful people who trust but also to see that even they are imperfect and need God’s patience and forgiveness. None of us are immune to the pull of sinful fear, pride, anger, and self-centeredness. Abraham had to learn to trust. Jacob took years to learn humility. David grievously sinned and was restored. Rahab was a prostitute who found God.
Among the many hard-to-pronounce names are real people whose stories offer us the chance to learn about ourselves and about the great Creator God who loves, pursues, and offers us what no one else ever could.
Rusty Coram
Senior Pastor