Sabbath: Trials, Tribulations, and Lists
Image © Pacific Press
Read for This Week’s Study: Ezra 1:9-11; Dan. 1:1-2; Dan. 5:1-30; Deut. 30:1-6; Ezra 8:1-23; Neh. 11:1-2; Neh. 12:1-26.
Memory Text: “These joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes” (Nehemiah 10:29, NKJV).
We usually skip genealogies and long lists of items in the Bible. But the Lord has them included there for a reason. The biblical Lord is the God of details. He notices the particulars, and this assures us that we are never forgotten by Him.
These few examples of genealogies proclaim that God knows all about our families, and the lists of things tell us that God cares even for what others might deem “insignificant”. Jesus stated that God takes care of sparrows and even counts our hairs: “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6, 7, NIV). The God who cares about these details cares about us as well, and He knows even the details of all the things that trouble us.
Thus, we can have full confidence, cultivate trust, and rest in assurance that the Lord cares about every area of our lives. While that’s comforting, as it should be, it should also tell us that we need to care about every area, as well.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, November 30.
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Nowadays it has become quite popular to do ancestral studies. There are folk in my family who have traced our family ancestry back 14 generations, and in fact, I have legal family documents from the 1770s. One of the interesting things is that my Christian name, Maurice, turns up quite a few times. I knew that I had inherited the name from my grandfather, but when I looked at my genealogy, there is was, in both spellings going back about 300 years. The interesting thing about our family is that frizzy hair turns up quite frequently in the family and I have speculated that my name, which means, "of Moorish descent" possibly had real meaning somewhere way back in the family history.
The bible has quite a few genealogies and most of us find them pretty boring. I read the Bible through as a teenager and can remember complaining about reading 1 Chronicles where there are about 10 chapters that are primarily just lists of names. I used to do my Bible reading before going to bed and I was guilty of going to sleep before I finished reading the assigned chapters on those nights.
Why were these boring bits put in the Bible? Well, we have to remember that while the Bible is Holy Scripture to us, it is also a history book and a history book gives the detail that is often minute but important to some folk. My father had the history book for his army unit, the 22nd Field Ambulance NZMC. In it, there are lists of where the unit went and what they did. Much of it is pretty boring stuff. Right in the middle of the book, there is one sentence that is meaningful to me It says that Stan Ashton was the brains behind the building of the field hospitals. My dad, Private First Class Stan Ashton, has a one-sentence note in the history of World War II and that is important to me.
So when I read the lists of names in Nehemiah and Chronicles, I am reminded that ordinary people got their mention in a history book that later became our Bible. Perhaps we need the reminder that our God is the God of the ordinary person too.
When I read the genealogy of Jesus in the book of Matthew and Luke, I know God had kept His promise to Abraham.
Name carried a heritage of who we were and the people we are today.
In the book of Nehemiah this was very important because the identity of the people have been eroding away due to captivity.
Nehemiah chapter 10 begins with the governor, levites, leaders of the people, and the rest of the people.
Mentioning people and their role gives structure to God's people.
The name Seventh Day Adventist Church stands for the recognition of a people who would honor the Sabbath and wait upon the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What is in a name?
Identity: genealogies tell us where we come from and where we are going, they give us roots and an identity. They show we belong to a family.
Most importantly it reminds us that we belong to the LORD's family, He created us for His pleasure Rev 4:11 and He has prepared a place for us to live with Him forever in peace and harmony Rev 21:1-4
To God be the glory for the things he has done and is doing for his children.
Thank you for sharing.
Amen to God be glory for sharing with us the genealogy so that we could understand His mercy love and protection through ages
Memory Text: “These joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes” (Nehemiah 10:29, NKJV).
During Sabbath School, this text caught my attention because it reminded me of the oath that the children of Israel made at Sinai, "All that the LORD has said, we will do!" (Exodus 19:8.) This oath was followed days later by worship of the golden calf. (Exodus 32.) It seems to me that the oaths and curses (and even blessings) pronounced by man are like ropes of sand, that is, they cannot be a reliable foundation of action.
Instead, the foundation of the Lord’s covenant with us must be to trust in his love for us. As Moses said, “Listen, Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You are to love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5-6. ISV.) This kind of love can only come from the Lord and it alone is the foundation of true obedience to the will of God.