Bet you’ve not heard the following statements from your Christian friends: “I was having my devotions in 1 Chronicles this morning and am so blessed by the twelve hundred plus names listed in the first nine chapters.” “Our pastor has been preaching a series on Joshua and those names of defeated kings, cities, and territories have really helped my growth in grace. In fact, I have the four hundred place names on sticky-notes on my mirror to help navigate difficult times.”
People, places, and things, and in sometimes very longs lists, appear in the Scriptures. Genesis tells us about the nations that rise up from the loins of Adam, as well as those from Noah post-flood. Chronicles really does list names for nine chapters. Two of the Gospels have the 42-generation family tree of Jesus Christ. I was the Sunday evening preacher at a church several years back and had a sermon series on Ezra, Nehemiah, and Haggai, Bible books that tell of the return of a remnant of God’s people from Babylon to Judah and Jerusalem. Ezra has some lists of people, places, and things – 5,400 pots and pans from the temple, for example. We may be tempted to write these off as filler or useless. Many churches may not hear from these rich sections the Bible. I’ve found them to be full of spiritual nuggets.
These lists in the Scriptures are no mistake; they weren’t snuck in as a prank. The usefulness of the Bible is spelled out by the Apostle Paul (1 Timothy 3) – “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
In the return from exile, lists show that God keeps his promises by preserving his people, their possessions, and ensuring they have provisions for life and worship back in the Promised Land. Genealogies in Genesis show us the difference between a line of people who fear God and those who serve self and idols. Father Abraham and his promised offspring are woven through the fabric of the story of redemption, finding a promise made and kept in the birth of the Savior. Psalm 87, a church psalm, tells us of a list of members of God’s family. It mentions not only Israel, but surrounding Gentiles (like Ruth or Rahab) who put their faith in Abraham’s God. Revelation mentions several times a book of life and in it are names as Adam, Abraham, Noah, David, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. I suppose you’d also find Peter, Paul, and assorted saints down through history.
I hope you won’t find Bible lists of people, places, and things to be boring. I really pray that by faith in Christ, your name is on God’s list – the roll of redeemed saints. As we sing in the church, “When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.”