Why the “Begats”?

Bill Brinkworth

Many, when they start reading the Bible, soon encounter the “begats” and “begets.” Sometimes it is not long until the reader is bored with them, skips them, and many times may even stop reading God’s Word completely.

Although rarely used today, the old Saxon words for “procreate” or “producing offspring” have important purposes in the Bible. Casual reading will overlook the importance of the genealogies they list. When skipped, the reader will miss information that ties some of the Bible together, and will give him the knowledge that is needed to understand other passages.
Some of the reasons the genealogies were preserved for our reading include:

They show the history of man. Those that disbelieve that God created man have only their unproven theories of whom they came from. Their guesses and suppositions are always proving erroneous and are changing all the time.

God, however, made much of our history very precise and easy for us that believe what He has preserved for us in His Word. It tells us who are ancestors are. There is no guessing. It is in black and white. Much human researching, including sciences and archaeology, has proven what is in God’s Word, including the contents of the genealogies.

They informed the Jews of who their ancestors were. This was not only to know their roots; it was important to find out if they were of the Jewish tribe of Levi. If they could trace their ancestry to this tribe, they then would qualify to serve God in the tabernacle or temple worship.
Many of the bloodlines prove God’s promises.

God promised Abraham, about 1872 years B. C., that all the nations of the Earth would be blessed by his offspring. Matthew 1:1 states that prophecy was fulfilled, as Christ’s lineage can be traced to Abraham, and much of the remaining chapter details the ancestry (Mat. 1:1-16). Abraham’s distant relative did bless the world.
“The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”
Mat. 1:1

Matthew1:1's reminder that the Messiah would come from the lineage of King David was also expounded in Mat. 1:6-16. This lineage also verifies the prophecy in Jer. 23:5-6, which was given about 590 B. C.

Many of the lineages proved God’s promise that the Christ would come, and that God even knew who His ancestors were; and in Old Testament cases, who His ancestors would be before He was even born. These fulfillments and previously written knowledge also make it clear that the Bible is not just a book. It is God’s preserved Word.

The lineages also give credibility to the Bible’s accuracy, when they name a person’s ancestors (as in Luke 2:4).

“And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David :)” Luke 2:4

Another purpose of the lineages, which sometimes includes an accomplishment of a person, is that they tell who invented things, who built cities, and other historical facts. This can be seen in many passages including Genesis 4:20 where it tells us that Jabal was the first that dwelt in tents. Gen. 4:21 records that Jubal was the first to play the harp and organ, and Gen. 10:9-10 records that Nimrod built Babel. Many “insignificant” genealogies tell us much of our past and origins.
Another modern purpose of the lineages is to squelch many theories of how we got here, and how man developed. Instead of guesses on early man’s origins, the Bible gives clear specifics on who they were, where they lived, and what they did. For example, man’s Theory of Evolution will reveal many of its fables when compared to God’s recorded, repeatedly proven-true history of man and His future promises.

All words in the Bible are for a purpose. There are no mistakes or errors in it. What may seem “insignificant” when reading, may one day be an important part of the puzzle needed when studying God’s word in depth. Do not skip genalogies. Slow down while reading them; and one day after reading the whole Word of God, you may see why God made sure they were preserved for us.

“If everybody could understand everything the Bible said it wouldn't be God's book. If Christians and theologians have studied it for forty, fifty, and sixty years, and then only began to understand it, how could a man expect to understand it by one reading?”