Preserving unity

Today, I'm remembering a song. It goes something like this:

Father Abraham...had many sons! Many sons had father Abraham! I am one of them, and so are you! So let's just praise the Lord! Right Arm...Left arm...right foot...left foot...spin around...

I hope some of you are doing hand motions right now at home! Or maybe even doing a little dance! Please, don't get upset with me for putting that song in your head for the rest of the day!

It has been mentioned over and over and over again since we started reading 1 Chronicles. The long, long list of names. Father Abraham did indeed have many sons! And it is SO HARD to process all the names. A question I'm asking myself as I start reading these chapters is, "Why?"

Why did God think it was important for this long list of names to be included in the Bible?

I am by no means offering the definitive answer for this. God himself knows. But, we do know a few things that might help shed some light on the subject.

1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles and the book of Ezra following them are all believed traditionally to be written by Ezra. Ezra was a Jewish exile, living in Babylon, and worked as a scribe. He led the second group of Israelites back to Jerusalem from Babylon about 458 B.C. He was sent by the Babylonian king Artaxerxes to Jerusalem to set up a religious education system and return with a report. As a scribe, he would have been well educated on God's law and obviously had a love for it and a desire to see it applied in the people's lives.

It would have been important to Ezra to emphasize certain things to the Jews returning to Jerusalem. He was reaffirming their spiritual foundation as a nation. The Jews had been in Babylon for about 80 years before returning to Jerusalem. And we know that the state of Jerusalem when they left was not good. It was essentially in ruins. Many of them may have wondered why they were even returning! Or, once they got there the daunting task of rebuilding would have been very disheartening. Moreover, the group of Jews that had returned ahead of them had already started marrying and adopting the customs of the nations that had moved into the area while they were away. It was probably obvious to Ezra that they were quickly heading down the same path they had been down before. What's the old saying? "History repeats itself." Unless we try and learn from the mistakes of those who went before us.

By recounting this genealogy for the Jewish people, Ezra was laying the ground work for the nation to rebuild the way God wanted them too. He was also reminding them that they, as a nation, had a shared heritage. They were one family in Adam, and Abraham...as well as one nation, one priesthood under Levi and one kingdom under David. He wanted to remind them of their unity. Our pastor made a profound statement at the leadership meeting we had at the beginning of this month:

Unity isn't something you create, it's something you preserve.

I just love precise packaging in statements! In that one small sentence so many points are made. In attempting to create unity, the picture is painted of taking people standing on opposite sides of the fence and trying to force them to find or create some common ground. We're searching for similarities among the blinding differences. In preserving unity, you start from the perspective that we all begin on the same side, but may walk different paths while we're there. We start from the similar and use the differences to work together for everyone's good and a common goal.

After Solomon's reign, the nation fractured into two different kingdoms. More than that, tribal loyalties were probably fierce. I can imagine that while in exile, much of that would have gone to extremes. Under the stress of battle and exile, "protect your own" may have become the mantra. Ezra wanted to remind them that they all started from the same place, with the same goal of serving God, and that they needed to preserve and honor that unity.

Imagine that this list of names included your great-grandfather, uncle, or second cousin twice removed. Someone who you had heard stories about growing up or perhaps even had been handed down something of theirs. Imagine meeting for the first time someone who also counted that same person in their family tree. Wouldn't you immediately have a bond with that person? A shared common ground? Maybe a laugh over some silly story? That's unity. And it's part of what Ezra was trying to remind the people of by listing their national family tree.

If you have accepted Christ as your savior, then it's your family tree too. As believers, the heritage God set in motion with the Israelites is now ours. We rejoice because the God who saved them, gave them an inheritance and revealed his power, majesty and glory to and through them as a nation also does the same for us. Their story is our story. WE as believers have some unity to celebrate, preserve, and a common goal to work for. So...sing with me now!

Father Abraham, had many sons!

Many sons had father Abraham!

I am one of them, and so are you!

So let's just praise the Lord....