Cemeteries are oddly enough great placed to explore history. They can have little snippets that give you a picture of the time.
A few years ago we were driving through Fort Wallace, Kansas and stopped at the cemetery. While some of the gravestones have been removed, they replaced them with what was said on them. Interestingly the gravestones recorded how they died–“Scaled by Indians,” “Shot by 2nd Wagonmaster,” “Died of Cholera,” “Accidentally run over by wagon.” It was uniquely fascinating to get a snapshot into life of this time.
We see the same thing in the genealogies. We get a long list of names and then sometimes a little snapshot into something that happened:
“Cari’s son: Achar, who brought trouble on Israel when he was unfaithful by taking the things set apart for destruction” (1 Chr 2:7)
“After this, Hezron slept with the daughter of Machi the father of Gilead. Hezron had married her when he was 60 years old, and she bore Segub to him. Segub fathered Jair, who possessed 23 towns in the land of Gilead. But Geshur and Aram captured Jair’s Villages along with Kenath and its villages–60 towns. All these were the sons of Machir father of Gilead” (1 Chr 2:21-23).
“Jerahmeel had another wife named Atarah, who was the mother of Onam” (1 Chr 2:26)
“Seled died without children” (1 Chr 2:31)
“Jether died without children” (1 Chr 2:32)
“Sheshan had no sons, only daughters, but he did have an Egyptian servant whose name was Jarha. Sheshan gave his daughter in marriage to his servant Jarha, and she bore Attai to him” (1 Chr 2:34-35).
“Caleb’s concubine Ephah was the mother of Haran, Moza and Zazez” (1 Chr 2:46)
“Caleb’s concubine Maacah was the mother of Sheber and Tirhanah” (1 Chr 2:48)
“The Zorathites and Esthaolites descended from these” (1 Chr 2:53)
“and the families of scribes who lived in Jabez” (1 Chr 2:55)
There’s obvious more in the genealogy about the peoples of the land and how they came to be. But from these little snippets we can learn a number of things:
- Concubines were in practice
- It was important for men to find husbands for their daughters
- It was not a small thing to not have children
- Polygamy was practiced
- Taking of unfaithful things brought judgment on Israel
- There were whole families of scribes who lived in the town of Jabez
Are there any great spiritual truths to glean from these? Not but there is great history. Again it’s like we get a small window into the times. And furthermore we know the roots of some of the tribes and nations. For some cultures that doesn’t matter much, but for others it is everything.
(Photo Credit: Jim Petykowski)
