Day 207

1 Chronicles 1:1-2:17, Romans 9:22-10:4, Psalm 89:14-18

These are the bits that we knew would be difficult, lists and lists of names, and names that are hard to pronounce. Try and stick with it if you can though, it is still the word of God.

There is a lot in a name! We have looked before at the importance of names and the fact that they are a personal thing, telling us of the God who knows us personally. There is more to a name than that though. There is a whole lot of history, quite a bit of politics and a whole load more besides. The middle of chapter 1 tells us that Isaac had two sons, one called Esau and one called Israel.

Isaac named his other son Jacob though, and the name Israel came later, with a conversation with God. The writer of Chronicles is clearly Jewish and clearly wants to state the history of the people of Israel. This is the ultimate family tree, and the writer is trying to tell a story. In the story he wants the people who are listening to know where their heritage lies, and if this is the times of exile, then even when they are out of their homeland, they need to remember who they are and where they came from. It’s all in a name!

There is a lot more in a name too – take the question “are you Jew or Gentile?” Quite a lot rode on that question. We have been here before, and we will be here again, the fact that Jesus was the salvation of both Jew and Gentile. Sometimes we miss the cataclysmic nature of this question, we miss the fact that there was such a huge difference between the two. We live in a multicultural society where, even though skin colour is different, we know that there is no difference inside. This was definitely not true then, the Gentiles were not worth saving. It was a big thing.

We may read over and over that Christ was salvation for Jew and Gentile, what we need to really grasp is how significant this is. Then we can know that Christ is still the salvation of all people and we are called to take the name of Christ to them, that they too may know his love.