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Why was genealogy so important to the Jews? We see this many times in Scripture and often it’s hard to make it through the list because we don’t know or understand the history. To them it was all about their claim to God. Their lineage as a Jew meant that they were a part of the chosen nation of God and that gave them a claim to declare, “We are His children.” If you were not able to prove it, well, you were outcast until you could. Just look at the verses here in 61-63…
The following priestly clans could find no record to prove their ancestry: Habaiah, Hakkoz, and Barzillai. (The ancestor of the priestly clan of Barzillai had married a woman from the clan of Barzillai of Gilead and had taken the name of his father-in-law’s clan.) Since they were unable to prove who their ancestors were, they were not accepted as priests. 62 (SEE 2:61) 63 The Jewish governor told them that they could not eat the food offered to God until there was a priest who could use the Urim and Thummim.
Ezra 2:61-63 GNB
It appears as if these men married and took the name of their wives. This could have been because she came from a wealthy family and they wanted the inheritance, but most likely, it was a status move as Barzillai was described as a “great man” in Samuel who had associations with King David.
These men were not automatically disqualified from the priesthood, but their identity became questionable because their origin had been severed. We don’t understand it today, but that’s how important genealogy was to the Jews. The changing of your last name pronounced you “unclean” from the priesthood. They would have to wait for Urim and Thummin to vouch for them and their Israelite heritage. Most scholars believe that the Urim and Thummin were a set of two objects used by the high priest to answer a question or reveal the will of God.
In the same way that the Jews valued what identified them with God, we must do the same. We have a new identity that is found in Christ, and our status as heirs is sealed by the Holy Spirit. In the same way the Jews obsessed over their genealogy, we must obsess over our right to be sons and daughters of God.
How does that work?
When you exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, you work out your faith and your claim to God’s kingdom. I don’t mean “work out” in the sense of earning anything. I mean it in the same way James does when he writes in Chapter 1.
But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
James 1:22 NASB
If we take seriously our calling to be God’s children, we will exhibit His gifts that manifest in our lives through the Holy Spirit. What’s important to God will become important to us as we let His love and His Word lead our lives.