1 Chronicles 4:1-23 - Golden Path of our Salvation

1 Chronicles 4:1-23

The Family of Judah

1 The sons of Judah were Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal. 2 And Reaiah the son of Shobal begot Jahath, and Jahath begot Ahumai and Lahad. These were the families of the Zorathites. 3 These were the sons of the father of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash; and the name of their sister was Hazelelponi; 4 and Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer was the father of Hushah.

These were the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah the father of Bethlehem.

5 And Ashhur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah. 6 Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni, and Haahashtari. These were the sons of Naarah. 7 The sons of Helah were Zereth, Zohar, and Ethnan; 8 and Koz begot Anub, Zobebah, and the families of Aharhel the son of Harum.

9 Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” 10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.

11 Chelub the brother of Shuhah begot Mehir, who was the father of Eshton. 12 And Eshton begot Beth-Rapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah the father of Ir-Nahash. These were the men of Rechah.

13 The sons of Kenaz were Othniel and Seraiah. The sons of Othniel were Hathath, 14 and Meonothai who begot Ophrah. Seraiah begot Joab the father of Ge Harashim, for they were craftsmen. 15 The sons of Caleb the son of Jephunneh were Iru, Elah, and Naam. The son of Elah was Kenaz. 16 The sons of Jehallelel were Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel. 17 The sons of Ezrah were Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. And Mered’s wife bore Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa. 18 (His wife Jehudijah bore Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Sochoh, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah.) And these were the sons of Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered took.

19 The sons of Hodiah’s wife, the sister of Naham, were the fathers of Keilah the Garmite and of Eshtemoa the Maachathite. 20 And the sons of Shimon were Amnon, Rinnah, Ben-Hanan, and Tilon. And the sons of Ishi were Zoheth and Ben-Zoheth.

21 The sons of Shelah the son of Judah were Er the father of Lecah, Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the families of the house of the linen workers of the house of Ashbea; 22 also Jokim, the men of Chozeba, and Joash; Saraph, who ruled in Moab, and Jashubi-Lehem. Now the records are ancient. 23 These were the potters and those who dwell at Netaim and Gederah; there they dwelt with the king for his work.

The lineage of Judah is specially followed here after the previous trail from king David towards the Messiah Jesus to come through the line of David according to the faith of Abraham before him promised in the beginning in Genesis 3:15 to defeat sin’s penalty at the source by the heart made new.  Jesus's lineage is therefore traced back to Jacob's fourth son Judah and David was the descendant of Judah that earned Him the title, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.”  This completes the generations leading to Jesus Christ whose descendant founded Bethlehem where both king David and Jesus Christ were born.  Along the way, a man named Jabez who was born in his mother’s pain asked for blessings to keep him from evil and not cause anyone else pain as he did to his mother.  God answered him.  This is now used out of cont as a rote prayer for demanding blessing and prosperity, which misses the point of a sincere heart seeking to do good to others (Matthew 7:12, Romans 13:8, 10, Galatians 5:14, 6:10) and not hurt them.  It is not a formula to gain blessings of health and wealth for ourselves, but to do to others as we would like them to do to us.  The golden rule, if you will.  That is on the way to our deliverance by the Messiah, the Seed of David, foundation of the faith of Abraham, and the Lion of Judah who fights for our souls, the one who laid down His life for us to do no harm and bless us as He did for Jabez.  What a plan of salvation channeled down through history to us and written down for our wonder and awe, a golden path of deliverance (Romans 8:28-29, 30), designed and executed by the Lord of Himself for us!