It grates against me to skip the names. It goes against my understanding of the way God's word works, and it's just bad practice. But I know why I don't skip these lists, but I'm not sure I know why I do read them. Oftentimes, there are incidental descriptions of people, or throwbacks to significant Jewish leaders or to God's promises to individuals, and the roles of the people (e.g. Priests, singers) within the nation are also important. But why don't I just skim-read the names and read the interesting bits?
My gut says as I read these names I should be feeling gratitude at the faithfulness of God in restoring this remnant to the city as promised. But I get that from the story of Nehemiah, not the roll call. Do these names simply serve as incidental background material to demonstrate this remnant has returned, and that God is faithful?
I've read all the lists...
ReplyDeleteI actually found some of the lists in Chronicles interesting, you see connections spring up from time to time, and when you see incidental details matching, it gives credence to the reporting.
My grandparents were missionaries in PNG and they said that it was the genaeologies in the NT that convinced them Jesus was who he said he was. Bizarre to us, salvation to them.
Maybe those bits weren't put in specifically for you.
As for if it's OK to skim... no idea, sorry.
I know what you're saying, I wonder about this too. John Piper wrote an interesting article about this, but annoyingly I can't seem to find it.
ReplyDeleteOne idea though, is maybe at the very least it's an excercise in self-discipline. We want the Bible to apply instantly and specifically to me, me, me, now, now, now. I guess you could think of it as just 'okay God, you have said all your word is good, so I will read this regardless, please make it beneficial'
Then it's more about obedience than legalism.
Another thought is one that my Dad put in my head - that there are lists of peoples names in the bible because God cares about them.
ReplyDeleteEach one of the people in these long, mainly useless lists (they do have an important use in connecting things) mattered to God in the same way that each of us matters to God. The lists can therefore be a great way of reminding us that while there is a metanarrative to the bible, it is also about (the little) people, for whom God sent his son to die. A reminder to us that we also matter to God.
Just some thoughts...
Thank you for your encouragement, gentlemen.
ReplyDeleteYou have each made compelling arguments to not skim read. For the purposes of historical credibility, the inspiration of Scripture, and the temptation to approach the Bible selfishly, I shall read on.
Tomorrow we start Ephesians, and no doubt a skim read will not suffice there.