1 Chronicles 2:1-8 (NRSV)
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Chapter 2These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Verse 2Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. Verse 3The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah; these three the Canaanite woman Bath-shua bore to him. Now Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death. Verse 4His daughter-in-law Tamar also bore him Perez and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all. Verse 5The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul. Verse 6The sons of Zerah: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara, five in all. Verse 7The sons of Carmi: Achar, the troubler of Israel, who transgressed in the matter of the devoted thing; Verse 8and Ethan's son was Azariah.
Devotion
Except for the first two verses listing the 12 sons of Jacob, these names mean very little to us. We who believe that somehow the hand of the Holy Spirit is behind these sacred writings have pages of people we don’t know and can’t imagine why they got in there. Yet, it means everything to those people that their names are written in the book of life – they are listed among the people of God.
We live in a very large, overwhelming, confusing and anonymous world. Three hundred years from now no one will remember who we were. What matters most is that the God of the entire Universe knows our names, each one!! Each one of us is loved by God and God came to be part of this world to be known by us, not just once 2,000 years ago, but still.