“Adam, Seth, Enosh…”  (ESV)

The first Bible reading plan I ever went through was three years long.  It had you read basically one chapter a day.  The major exception was when you started into 1 Chronicles.  They had you read the first nine chapters all at once.  I remember doing a double take when I saw it.  Then I started reading and did exactly what they figured I would do, justifying their decision to group all nine chapters together.  I skimmed.  Quickly.  Because it was boring.  

The beginning of 1 Chronicles is a list of the genealogies of Israel.  It is name after name after name after name with a few story details punctuating the tedium.  Right was the longtime Dallas Theological Seminary preaching professor, Howard Hendricks, when he said that all Scripture is equally inspired, but it is not equally helpful.

All that is to say: If your eyes cross a bit over the next couple of days reading, I understand.  Keep this in mind, though: For Israel, these weren’t just random, hard-to-pronounce names.  These were their ancestors.  These were their forebears.  They probably knew stories about these folks that we never will; fun and exciting stories that made the reading a lot more exciting.  These were the heads of whole clans and nations they knew of an interacted with on a regular basis.  This was the story of who they were as a people.  As popular as sites like Ancestry.com are today, perhaps was can understand why they included these chapters in the record.  Perhaps we can even read a little more closely to learn who they were.  Who knows, there may even be a story or two hiding in there along the way that makes the effort worthwhile.