Maachah, Caleb’s concubine, bare Sheber, and Tirhanah.
1 Chronicles 2:48 belongs to the long, hard-to-read lists of names in the opening chapters of 1 Chronicles, specifically the carefully preserved genealogy of Judah, the sons of Judah, comparable to the lists of the sons of Levi. After the exile such records were needed to establish hereditary rights to land and hereditary duties in temple service. Genealogical records were among the detailed records God directed His people to keep, and they point to the faithful record of every soul kept in heaven. Judah's genealogy mattered because Jesus came from the tribe of Judah and the family of David, while Levi's genealogy mattered because the Aaronic priesthood continued until it was superseded by Christ's priesthood.
The verse illustrates that Scripture includes material readers may find difficult to understand or see the value of. The genealogies record the origin and distribution of races and provide material for scholarly study, while spiritual truths are scattered through them.
The verse names obscure people and unknown families about whom nothing is known except that they lived their lives and passed away, forgotten by people thousands of years ago; like others in the list, some were prosperous and some were failures. God did not forget them but knows and remembers every such person by name, keeping each one in remembrance by name even thousands of years after people forgot them. Because God does not change, His keeping of these names gives comfort to downhearted and forgotten people today that their own names are also kept safe and sure in God's lists.
1 Chronicles 2:48 belongs to the long, hard-to-read lists of names in the opening chapters of 1 Chronicles, specifically the carefully preserved genealogy of Judah, the sons of Judah, comparable to the lists of the sons of Levi. After the exile such records were needed to establish hereditary rights to land and hereditary duties in temple service. Genealogical records were among the detailed records God directed His people to keep, and they point to the faithful record of every soul kept in heaven. Judah's genealogy mattered because Jesus came from the tribe of Judah and the family of David, while Levi's genealogy mattered because the Aaronic priesthood continued until it was superseded by Christ's priesthood.
The verse illustrates that Scripture includes material readers may find difficult to understand or see the value of. The genealogies record the origin and distribution of races and provide material for scholarly study, while spiritual truths are scattered through them.
The verse names obscure people and unknown families about whom nothing is known except that they lived their lives and passed away, forgotten by people thousands of years ago; like others in the list, some were prosperous and some were failures. God did not forget them but knows and remembers every such person by name, keeping each one in remembrance by name even thousands of years after people forgot them. Because God does not change, His keeping of these names gives comfort to downhearted and forgotten people today that their own names are also kept safe and sure in God's lists.