I asked the question previously, “What do you do with genealogies?” In particular, the really intimidating ones like 1 Chronicles 1-9. Does anyone preach on these? Would anyone dare? Should they dare? I searched an online sermon database, and with the exception of the Prayer of Jabez, 1 Chronicles 1-9 was left untouched. There was one pastor I forgot about who I thought might just be willing to attempt to expound and apply this text. I recently finished a book by Dale Ralph Davis called The Word Became Fresh. It’s a short but worthwhile read on how we should approach, interpret, and apply the Old Testament narrative texts. I highly recommend this book to anyone who struggles through some of the Old Testament history and wonders what they should do with it. This books does a good job of showing you why these texts matter, how to apply them, and how not to apply them. I thought that perhaps he might have something useful to say on 1 Chronicles 1-9, and it turns out that he does.
On Advent Sunday 2004, he preached a sermon on this text entitled, “A whole bunch of dead folks for Christmas,” which I found to be incredibly helpful. If you’re wondering how the genealogies of Chronicles relate to you and what they have to do with Jesus, check out the sermon here: