“This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:” Matthew 1:1. Sometimes we get bored reading the genealogies found in the Bible. Reading who begat who seems like a waste of time at first glance, but God always has a reason for what He does. God has a reason for recording these family trees in the Bible. In the case of Christ’s birth, there was prophecy concerning the generations leading up to His birth, but in other places of the Bible, the names add up to a message. When I was younger, Mom used a dictionary that translated Biblical names. I think she used the Strong’s but I could be wrong. She translated from Adam to Noah, she wrote down all of the definitions for the names, because in the Bible, names have meanings behind them.
Adam- Man
Seth- Appointed
Enos- Mortal
Cainan- Sorrow
Mahaleel- Blessed God
Jared- Shall come down
Enoch- Teaching
Methuselah- His Death Brings
Lamech- Despairing
Noah- Rest
Now, look what happens when you connect the meanings of these names, “Man is appointed mortal sorrow, but the Blessed God shall come down, teaching that His Death brings the despairing rest.” God sometimes hides things in His Word, it talks about this in Proverbs, and that it is the joy of a king to discover these hidden treasures. These genealogies are more than what meets the eye, they pertain to prophecies, and even to messages. God gave a description of the gospel in the names of these ten men. This is why we need to pay attention to the genealogies, God would not include a worthless detail in His Word. God gave us something very special, so next time, when you are trying to go through who begat who, just remember, God wants to teach you from that just as much as He does from the other parts of His Word. God Bless!