Genealogy is obviously very important to the Lord. After all, he is our Father and he keeps careful track of each of us, his children. In the kingdom, each individual will know every member of his family line dating back to Adam. The archives of history will reveal some tremendous surprises to each of us regarding our heredity and nothing will be omitted or overlooked.

There is strong evidence throughout the scriptures that in the kingdom, we will each live within the house of our fathers.

The men listed in the early Biblical genealogies represent nations. The wives, although not all listed, represent the respective capital cities of these nations. The sons and daughters born represent the people that populated these nations. These nations were all destroyed in the flood.

Names in the Bible are extremely important. Names themselves give an apt description of the individual mentioned.

I Samuel 25:25

As his name is, so is he.

This stands true throughout the scriptures. Nabal, the man in this story, was mean and churlish. The name Nabal means a dolt, to scatter to and fro, to run off.

Abram means father. God changed Abrams name to Abraham, which means father of a multitude.

The apostle Paul was at first called Saul, meaning demanding. This description was evident during the first part of Sauls life when he demanded that the followers of Christ be brought to prison and killed. But Sauls life was changed and so was his name.

After Saul had seen the light on the road to Damascus, his name was changed to Paul, which means worker. Paul accepted Christ and began as one of His most faithful and loyal servants throughout history. Paul was a special vessel chosen by the Lord to take the message of Christ and His kingdom into all the Gentile nations so that wells of this Living Water would be supplied for Israel during the 1878 year wilderness journey she would soon be taking. This was due to the ministry of Paul, the worker.

The first king of Israel was also named Saul. He, like Saul in the New Testament, was also demanding and ornery. King Saul made every attempt to destroy David, just as Saul in the New Testament at first attempted to destroy the name of Christ.

Both these men, both named Saul, both prophetically represent Jerusalem that will yet again attempt to shut off the name of Christ and make Christianity illegal in Gods chosen city, until Jerusalem, like Paul, will finally see the light and accept Christ herself.

The Hebrew word ore, meaning light, is the English word for raw materials, taken from treasures hidden in the physical earth, before they are drawn out, worked and molded into worthwhile and precious materials.

The word oor, of the same root word derivative, is the Hebrew word for the city of Ur of the Chaldees. The meaning of the name oor indicates a fire of light, a luminousness, a flame in the east. Ur was the birthplace of Abraham.

Names are meaningful. Names are powerful. These names in the Bible open up an entirely new dimension of Gods literal word to us. A definite pattern is clearly visible in studying the names of individuals of the Bible. There is more to these lists of names than what meets the eye.

Within the first four names mentioned in the Bible, the history of the world is summarized:

NAME: HEBREW MEANING:

Adam: Human being of low degree; to show blood

Cain: A lance or spear

Abel: Vanity of man

Seth: Substituted

In summary: Human beings of low degree, are shown blood by his own corruption and also given mercy by the death of Gods Son. The lance, or spear, represents the sword of the truth of God that will ultimately destroy the vanity of man. This vanity will then be substituted in the perfect world by righteousness.

Of course this is merely the tip of the ice-burg in this fascinating study of Genealogy within the pages of Gods word.

Perhaps the next time we read the genealogies of Genesis 5 and Matthew 1, we will be able to see them in a different ore, or a different light, seeing them in a much deeper context than merely names on the page.

Every verse in the Bible, front to back, is filled with glittering treasures such as these just waiting to be discovered.