The Ordinary People of Exodus: Unveiling the Genealogy of Faith - Saved for the Glory of God | Studies in the book of Exodus

I think there's something within each of us that we all like

to know where we've come from.

And this is a theme that over the past number of years, we've thought

of before at different times in different ways, depending on what

passages have been before us.

We take pride in the heritage that we've been brought up in and

we have a strong connection and to the place that we call home.

Each of our upbringings define us.

I had a scary moment a few weeks ago because I was asked to

be the guest of honour at my old high school prize giving up in

Newton Hamilton.

And as I was there on the stage shaking hands, names were called

out and I was handing over the certificates.

As I saw the young people walking up to me, I thought, oh,

you look very familiar.

And then I heard their names and all of a sudden it became very

familiar because indeed their parents had gone to school with me.

And so I suddenly realized that the people down in front of

me knew a lot more about me than I would like them to have known.

And so we know what defines us and we know our family tree.

We perhaps have features that have been passed on from one generation

to the next.

And maybe someone will tell you, oh, you look like your grandfather.

And that was said to me one time, oh, you look so like your grandfather

who had died when I was nine months old.

But I was adopted, so he wasn't even my grandfather by blood.

So baffled me.

But there you go, we start to look like people.

It's not just about looks.

We pick up their habits, the way they do things.

Whether we like it or not, we are more shaped by our parents and

our grandparents than we like to think.

And maybe what's worse to think about, we influence our children

and they too pick up our habits and our cultures of what we

have.

You see, our upbringings truly do define us.

We simply don't look like our parents.

We talk like them.

We have their habits, we have their facial expressions.

And even if there's no resemblance in the features of our

parents, we will inevitably pick up their influence in other

ways.

And all that becomes part of who we are now.

And of course, no one stays the same forever because as we go

through life, there are other influences on our lives that will

change us and we will adapt to the new circumstances and, and to

the new situation.

So even though we may look at a family tree, knowing where we've

come from and perhaps knowing who's coming after us, it's all of

this that defines who we are today.

And today we come to a genealogy in Exodus that would be

very easy for us to skip over.

Let's face it, there's a lot of names there.

And maybe on first reading, you don't get the sequence of those

names, and you don't feel the pressure of having to read those

names.

But you know, they're here for a reason.

God doesn't put things in His Word just for the sake of it.

There is meaning.

And we may never have heard of any of these people before, maybe

never have come across them anywhere else in Scripture.

But this genealogy, just like all the genealogies of Scripture,

are important because genealogies tell us that that were

dealing with real people in real situations.

These were sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, grandparents

and great grandparents.

And these genealogies are also honest, because not everyone listed

here in Exodus 6 is perfect.

All you have to do is jump to the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew

1 that we will inevitably read over this Advent season to understand

that that when you read Christ's own family, you know that

they're downright scoundrels.

And so as we turn to Exodus 6, we see that the Israelites were simply

ordinary men and women.

We see this from their names, many of which tell us something about

their personal traits.

Palu's parents must have been demanding because his name means

extraordinary.

Korah means baldy, and we can conclude that he was hairless when

he came out of his mother's womb.

Nepheg means clumsy, which is not very flattering.

But then it's a simple fact that there are people in the world

who are just not as well coordinated as others.

And the Israelites, you see, were ordinary people with ordinary

names.

And even if we didn't know anything else about them, we would

know at the very outset that they're very much like us.

They were men and women created in the image of God.

They were fallen sinners in desperate need of God's grace.

And like us, they were included in God's saving plan.

Whether we know who they are is not merely as important as whether

God knows who they are.

Carmi, Jachin and Zikri and Putiel and all the rest of them prove

the biblical promise that the Lord knows those who are his, as

second Timothy chapter two and verse 19 tells us.

So why do we have a list of names, many of whom we've never heard

before?

Why is it here now at this particular point in Exodus?

Well, chapters one to five have been focusing very much on Moses.

We had a genealogy of Moses at the start of the book.

And we've learned of his birth, his upbringing in the palace

of Pharaoh, and we've learned about his departure from Egypt and

his self imposed exile in Midian.

We've witnessed his call at the burning bush to go back to the

land of his birth, to rescue God's people.

But we've also seen that he's a reluctant servant of the Lord.

He's reluctant to do all of these things that God is asking him.

And so Aaron then comes into the picture as the one who will speak

the words to Moses by God.

And so what we now have in the second half of chapter six is a transition.

A transition now happens as Aaron takes a more public role in

this great rescue of God's people.

So as we've learned the family line of Moses, we now have to learn

it for Aaron.

And it's an important one because this is not just about where

he has come from, but it's also telling us the line of Levitical

priests for the generations to come and after him.

So what we're beginning to see is the structure of worship and who

will lead that structure of God's people in the years to come.

And so the first thing we see in verse 14 is that the family of

Aaron is presented to us by the heads of the families.

These are the heads of their families.

And we're just taking this example.

In verse 14, the sons of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel,

were Hanoch and, and Palu, Hezron and Carmi.

These were the clans of Reuben.

And if you take a quick glance down at verses 15 and 16, you'll

see that Reuben isn't the only son of Jacob that's mentioned here.

We also see the head of the families of Simeon and Levi.

Now, Exodus began with a complete list of Jacob's sons and

the tribes of Israel.

But here in chapter six, we only get the three founding fathers

mentioned.

And off these three, then Levi gets the most attention, but the

particular focus, and that's for a very clear reason.

Reuben and Simeon are given one verse each, but there are ten

verses for the sons and the grandsons of Levi.

So it appears that Reuben and Simeon are only mentioned here to

indicate Levi's place in the family as Jacob's third eldest son.

Well, Levi had three sons, Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

Now the genealogy lists each of these men together with the names

of their sons in verses 16 through to 19.

But special attention is given to the line of Kohath.

So do you see what's happening here?

A broader picture narrowing down to get to what we really need

to know.

And not only does the genealogy mention his sons, Amram,

Izhar, Hebron and Uziel, but it proceeds to list their sons as

well.

So in other words, out of all the great grandsons of Levi, the

genealogy is only interested in the grandsons of Kohath.

And I hope by now the reason for this is obvious.

The genealogy is mainly about Aaron, and it is Aaron who stands

at its center in verse 20, because from him he will be the first

to lead God's people in community worship.

So the first half of the genealogy traces Aaron's ancestry

from Levi through Kohath to Amram, and the second half lists

Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, ending the with

the birth of his grandson Phinehas.

Now, there are two women mentioned in this genealogy, and

they are Jochebed and Elisheba, Aaron's mother and his

wife.

And the mention of Jochebed is here, so that it links Moses and

Aaron as brothers.

And the name of Aaron's wife allows for the confirmation of legitimate

children and thereby legitimate grandchildren within this

community of God.

So what appears to be just a list of names is actually a well

organized structure for us so that we can know who Aaron is.

And more importantly, as the children of Israel gather around

to worship God, they will know that it is Aaron's family who will

lead them.

And Aaron's importance is confirmed by the introduction and

the conclusion that really bookend the genealogy.

And we'll look at verse 13 first of all that says, now the Lord

spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh, King

of Egypt, and he commanded them, not Moses, but them, to bring

the Israelites out of Egypt.

So here we have the story of who we are.

So the conclusion that we have at the end of this chapter is similar

in verses 26 and 27.

There we're told again that it is Aaron and Moses whom the Lord

spoke to and said that you will go to the king of Egypt and

you will bring my people out.

So this family of Aaron and Moses is key to the story of Israel,

reminding them of God's overarching plan to rescue them from

their bondage to Pharaoh.

But it also points them to the leaders of their communal life.

Together Moses will look after how they are to be organized as a

people of God, and Aaron will lead them in how they are to worship.

And so this list has the good and the not so good in it, but each

one plays a part in the development of God's people, even

long after they leave Egypt.

So we have three Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

Levi's sons teach us the meaning of faithful service of God.

After the Israelites will come out of Egypt, God will give detailed

instructions for building a large portable tent for worship.

We know it as the tabernacle.

And the tribe that he put in charge of it was the tribe of Levi.

And out of all of the tribes of Israel, the Levites were to be

set apart for God's holy service.

And so each of Levi's sons had specific duties in the tabernacle,

duties that they were to later share with their ancestors and descendants.

So the first of Levi's sons, Gershon, the Gershonites were in

charge of the curtains.

That's what we read in numbers 3.

At the tent of meeting, the Gershonites were responsible for

the care of the tabernacle and tent its coverings, the curtain at

the entrance of the tent of meeting, the curtains of the courtyard,

the curtain at the entrance of the courtyard surrounding the tabernacle

and altar, and the ropes and everything related to their use.

So here were people of the Gershonites who knew how to weave

fabric and stitch it together so that the tabernacle would keep

out rain and also would be protected from the glaring sun.

So that's the Gershonites.

The Kohathites were the interior designers.

God put them in charge of the furnishings and the utensils inside

the tabernacle.

Again, in numbers three, they were responsible for the care of

the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the articles

of the sanctuary used in ministering, the curtain, and everything

related for their use.

So the skills of these people is seen in what they can craft by

way of furniture for all of the ceremonies that would lead the

children in Israel in worship of God.

So this was a significant part to play, and so the Kohathites were

responsible for it.

Well, the sons of Merari were the structural engineers.

They did the heavy lifting.

Again, Numbers three tells us that the Merarites were appointed

to take care of the frames of the tabernacle, its crossbars, posts,

bases, all its equipment, and everything related to their use,

as well as the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their

bases, tent pegs, and ropes.

And so each family, led by God, had their own clearly defined

duties in the tabernacle.

And these tasks may sound mundane, but they were all essential

for the worship of God.

And so the Levites held a position of great honor in Israel.

And as one of the Kohathites would write in Psalm 84, verse 10,

Psalms 84:10

Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell

in the tents of the wicked.

These weren't simply people that a trade was handed down from

one generation to the next.

These were people who were committed to their service of God

because they would rather be in his place, in his dwelling, rather

than with the wicked.

And so Aaron's family treasured its rich legacy of glorifying

God through practical service.

They understood the significance of what they did and

how it was to be done so that the whole community of God would

benefit from their work.

But this is not a perfect family.

Just before we start to think, well, it's all right for them.

There are names here of people who caused trouble, the troublemakers.

Aaron had some relatives to be proud of, but then there were others.

Let's just describe them as a few skeletons in the cupboard.

Korah is introduced to us in verse 21 of this passage.

And then details of his sons are given in verse 24.

But it is in the Book of Numbers again that we turn to to

find out what is the problem with Korah.

Well, his problem is he rebelled against Moses.

Korah incited several hundred others to join him in challenging

his cousins, challenging their spiritual authority.

And so we read in Numbers 16:3, they came as a group to oppose

Numbers 16:3

Moses and Aaron and said to them, you have gone too far.

The whole community is holy, every one of them, but the Lord is

with them.

Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord's assembly?

You see, Korah was not content with his God given place in ministry.

He was ambitious.

He thought he could do better.

He wanted more recognition and he thought that Moses was standing

in his way.

Yet by rebelling against Moses, Korah actually was rebelling

against God, who had given Moses the authority in the first

place.

This is why Korah and his followers were destroyed.

As Numbers will tell us, Moses pronounced God's judgment against

them.

And as soon as he was finished talking, we're told in number 16,

the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth

and swallowed them up with their households and all the people

who belonged to Korah and all their goods.

So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol

and the earth closed over them and they perished from the midst

of the assembly.

So you have those who are organizing the tabernacle, facilitating

the worship of God's people.

And then in this genealogy of the family of Levi, you have those

who think they can do better.

And so God showed his contempt for Korah's rebellion and teaches

us that God appoints those who whom he wants in positions of authority

and leadership.

And there are many other names here that we could look at this morning,

but we need to finish.

But there are two things that I want us to consider from this passage.

And the first thing is, as we look at this long list of names,

who are they under God as His people?

And I think what we have to say is that they're servants of God,

that they are serving the Lord Almighty because they're helping

the people of God to worship Him.

Now, last year we considered what it meant to serve in the church.

This is something that then you have the opportunity to demonstrate

as part of the mission in May.

And of course, as we go through week by week in our normal

schedule, the opportunity to serve.

So this is something we do, but we don't do it because it suits

us or it's convenient.

Service in the church is a command from God.

And that's what we see demonstrated here.

In the family of Levi, everyone had a gift, and everyone

had that gift to use, and they freely used it.

That's what Paul tells the church in Galatia.

In Galatians 5:13, you, my brothers, were called to be free,

Galatians 5:13

but do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature.

Rather serve one another in love.

If we proclaim that we are part of the family of God, if we

say that we're in this great lineage of Jesus that even we're

seeing a foreshadowing of here in Exodus 6, but we know more fully

in Matthew 1, then it means that we are free from sin.

But this freedom isn't to sit back and do nothing.

This freedom in Christ means that we love Him.

And in loving him, then we love him, his people.

So we should want to serve them in whatever way we can.

And I want to thank each and every one who serves in any capacity

in this congregation, because you are a blessing.

You're not just a blessing to me, but you're a blessing to many

others.

But if you are able to serve and you haven't found a place in

which to serve, then please speak to me.

Because as much as I say we want to be a biblical church, part

of being a biblical church is that we serve.

We would love you to be part of what it means to be a blessing

not only to God's people, but that God's people in return may be

a blessing to you.

So as you perhaps go home and think about this, as you think about

this long list of names and wonder, what on earth is he going

to say about this?

Look at who they are, but more importantly, look at their calling.

Each of us called to Christ are called to serve, as Paul tells

us, not to simply sit in sinful ways, but to actually love

God's people.

So the challenge of serving isn't simply to fill spaces that

are vacant.

Serving is a command just the family of Levi knew.

So today the family of God continue to need to know that it

is called to serve one another in in love and in goodness.

The second thing from this passage is about our place in the

family of God.

Although many of these names are not listed in that great genealogy

of Jesus in Matthew 1, they are still part of the covenant family

of God.

And this is the family that we are still invited to belong to.

And families aren't perfect.

We know that none of our families are.

But the family of God is one of blessing, both now and forevermore.

God has given us these lists of names, and particularly Here in

Exodus 6, these lists of names of people who will become priests

and high priests of the family of Levi.

But they point us to the one whom we know as our true high Priest,

Jesus Christ.

He is the one who has made it possible to have salvation, to know

the forgiveness of our sins, and to be assured of life eternal

in heaven.

And after all, this is what John tells us in his prologue in

those beautiful verses of the opening of John's Gospel, as he gets

us ready to discover who Jesus is.

He says that our place in the family of God is one that is grounded

in Jesus, where as his children, we have certain rights.

Because John says yet to all who received him after saying about

those who rejected him, to all who did receive him, to those who

believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

Children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or

of a husband's will, but born of God.

So whenever I say we pick up the traits of our parents, if we

are in Christ, then we pick up the traits and the habits of our

heavenly Father.

We begin to look a little bit like the Savior.

That's why when we sing Love Divine or Love's Excelling, we have

that line that goes changed from glory into glory till so there's

a moment until in heaven we take our place.

You see, for God's people what it means to be in the family of God

means That we automatically change to be more like Jesus and

less like the world.

And so here again, in our place, in the family of God, are

we living as if we are in the family of God, or is it just, you

know, I'll do church whenever it suits me, and I'll focus on everything

else.

Parents, what's the concentration of what your children

do outside of school?

How are we bringing them up in the household of God?

How are we looking at our own lives so that we will actually be

more like the kingdom and its values rather than the values of

the world?

Because after all, what's going to happen in this world?

It's going to perish, it's going to fade away.

But yet we have won.

And look at those words again, that we have the right to become

the children of God.

Last night I was speaking down in Mullertown House at a youth weekend,

and I was talking actually on the genealogy of Jesus.

So it fitted in quite well that these two genealogies were spoken

over one weekend.

And I said to them, you know, I had to be rescued twice.

I was born with no name being adopted.

You're not given a name.

And so someone had to give me their name.

And with that came all the inheritance.

Even things I don't even know how to use are sitting in my garage.

Because it was my inheritance, because a name was given to me so

that I would benefit of what that family had.

This is what it means to become children of God.

We are in the family of God.

We are aligned to the family of God.

We are faithful to the family of God, and we are sure of what that

inheritance is, and a beautiful inheritance in heaven.

But maybe you're not in the family of God.

Maybe that question, what is your place in the family of God?

Is a more challenging one this morning.

You see, we've read a list this morning, a long list of names.

But as we get to the end of the Bible, we learn about another

list.

And that list is the Lamb's Book of Life.

And so perhaps the most pointed question this morning, or

blunt question that needs to be asked is, is your name written

in the Lamb's Book of Life?

In other words, is your name on a list?

Not talking about a voters list in a church.

I'm not talking about on the list of whatever sports team you

want to play for.

I'm not talking about electoral register and a list that

gives you the right to vote.

I'm talking about the only list that will last, and that is

the Lamb's Book of Life.

Because Only those names that are on and in the book of the Lamb's

Book of life will enter into eternal glory.

This is what we know as our joy and our gladness if we know Christ,

but if we don't know him, then the opportunity is here today to

be part of God's family, to have the right to become a child

of God.

You simply need to trust in Jesus and live for him so that you

can know this wonderful blessing of being part of the genealogy

of Jesus and being a member of his family as we know him as our

true High Priest, just as Exodus points us to the High Priest

of Israel.

You see, this passage really is all about being saved for the

glory of God.

This passage is all about the Gospel because it points us to the

one that we need to know today so that you and I will share the

same name, the name of Jesus.

And that will be a wonderful inheritance that we know will never

perish, spoil or fade.

The question today is, is it your inheritance?

And are you sure of it?

Let me pray.

Our Father God.

This was an obscure passage of names, but yet those names were drilled

down to take us to Aaron, that high priest of Israel, who points

us to the even greater high priest of Jesus Christ, the one whom

we celebrate coming in his first advent, but eagerly await his

second.

So, Father, as we think of where our name is, of the lists that

perhaps we're getting ready at this time, there's one list we must

be on.

And, Father, it's that wonderful book of life.

So may we be honest with ourselves and honest before you,

that indeed we need to be right with you.

We simply can't coast through life thinking that we'll be all right,

because we won't.

And Father, we live out our faith before each other as we serve

one another, as we love one another, as we care for one another,

as we speak well of your church.

So, Father, help us all to live biblically faithful lives as

we respond this morning to a passage many of us have never read

before, but yet one that has deep meaning for us as we look ever

to you to lead us and guide us.

And we ask these things in Jesus name, Amen.