Endless Genealogies
Joachim Jeremias wrote a book published over four decades ago that can be very informative. The book is Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus. Jeremias does not have a proper view of the inspiration of the Scriptures, but his work is beneficial nevertheless.
First, let me share some definitions. The “Mishnah” are teachings from the Jewish Rabbis on the Hebrew Old Testament. The “Talmud” is found in two forms: a Babylonian Talmud (dating formally to 500-600 A.D.) and the Palestinian Talmud (dating 400-450 A. D.). The “Talmud” are collections of “Mishnah,” discussions among the rabbis based on the “Mishnah” (called “Tosefta”) and other commentaries by Jewish rabbis on the Old Testament. The “midrash” were Jewish interpretations of biblical texts and usually were not based on the literary, grammatical, or historical context.
Now, to Jeremias… He writes that in the first century, Jews were very concerned about racial purity. “Only women of Israelite descent were qualified to bear sons worthy of serving before the altar in Jerusalem. …Only those families who had preserved the divinely ordained purity of the race, which Ezra restored through his reforms, belonged to the true Israel” (297).
We remember that during the days of Ezra, when the Jews were returning from exile in Babylon to Judah, there were priests who could not prove their levitical descent. Consequently, they were barred from serving in that role (Nehemiah 7:61-65).
Jeremias quotes the Babylonian Talmud Kiddushin (70b, pg. 301 in Jeremias): “Rabbi Hama ben Rabbi Hanina said: “When the Holy One, blessed be He, causes His divine Presence to rest [on Israel in the Messianic age] it is only upon families of pure birth in Israel, for it is said [Jer. 31:1]: ‘At that time, said the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel.’ It is not said ‘of all Israelites’ but ‘of all families.’” The same Talmud says that Elijah writes down “at the time of marriage, any who marry wives not their equal in purity of descent” (Jeremias; emph. mine, p.h.).
Also, from the Midrash, Pasahim 20:2, Jeremias quotes: “At that time your people shall all be delivered (from Gehinnom), everyone who shall be found written in the book [Dan. 12:1]. By whose merit [will they be saved?] …Rabbi Samuel ben Nahman said: Through the merit of the legitimacy of their ancestry – as it says [in Dan. 12:1, quoted above], everyone whose name shall be found written in the book [kept by Elijah on the legitimacy of marriages].”
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Here is Jeremias’s conclusion based on those two quotations: “Only families of pure Israelite descent could be assured of a share in the messianic salvation, for only they were assisted by the ‘merit of their legitimate ancestry.’ Here we have the most profound reason for the behavior of these pure Israelite families – why they watched so carefully over the maintenance of racial purity and examined the genealogies of their future sons- and daughters-in-law before marriage (Babylonian Talmud Kiddushin 71b)” (301-302).
Also these quotations – from the Babylonian Talmud Kiddushin and the Midrash are dated 260 A. D., they might give us insight into Paul’s statement in 1 Timothy 1:4: “nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith” (cf. Titus 3:9).
Salvation, even under the Law of Moses, was never based on biological descent. While the Jews had a host of advantages over Gentile nations (Romans 9:3-5), automatic salvation from sins as a descendant of Abraham was not one of them.
In this light, Paul statement in 1 Timothy 1:4 is parallel with John’s warning to the Jews in Matthew 3:9: “Do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.”
Genealogy will no more get us to heaven today than it did the Jews in biblical times. Each individual will be judged on his or her own faithful obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.
–Paul Holland
