In this message we will consider the genealogy from Adam to the twelve tribes of Israel. This genealogy is covered in the first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles.
In 1:1-27 we have the genealogy from Adam to Abraham. The main characters in this genealogy are Adam, Enosh, Enoch, and Noah.
Verses 28 through 34 speak of the genealogy of Abraham. The main characters here are Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.
The genealogy of Esau (vv. 35-54) is not in the lineage of the genealogy of Christ as recorded in Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38.
Chapters two through nine are a record of the genealogy of Israel. Israel had twelve sons. All the twelve sons became the fathers of the twelve tribes. The following chapters through chapter nine are the genealogies of these twelve tribes.
First Chronicles 2:3—4:23 is the genealogy of Judah.
The main characters in this genealogy are Judah, Caleb, Boaz, Jesse, David, and Solomon.
The tribe of Judah is the royal tribe (5:2a), producing kings from David to Christ. Hence, the genealogy of Judah, among the twelve genealogies of the twelve tribes, is the only one that is counted as the lineage of the genealogy of Christ as recorded in Matthew 1 and Luke 3.
In Judah’s genealogy the striking matter is that Judah begot Pherez of his daughter-in-law Tamar (2:4). The Bible is honest in recording this matter.
In 4:10 we have a particular prayer offered by one of the descendants of Judah: “Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, Oh that You would richly bless me and enlarge my border, and that Your hand would be with me, and that You would so keep me from evil that it would not grieve me!” God caused what Jabez had requested to come to pass. I hope that all of us would have such a prayer, a prayer that God would enlarge the border of the enjoyment of the good land; that is, enlarge the border of our enjoyment of Christ. We all need to pray, “O God, enlarge my border in the gaining of Christ and in the enjoyment of Christ.”
The genealogy of Judah includes the genealogy of David and the genealogy of Solomon.
The genealogy of David is recorded in 3:1-9. David had six sons born during his reign in Hebron for seven and a half years. Thirteen sons of David were born during his reign in Jerusalem for thirty-three years, including Solomon, born of Bath-shua (Bath-sheba). In addition, David had a daughter, Tamar, and also sons born of his concubines.
The main characters in the genealogy of Solomon (vv. 10-24) are Solomon, Asa, Hezekiah, and Zerubbabel.