Pedigree Matters

      Your family history can make you or break you.

      The key word is can, because nothing is written in stone.  Whether you come from a broken home or a great home, you will ultimately be held responsible for the choices you make.  Some may not even know their biological parents who left genes with coded tendencies that sway them this way or that.  But every choice creates a ripple.  Yours included.

      There are many contrasts in the Bible between good and bad people.  One such contrast is between the first and second kings of Israel.  It is interesting to note the many differences of Saul and David.  Saul is despised, while David is dignified.  Saul is the selfish king who reigned from his own desires while David was a “man after God’s own heart.”  Among the differences is their pedigree.

      Saul comes from the tribe of Benjamin, while David comes from Judah.  Saul’s tribe is condemned at the end of the book of Judges, while David’s ancestors are commended in the successive book of Ruth.  In Judges 19 through 21, an awkward account is given of Gibeah’s poor choices.  (Gibeah was the capital of the Benjamites.)  When a traveling Levite set up lodging, the locals demanded to have sex with him.  Instead, they raped and killed his wife.  The dishonor of Israel caused a civil war costing the tribe of Benjamin 25,000 men.  Generations later, Saul also bases his authority on whim and feeling.  He loses his reign and his life because he did honor the Lord.

               

      The book of Ruth is a very different narrative.  “In the days when the judges ruled,” David’s ancestors seek to honor the God of Israel; and one of them isn’t even Jewish!  In short, a family left the country because of a famine, and the boys married Moabite women.  The men died quickly, leaving the mother (Naomi) with two daughters-in-law (Orpah and Ruth).  After Naomi’s bidding, Orpah returned home.  Ruth, on the other hand, was interested in carrying on the family line.  For her faithfulness and loyalty, she is commended.  She is recorded as the great-grandmother of the most famous king of Israel: David.

      You may not come from a great family line, but you have the opportunity to impact the generations after you.  Your habits are creating a pedigree for your children, and their children after them.  Will they be stuck trying to break the chains of your poor choices, or will they build on the good foundation you are laying?  

     Pedigree matters.