Simeon’s Family Line and Adoption in Christ

Hey, hey, good morning, morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we are going to finish up chapter 4, going through another genealogy in 1 Chronicles. Let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll talk about these children of Simeon.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word, and we pray that your Holy Spirit might work in our hearts, that we would not just read these words, but understand them. We need your Spirit to help us.

So we pray, God, entrusting us to your hands. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Here we go. 1 Chronicles chapter 4, beginning at verse 24.

He had sixteen sons and daughters, but his brothers did not have many children, nor did any of their families multiply as much as the children of Judah.

These were the cities until the reign of David.

They dwelt at Beersheba, Maladah, Hazar, Shul, Bilhah, Ezim, Tolad, Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag, Beth Markoboth, Hazar, Shushim, Bethbiri, and at Shari'im.

These were the cities until the reign of David.

And their villages were Etam, Ain, Rimon, Token, Ashan, five cities.

And all the villages that were around these cities as far as Baal.

These were their dwelling places, and they maintained their genealogy.

Mishobab, Jamlech, and Joshua, the sons of Amaziah, Joel, and Jehu, the sons of Joshebiah, the sons of Saraiah, the son of Asiel.

Elionah, sorry, Elionah, there's a lot of vowels there in the English, I'd just rather read it in the Hebrew if I had it in front of me.

So they went to the entrance of Gedur.

As far as the east side of the valley to seek pasture for their flocks.

And they found rich, good pasture.

And the land was broad, quiet, and peaceful.

For some Hamites formerly lived there.

These recorded by name came in the days of Zedekiah, king of Judah.

And they attacked their tents and the Muunites who were found there, and utterly destroyed them, as it is to this day.

So they dwelt in their place because there was pasture for their flocks there.

Now some of them, five hundred men of the sons of Simeon, went to Mount Seir, having as their captains Pelatiah, Neriah, Rephiah, and Uziel, the sons of Ishi.

And they defeated the rest of the Amalekites who had escaped.

They had dwelt there to this day.

Well, we need to ask ourselves our three questions.

A, what is this about?

B, what's the best verse to summarize this?

And C, what are we called to do?

Or how does this point us to Jesus Christ?

Well, we are talking about the tribe of Simeon, right?

So we're continuing on in the genealogy.

We're going to do this all the way through chapter 10 of 1 Chronicles.

They're trying to go back to the ancient scrolls and find out where people came from.

How Israelite are they?

What's their lineage?

And so here it's Simeon.

And so Simeon has a few boys.

Nimuel, Jamin, Jerib, Zerah, and Shul.

And so that's going to go through a bunch of his kids.

Now, Simeon doesn't have, there's a few things we learned about Simeon's tribe here, right?

He doesn't have as many children as, say, Judah has in his descendants.

But that doesn't mean he doesn't have a good life, right?

Actually, he finds a good land.

There's plenty of pasture.

It's peaceful.

The Hamites have lived there.

They're able to pasture their flocks.

And it's been a pretty good deal for them, right?

So we learned about Simeon, but it's also interesting here that as it lists their cities,

it says, these were their cities until the reign of David.

Now, David came from Judah, and that had just come before.

And so I think this is specifically pulling us to this idea that when David became king,

when you had an actual monarch who arose to the throne, not like Saul, who was king, yeah,

power hungry and things like this, but he didn't have great administration.

David's really the one who it kind of takes off with.

And so it seems like what Samuel had said to the people about a king wanting to take the land and things like that would eventually come about.

So that's what this is talking about.

It's talking about Simeon and where his land was and who his people were and how the Lord had given them the land and blessed them.

So that's really what this is about.

If I had to underline anything in my Bible, I have a couple of interesting things underlined.

I have the second half of verse 27 underlined.

They didn't have as many children, nor did any of their families multiply as much as the children of Judah.

I have that underlined just as kind of a fun thing.

I also have the second part of verse 33 underlined.

These were their dwelling places and they maintained their genealogy.

Again, genealogy to Jewish people is a big deal.

And so proving that they were true Israelites.

This wasn't just a made-up story.

It actually really bothers me.

There's some critical people who, critical, I mean like scholars, smart people who think,

oh, this is all just made up and they have all these theories for this stuff.

I think it's true.

I think it's true genealogies.

I think they actually had real stories and they had real lineage and they could prove where they came from.

And so that's why I have to underline.

But if I was to underline what the best verse to summarize this in, it'd be verse 24.

Who's this talking about?

What's it getting at?

Well, it's a genealogy of the sons of Simeon.

So, see, what are we called to do?

Well, we're going to say this time and time again.

Your genealogy is important.

I think if you know where your family came from, that's a blessing for you.

It's only been recently in the last few years.

Well, it's been about 15, 20 years now that I've kind of been piecing together our family's genealogy, where we're from.

But there's a certain point.

I was talking to a family who was helping me with my genealogy lately, and they essentially said they got to an area down in the Tennessee area, and it just stops.

There's just nothing there, and in that area, when they did the census, when it's like late 1800s, if you were the son of somebody, you just got a tick mark if you weren't the name.

It was the first son who got a name.

Everybody else was just a tick mark.

And so my family genealogy grows cold.

I can't go back hundreds and hundreds and hundreds ancient genealogies.

But thanks be to God that that's not why we are safe with him.

You would never be called by God to be his child because you had the right parents on this life.

The question is, has his spirit been poured out on you?

Where you cry out, Abba, Father.

And that happens by faith in his son, Jesus.

So do you trust in the son of David?

The one who this is ultimately pointing to.

That all the Jews and all the Gentiles must believe in to be saved.

I hope you do.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for the great love that you have shown us in Jesus.

And pray, Lord, that you would please help us as we try to understand and as we try to read and study and live your word.

We pray that you would please help us as we pray that we may not be the most numerous or the most important people, but we pray that you would give us peace.

We pray that you would please let us love you, walk in the ways of Jesus.

You truly are a good God.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

May the Lord bless you.

May you walk in the peace of Jesus Christ.

And I'll see you next time.

Bye.