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Genealogies and Spiritualities in Genesis 89
that genealogies are now accorded interpretative value beyond
what their significance in terms of historical accurateness may or
may not be. 20 The historical setting in which genealogies were
re/created (as reflected by the reconstructed textual history) have at
least as much significance as the genealogical plot. Put differently:
the history of the telling is central to the history of the told. Put
differently again (in the language of Wilson 21 ): the function of a
genealogy is essential to understanding it. 22
It remains interesting to note that in ancient Near Eastern
societies priests were often the carriers of genealogies, probably
because of the writing abilities, the social standing, and the
political roles of priestly groups. This detail is open to assorted
interpretations (cf. Ezra 2:62/Neh 7:64!). Suffice it for the moment
to note that the multiplicity of denotations of Old Testament
genealogies is perhaps a prime instance of its unmodernist fusion
of religion and all other aspects of life. 23
3. Initial Remarks on the Three Genealogies
In the brief descriptions of the three genealogies following below, I
will not be pointing out all the detailed exegetical and
interpretative intricacies on which I have based all my decisions.
Rather, I will relate in a few words the contents of each genealogy,
20
That is, Albright’s historical reliability of genealogies (among other texts)
versus Wellhausen’s view that it is a social—or, in Laato’s language,
“ideological”—rather than a historical genre (see W. F. Albright, From the
Stone Age to Christianity [2d ed.; New York: Doubleday Anchor Books, 1957],
72–76, cf. 239; J. Wellhausen, Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels [6. Ausgabe;
Berlin: De Gruyter, 1927], 206–7]; A. Laato, “The Levitical Genealogies in 1
Chronicles 5–6 and the Formation of Levitical Ideology in Post-Exilic Judah,”
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 62 [June 1994]: 77–78). Cf. Wilson,
“Between ‘Azel’ and ‘Azel.’” 11–12, 21.
21
Wilson, “The Old Testament Genealogies in Recent Research,” 215, 222–23.
22
Still Gunkel, after all these years…
23
Cf. Plum, “Genealogy as Theology,” 86.