I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Chronicles 1.

    I never quite know what to make of today’s passage. It is a list of genealogies and I do not know what purpose they serve (although if you are writing Fantasy fiction this is a good source of exotic sounding names that still feel like names). One thing which caught my attention is that it mentions that Gomer, Magog, Tubal, and Meschech are descendants of Noah’s son Japheth. Nations with these names are mentioned in later apocalyptic writings, where they represent the powers of the world from beyond Israel’s neighboring region. Another interesting thing is that the account lists the Sidonians (those who lived in Tyre and Sidon) as descended from Canaan (whom Noah cursed) and the Philistines as not being descended from Canaan. What makes this interesting is that the Israelites were on friendly terms with the Sidonians for most of the Old Testament and at war with the Philistines.