And they dwelt at Beer-sheba, and Moladah, and Hazar-shual,
1 Chronicles 4:28 belongs to the genealogies that form the first division of Chronicles. It stands within the long lists of names in the first eight chapters, as one of over five hundred verses in twelve chapters that are nearly all names of persons. The verse records dwelling places of families, naming towns where the descendants of Judah lived. The record takes for granted a knowledge of the preceding books of the Bible and supplies new facts left out of Samuel and Kings, saying scarcely anything about the northern kingdom.
Such genealogical records furnished strict legal proof of hereditary descent needed after the exile, when the land came to be assigned to its hereditary owners and the temple service to be taken up by those whose hereditary duty it was. The chapter's preserved genealogy of Judah matters because Christ came through the tribe of Judah. Such lists of names may not interest every reader or seem equally useful in every circumstance, but their presence in the Bible does not make them uninspired or without value; they can engage scholars studying the origin and distribution of races, and spiritual truth can be found along the way. The verse is not an expressed precious promise to God's people but a simple record of names, one of more than fifteen hundred such verses of names in the Bible that prove every verse cannot be counted as a distinct promise. The verse is part of a genealogy showing that names and records in Chronicles were kept with care, reflecting that God keeps a faithful record of every soul in heaven.
1 Chronicles 4:28 belongs to the genealogies that form the first division of Chronicles. It stands within the long lists of names in the first eight chapters, as one of over five hundred verses in twelve chapters that are nearly all names of persons. The verse records dwelling places of families, naming towns where the descendants of Judah lived. The record takes for granted a knowledge of the preceding books of the Bible and supplies new facts left out of Samuel and Kings, saying scarcely anything about the northern kingdom.
Such genealogical records furnished strict legal proof of hereditary descent needed after the exile, when the land came to be assigned to its hereditary owners and the temple service to be taken up by those whose hereditary duty it was. The chapter's preserved genealogy of Judah matters because Christ came through the tribe of Judah. Such lists of names may not interest every reader or seem equally useful in every circumstance, but their presence in the Bible does not make them uninspired or without value; they can engage scholars studying the origin and distribution of races, and spiritual truth can be found along the way. The verse is not an expressed precious promise to God's people but a simple record of names, one of more than fifteen hundred such verses of names in the Bible that prove every verse cannot be counted as a distinct promise. The verse is part of a genealogy showing that names and records in Chronicles were kept with care, reflecting that God keeps a faithful record of every soul in heaven.