Little Parts of a Larger Story

Little Parts of a Larger Story
   
In Exodus 6 the Lord is working with Moses and the Israelites in their discouragement, encouraging them to trust in him in the middle of their increasing hardship in Egypt. Then, smack dab in the middle of the chapter, there pops up a long genealogy, an endless series of seemingly trivial names that don’t seem to have anything to do with anything. So, why would there be a genealogy here and what might the Lord be trying to say to us through it?

The most likely singular reason for this genealogy is to emphasize that Aaron, Moses’ sidekick, is a legitimate Israelite, given that the majority of the genealogy focuses on Aaron’s line of both ancestors and descendants. Aaron was a descendant of Levi, and it would be the Levite tribe that would go on to be specially chosen by the Lord to work in the temple. They would not be the priests, but rather, they would carry out many of the practical duties of the temple, from preparing to cleaning to organizing to engineering. Their very ordinary services would make possible the extraordinary purpose of the temple as a place for people to worship the Lord.

The descendants of Aaron would be ordinary people carrying out seemingly menial tasks, yet tasks that were highly important in helping people experience the Lord. We too may feel that we are very ordinary, that we engage in small, plain tasks from week to week that perhaps don’t feel big or important. And yet the Lord has uniquely designed each one of his people with gifts and abilities to help others experience him. In this genealogy we are reminded that the Lord is always at work among us as his seemingly commonplace people. As we are faithful in the unique path the Lord has given to each of us, we are participating in the larger story he is writing.