Genealogy

The list of a person's descendants. Genealogies are divided into two types.

Vertical, or linear, genealogies list the descendants through a father to son to grandson to great-grandson, etc, sequence, such as is found in Gen 11:10-26:

. . . when Shem was . . . he became the father of Arphaxad. And after he became the father of Arphaxad Shem lived . . . . When Arphaxad had lived . . . he became the father of Shelah . . ..

Horizontal, or segmented, genealogies, on the other hand, list the descendants taking into account the siblings as well, such as is found in Gen 10:21-31:

Sons were also born to Shem . . . The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Lud and Aram. The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshech. Arphaxad was the father of . . . Two sons were born to Eber: . . .

The two, however, are not mutually exclusive. The genealogies in Gen 4:17-22 and 5:1-32 begin as linear and ends horizontally.

Though biblical genealogies seem meaningless to most readers, they play important functions depending on how the author of the work in which they appear tells his story. A genealogy, e.g., can serve to legitimize a person's place or appointment. Placing different genealogies in close proximity serves to highlight the contrast between the families. Adding a refrain, such as "and then he died" in the genealogy of Adam in Gen 5, e.g., highlights the truth of God's warning to him that "the day you eat of [the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] you will surely die". Only by paying close attention to each genealogy within its context will its purpose be revealed; such hard work can also be extremely rewarding in the insights they offer us.

Click here to see an example of its usage:

☰ Gen 4:1-5:32