All You Need to Know About Genealogies
See my full review at SpoiledMilks (February 5, 2024)
This is obviously a niche book that isn�t going to appeal to a wide audience. However, it is an incredible work that should be consulted when you are slogging through long genealogical records. Who are these people and how are they related? Often characters with weird (read: non-American) names are listed and then referred to throughout a narrative. And because these names are either odd or shared with another character (like half of the kings in the book of Kings), we miss the family significance.
This is an incredible commentary on the highly-ignored parts of the Bible. Very few people like reading the genealogies, which makes sense. It was important for other people for to see where (or who) they came from to understand their importance, or in the books of Ezra-Nehemiah, so those people could show that they could legitimately enter the land again. But for the rest of us gentiles, the genealogies are pretty boring. But they have importance, and though this is definitely a niche book that most won�t read cover to cover, this is the one to have on hand when you journey through the dense genealogies. Dawson has taken the time to tease out the people and their relations to the best of her ability. This book is for scholars, teachers, and pastors. I understand that many pastors won�t want to wade too deeply into the genealogies, but Dawson�s book will help you know how to do it well. Finally!
