1 Chronicles 5

Two and a half of the tribes of Israel asked the Lord through Moses for permission to settle on the side of the Jordan that was not originally in the the Promised Land itself. God allowed them to do that, but by the time the Chronicler was preparing the remnant of Israel to return after the exile, these tribes had lost very much. The Assyrians, who had decimated the northern tribes and destroyed their capital of Samaria in 722 BC, had at that time deported many from this region and had repopulated their towns with subjugated people from other nations.

The two and a half tribes who lived in the region known as Gilead were descended from Reuben, Gad, and one of the sons of Joseph, Manasseh. Reuben was Jacob's first-born. Yet Reuben went and “... lay with Bilhah his father's concubine,” as recorded in Genesis 35:22. This offense was mentioned at the end of Jacob's life as a matter of judgment against the tribe that bore Reuben's name. The story of that discipline was again recalled by the Chronicler. God still cared about those who came from Reuben, even though he had “... defiled his father's couch.” Reuben would not be prominent. Those who descended from Judah and from Joseph would have greater significance than Jacob's oldest son.

Hints of the genealogical information for the tribe of Gad and for the half-tribe of Manasseh were also given here. Could anything good be said about these tribes? They had achieved military victories many centuries earlier by crying out to God and trusting in His Name. That humility before God was worthy of emulation.

The two and a half tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had their distinct ancestors, but where were their descendants when it was time for Israel to return to the land? Since their destruction by the Assyrians all those in this region were together under the same judgment of God. The Lord had used the Assyrian king against them. They had “... broken faith with the God of their fathers, and whored after the gods of the people of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.” Their destiny had been exile for many decades. Would there be any hope for their descendants now? Perhaps the existence of these accounts mentioning the names of their clans would provide a way for some of the scattered descendants of Jacob to find a legitimate place again among the returning exiles.

What would it be like for any of us if we had to prove our worth through some vague genealogical record? Most of us were not even counted among the descendants of Israel by birth. We were Gentiles, non-Jews, and strangers to the promises given to Jews. But now we look back at the promise that the Lord gave to our ancient father in the faith, Abraham, and we read that through him all the clans of the earth would be blessed.

The way this blessing has come to us is only through the Man who has fully proven Himself for our sake, not only through the right genealogy, but through the offering of a perfect life to God. In Him we have been counted as acceptable children of God.

It is good to think that there might have been a way for the tribes that had been deported by the Assyrians to find meaning again as a part of the returning people of God. But it is even better that all who call upon the Name of the Lord, even though we were never a part of Israel, can now be counted as part of the household of the Almighty.