Jesus' Family Album December 6 Devotional

MATTHEW 1:10-11 | ¹⁰ and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, ¹¹ and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

There are dual sides to every human being, with our possibilities for fidelity, courage, and goodness, alongside our darker possibilities of idolatry, rebellion, and selfishness. This fissure in the human soul is illustrated in the divine ancestry by these verses. King Josiah, in 623 BC, in the eighth year of his reign, rediscovered the Torah, during a building reconstruction. He then proceeded to reform and reinvigorate Israelite religion, tearing down pagan alters and insisting on fidelity to Yahweh and His commands. However, his son Jehoiakim was “an evil king” and so was his grandson, Jeconiah (the term father can be grandfather, as it is in this sequence with Jehoiakim being omitted). Thus the deportation to Babylon, following Israel’s ignominious defeat, was a judgement on the nation and the royal house. Apart from God’s mercy, even the Messiah’s family is in trouble!

What would you like to leave out of your biography?

Gracious God,

May I build my life on humility and repentance, confessing my wrongs and seeking Your grace.

Amen.