Me? A teacher? (Ezra 7, continued)

Looking back at the verses in the seventh chapter of Ezra, let's read the ones about Ezra's heritage:

After these things, during the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, 2 the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, 3 the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, 4 the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, 5 the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest (v 1-5)

Wow!
Sixteen of his ancestors are listed here!
I read in the commentaries that the first one listed is probably his great (or great-great) granddad. The reason is that Seraiah was the high priest at the time of Nebuchadnezzar's rule, and he was pretty snarky. (Nebuchadnezzar, that is.) He had Seraiah executed. This happened about one hundred and thirty years earlier, so that's why they think he might have been Ezra's great-great-grandfather. (You can read all about it if you would like to, in II Kings 25.)

Now, the purpose of the little genealogy lesson is two-fold: we've talked before about how important it was to the Jewish people to keep track of, and to celebrate, their heritage. Secondly, this showed that Ezra was qualified to be a priest, and to teach God's law.

Many times in the Bible, we see evidences that God's blessings flow through family lines. Now, we might get our fur rumpled a bit at that, and think, "That's not fair! What if I come from a fairly godless family? Don't I have any hope of experiencing His blessings?"
Well, yes, you do!
But first, let me say, we should probably never ask God to be fair with us. Being fair means we will get what we deserve . . . and as sinners, we only deserve His punishment!  We should probably just ask God for His mercy, not fairness.
But I know what you mean, so let's keep going.
Like so many examples in the Bible, and in our world, there is hope for us even if we have come from a godless heritage. Let's face it -- we can be the start of a long line of people who experience the blessings of God; we can experience His grace and mercy when we are saved, and from then on we can experience a relationship with Him, full of providence and providing, joy and peace!
We can't do anything about our ancestors, but we can do things that will positively affect our children and our grandchildren. If we are not married, or have no sons or daughters, we can positively affect those around us and experience the joy of "children" in the faith.

Blessed are all who fear the Lord,    who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor;    blessings and prosperity will be yours. (Psalm 128:1-2)

No matter how terrible our upbringing may have been, if we follow the Lord, we will be blessed, and we will be the source of blessings to many others. Remember when we talked about the terrible family life and example of Jacob? He was a liar, a deceiver, and played favorites amongst his kids. His sons were really "pieces of work" too, since they tossed Joseph into a pit and then sold him into slavery. Joseph's mom must have spent a lot of time with him, teaching him the ways of God, because Joseph turned out to be a marvelous example for all time: how to cope with obstacles, how to avoid temptation, and how to graciously forgive those who've wronged us!

Aaron, who is mentioned in Ezra's genealogy, was a godly parent, and had sons who were consecrated as priests. In spite of his good example, they did not obey God. The Lord struck them dead with fire from heaven. Not all good examples result in good kids. (What a blessing that is for some of us to read about! The guilt is relieved by the Word of God.)
Aaron also had a grandson, called Phinehas. (He's the one mentioned in verse five.) Phinehas took bold action for God - and stopped a plague afflicting the Israelites. If you want to look him up, check out the twenty-fifth chapter of Numbers . . .  Israel had been truly gullible. They fell, lock-stock-and-barrel for a plot hatched by Balaam. Balaam had whispered in the ear of the Midianite king that Israel could be seduced into idolatry through intermarriage.
When an Israelite man brought a Midianite woman into his tent with all of Israel looking on, Phineas took a spear, marched into the tent, and skewered the both of them. The Lord saw Phinehas and his bold actions, and told Moses that He was giving Phinehas His covenant of peace.

The Lord said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites. Since he was as zealous for my honor among them as I am, I did not put an end to them in my zeal. 12 Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. 13 He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.” (Numbers 25:10b-13)

We can see from the text that Phinehas' obedience had a wonderful result - blessings for his descendants for hundreds of years, even all the way down to Ezra!
The lesson for all of us is that we have a choice: we can disobey the Lord and deprive our descendants of God's blessing, or we can be bold in obeying the Lord and bring blessings to our descendants. Whether they are our kiddos or "children" in the faith that we have witnessed to and seen them saved, God's blessings can flow through us -- to those who come after us.