Have you wondered if the Bible’s genealogies are an important part of Bible study?

Many of us skim through the genealogies, but they are important and play a part in how we can come to understand the cultural nuances around the time of each person’s life in the Bible. That’s why we are introducing All the Genealogies of the Bible to Bible Gateway Plus.

God’s plans for each of us extend back long before we were born, which you can discover by studying the lineage of Biblical heroes. You will discover that God’s love embraces more than we can comprehend, especially if we are focusing only on ourselves in this time and place without the context of God’s Word providing direction in our lives.

People all over the world are under His care and have been since He made Adam. And, if you’ve ever doubted the plans He has for you, let’s look at the story of Ruth.

In the book of Ruth, you will find the story of Boaz and how he came to marry Ruth. Ruth was a Moab widow who lived with her mother-in-law. All the Genealogies of the Bible describes Ruth as:

a descendant of Moab, a people excluded from assembling with the worshiping community for ten generations (Deuteronomy 23:3–4).

Yet despite this exclusion, Boaz chose to marry Ruth — and Naomi chose to welcome her as a daughter — even though it was forbidden at the time. “The book of Ruth reveals the exemplary, God-like qualities of Boaz and the loving devotion of Ruth, Naomi’s daughter-in-law, who was ‘better to [Naomi] than seven sons.’”However, what is most notable is that this union led to the line of the MESSIAH, as shown in the following diagram, which you can access with Bible Gateway Plus when you study Ruth 4.

In other words, Boaz and Ruth’s “God-like qualities” (rather than habitual discrimination against Moabites at the time), are what ultimately brought forth the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

“The genealogy reveals that “God turned the curse [on the Moabites] into a blessing” (Nehemiah 13:2). Through divine grace, a foreign Moabite-Gentile was grafted into the chosen tribe of Judah and the line of the Messiah. Ruth and Boaz were ancestors of the Messiah, and their hometown, Bethlehem, was the birthplace of Jesus.”

All the Genealogies of the Bible

This is an extraordinary insight that is all too easy to miss if you skip over the genealogies of the Bible.

Bible Gateway Plus members can follow the links included above to be able to discover these truths and more from All the Genealogies of the Bible.

For those of you new to Bible Gateway Plus, the following step-by-step instructions will help you access this resource and continue reading about Jesus’ family tree.

1. First, make sure you are logged into your account on BibleGateway.com.
2. Search Bible Gateway for “Ruth 4” or navigate through the “Book List” below the search bar.
3. Read Ruth 4.
4. In the Resources tab, filter to “Encyclopedias” by clicking the oval button at the top.
5. Click “All the Genealogies of the Bible.”
6. Then, select the article “Ruth 1: Boaz, Elimelek, and Naomi and the Descendants of Boaz the Judahite and Ruth the Moabitess” and click to “Expand” and read the article.

Watch the demo video below to follow along.

Learn more about the value and resources available with Bible Gateway Plus today!