The list of names continues, but now it’s spread through the story of Saul (briefly) and David (at much more length).
I don’t know for sure, but the way that the story is told here seems to continue the effort to establish who the people returning to Judah are – to place them in the sweep of the history of God and the nation. And as David has a special place in that history as seen and written by the Chronicler, so do those who stood with him; and perhaps by extension, so do their families.
It’s one thing to look back to our roots and feel connection to our ancestors. But there always seems to be a risk that we top over from interest to ownership. Those reading the books of Chronicles for the first time hadn’t been with David. Perhaps they looked back on his days as a golden age when all was much simpler and better; perhaps we risk doing the same about some period in our own history or that of our family or community.
But we have our own paths to follow – and perhaps the opportunity to follow our own paths in such a way that one day people will be proud to have us among their ancestors!
Nick Watson 