When the Bible Gets a Little... Dry

Today I read 1 Chronicles 3 through 5. It was mostly a list of names.

Names of descendants, tribal leaders, and family lines that go on for pages. Every now and then, there’s a sentence or two that seems to hint at a story, but for the most part, it reads like a registry. Honestly, I didn’t find it engaging.

So... What Am I Supposed to Do With This?

That raises a question I keep coming back to: what should I do with sections like this? If reading the Bible is about engaging with a meaningful story or gaining insight, what happens when the text feels more like a directory?

It’s not easy to stay present in passages like these. I noticed myself skimming, even zoning out. But then I tried to slow down and consider why this kind of content might have been preserved.

Ancient Ancestry.com

In a modern context, we don’t often think of long genealogies as essential reading, but in ancient societies, knowing where you came from mattered. These lists were a way of maintaining continuity. They were how a community remembered itself. People likely listened for the names of their ancestors, tracing a connection to something bigger than themselves.

That doesn’t necessarily make the reading more dynamic, but it does offer a lens. The repetition and structure may not be exciting, but they seem to serve a function. Maybe there’s something to be said for preserving memory even when there isn’t a clear narrative attached to it.

A Name With a Story (Sort Of)

One name did get a bit more attention: Jabez. Just a couple of verses. It says he was more honored than his brothers, that his mother gave him a name associated with pain, and that he made a request for protection and blessing. Then, almost abruptly, the text says the request was granted. There's no additional context. No follow-up.

It’s a quick shift—a brief zoom-in and zoom-out—but it made me wonder about the rest of the people in the list. Were their lives as complex? Did they have moments like this too? There’s no way to know, but the thought lingers.

Not Every Page is a Page-Turner

Reading these chapters didn’t leave me with a grand realization. But I did spend a few minutes thinking about why some people are remembered in detail and others aren’t. About how often history records names without stories. About what it means to be part of a list that outlives you.

Maybe not every part of this text is meant to feel meaningful in the moment. But that doesn’t make it meaningless. Some sections ask different things of a reader: patience, attention, curiosity.

Even when it feels boring.