I grew up as part of a Christian church as a kid and was struck by how
seemingly pointless all those genealogies were. But as Kelly and I entered seminary and are taking a in depth look at the Scriptures and what exactly they're all about, I've come across an excellent explanation of what Biblical genealogies represent. It's from the excellent book God's Glory through Salvation and Judgement.
The impetus to compile genealogies ... springs from the promises made to Israel. Promises are made about a coming seed of the woman [see Genesis 3:15] , so the descendants of the woman are carefully tracked and recorded... The making of a genealogy is an act of faith. And faith testifies that one believes God will do what he has said, which gives him glory. (Romans 4:20)
As I think about it now, their purpose makes sense now. We see Biblical genealogies leading us to Jesus with their ending point in his birth with both the Gospel of Matthew and Luke including Jesus' family tree. The hope of God's people rested in his coming Messiah and the writer's of the Old Testament were showing their faith in keeping a list of the "seed of the woman."
As with all of Scriptures, genealogies are yet another pointer to our Savior - Jesus.
"You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, yet they testify about Me." Jesus in John 5:39
-John
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