THE BEGETS OF LORE AND LEGEND

Genealogy, our roots, where we came from; it all has a story to tell, fact, fiction, legend lore, the background that makes us who we are in relation to the society we live in and the legacy we leave.

 

It is interesting to learn where we came from and in doing so it may help us to become a better person. I've always been fascinated with history, the times and lives of the generations who came before me. There is much we can learn from the lessons of the past, from their lives and how they dealt with life as it came their way, both the good and bad of it. Not only is there much to learn from the historical facts that have been recorded but even from the lore and the legends, the tales people told, things they believed.

 

Our own family tree is filled with such things, things we should know about and care about, learn from so that maybe we won’t keep making the same mistakes over and over again, generation after generation; maybe we’ll find out something that we need to carry on, bring forward, share with our generations to come, something long forgotten that may really be important. It is important to know who we are and where we came from. It can also be one of the most exciting adventures you will ever embark upon.

 

As you start looking into these things and start tracing your own family tree, you will probably come up with some pretty exciting information about your ancestors and who they are. For example: I’m related to Wild Bill Hickok. There is a lot of lore and legend about that man. Some of it is exaggerated folk lore and some of it is true. I’m also related to a courtier to Queen Elizabeth I and to a rather famous Scotsman named Robert the Bruce. I found out that I am related to a rather famous Native American called Uncas.

 

I’m related to a pirate, to war heroes, to great industrial minds, to writers and educators, to actors and actresses, to dirt farmers, tramps, miners and mill workers, adventurers, missionaries, ministers and government officials. I found out that the first generations of my family, here in America, came here between 1623 and 1628. Some of them had originally been on the sister ship that was sailing with the Mayflower. It sprung a leak and had to turn back but they eventually made it. I’m finding out a lot of fascinating things about those folks, life and living in their generation, their strengths and weaknesses; and that I am related to heroes and scoundrels alike. Life has been quite an adventure getting to be me, from that first generation to mine.

 

Getting acquainted with all those begets is quite an adventure. These folks are real. They really lived and they did some awesome things, they were survivors that faced life head on and dealt with it. They were also very human. You’ll find out about their lives and what living on this Earth was like when they walked here. You’ll learn the stories and legends that went along with them. What is more, their stories aren’t entirely made up though they may be exaggerated just a tad. They aren’t fiction characters, these folks really lived, are real, not some Hollywood super hero or villain from the mind of a fiction writer. It is their lives that planted the seeds that came to be you and me today.

 

Our roots spread far and wide and our branches spread their shadows over generations yet to come. These stories need to be recorded, told and retold. Your story needs to be told because you are a very special person, unique in your very own way. History can be fascinating and it all begins with the begets.

 

I imagine most of you have read the Bible or at least part of it sometime in your life. I’ve read it, read it more than once, at least most of it. There is one section I’ve been inclined to skim over until just recently…All those BEGATS…who was begotten of who, all those generations. It’s not easy reading but I’ve come to the conclusion it is important reading. There is another small section of begets in the New Testament, the first chapter of Matthew. (Matt. 1: 1-25) That whole first chapter is about the generations, the ancestors of the man called Jesus. I hadn’t paid a whole lot of attention to that until the other day either, having just skimmed over it to get to the good stuff but as I was reading it I saw something I hadn’t seen before, hadn’t comprehended.

As I read that chapter for probably the umpteenth time I began seeing Jesus, you, me, everyone in a whole new light. I’ve never really doubted who Jesus is but I had never given much thought to what He might have been had He made other choices. After all, Jesus is not only God the Son, Jesus is a man, a human just like you and me with the entire human conditions we all face every day. He faced peer pressure, all the same types of influences we face, and he lived with the reputation that His generations tagged to Him just like we do. “Nothing good can come out of Nazareth,” what sort of good could come from “that” family? Haven’t we all said that about someone or had it said about us at one time or another? Maybe it is the reverse as well, things are expected of you, and you are expected to follow the same pattern of those who came before you.

 

Jesus faced that too, all the gossip, the rumors, having to deal with the reputation of those who came before Him in the physical world. Things could have turned out much differently than they did and it all came down to a matter of choice. We are each responsible for our own actions no matter what our fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers, and so on back, did or didn’t do.

 

The begets in the Bible go on and on, who parented who and it can all be difficult and a little boring to read but very interesting once you start getting the picture, once you find out who these people were, the wise men, the leaders, the heroes, the scoundrels, the slaves, the masters, the lovers and haters, men, women, children all dealing with life in very real day by day situations, all the ups and downs. Our own begets can be just as interesting personally for each of us, maybe even more so. After all, those are the folks who got you here.

 

One of my own distant kin had a bit of a spat with a king. It seems he was sleeping with the queen. The king didn’t like that very much, even if it had been consensual, but neither did he want to lose the services of this soldier, so he sent my distant kin off to America where he and the queen couldn’t be in such “close contact”. The king, on the other hand, had several mistresses of his own. Well, that was one of the privileges of being king, I suppose and the king could still make very good use of a very good and brave soldier by putting him in charge over his subjects now living and working in this new land, even if he did have slightly over charged testosterone. Let him sow his seeds there, in the new world, and raise sons and daughters subject to the king; so concluded the king.

 

In those days my distant kin could have been charged with treason and spent the rest of his days in a dungeon or been beheaded or hanged. You didn’t mess with the king’s property and back then your wife was your property as much so as your cattle or sheep. There was no such thing as “Women’s Lib”.

 

The story continues that the queen gave birth to a daughter some few short months after my kin was banished to America and this daughter was placed in the charge a “nanny” to live a sort of “Cinderella” existence while the queen was removed to a distant castle to live her life in solitary confinement, having disgraced the crown. The “little princess” eventually grew up, met her “prince” who in actuality was the son of a courtier (the man who was in charge of grooming and caring for the horses) in the castle of the once queen and the two of them eventually came to America seeking freedom, having come into disagreement with the church of State and a few other rules and regulations, like taxes they couldn’t or wouldn’t pay. They were also given the option, come to America or go to jail which could very well lead to the possibility of getting your head chopped off depending on how offended the king really was.

Assuming my kin actually fathered this little princess, she would be a very distant aunt. There was no such thing as DNA testing being done back then but the king apparently believed the child was not his, with or without good reason. Who knows, but it is still a very interesting bit of family legend and makes for a very good story. Best of all it is non-fiction, it all really happened.

 

Given the options, choosing to come to America was a good thing. My kin ended up married to someone else other than the queen and beget nine children, sons and daughters, of which one of them lead to me. It all worked out for the best and everyone lived more or less happily ever after.

Not everyone in Jesus physical lineage (His worldly family) was of reputable character either. Fact is, some of them were downright scandalous, thieves, murderers, prostitutes, cheats and liars, people who got drunk, folks who partied to hardy.

 

Among his ancestors were slaves, warriors, widows, concubines, government officials, common laborers and business leaders, the rich, the poor and they weren’t all Jews or from one nation of people and yet Jesus was perfect, the perfect, pure, sinless, spotless lamb, the Son of God. From Jesus ancestors listed in Matthew you can trace His ancestry all the way back to Adam and Eve. There were a lot of heroes, godly men but there were a lot who weren’t all that godly as well and yet it was this line, these generations through whom Jesus was born, Son of Man, Son of God.

 

As I read about Jesus lineage I came up with some very interesting conclusions. Most importantly, I found that the people who made up Jesus Earthly family weren’t all good, godly folks yet that didn’t change who or what Jesus was and is. Some of Jesus ancestors were scandalous at best while others were heroes and held in high esteem. Jesus had to live with their reputations just like we have to live with the reputations of our family. It is all in the first chapter of Matthew if you want to check it out and you can find all of these folks listed in most any good “Who’s Who in the Bible” reference book. From there you can go to encyclopedias and ancient history books and find out more. Jesus was the son of Abraham, the son of David, the king, and a lot of other people who weren’t very king like or godly and neither was David at times. Yet David is said to have been the “apple of God’s eye”.

Our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and all those greats to way back when don’t change who or what we are either. That choice is ours alone. We are each responsible for our own lives, our actions or lack thereof.

 

Abraham was not a Jew. Jerusalem did not exist and there was no such thing as the Jewish religion. All that came much later. Israel, the Country, didn’t exist in the days of Abraham. People lived in bands and tribes and most were nomads, moving from place to place, to wherever they could find the best living conditions. Wars were fought and won and lost over a good piece of land. It was a long, treacherous, scandalous, bloody road to the cross with both men and women involved. In the days of Abraham no one had even heard of the words Jew or Christian, no one on Earth anyhow. There are 42 generations between Abraham and Jesus and a lot of history that unfolded that reflected on His life as He walked on this Earth.

 

Roots run deep and branches cast their shadows over generations to come. On those branches are many leaves and in time those leaves wither and die. Some are scattered on the wind lost and forgotten while others remain and become the foundation new lives are made on. It is that foundation that gives us the strength, courage, knowledge we need to make the right choices for our own lives. Jesus knew that. He knew well about the generations that preceded Him and even Jesus had to make a choice in whom He would follow. Jesus made different choices than what was expected of a Nazarene, of a carpenter’s son, as the child of a low income family. Jesus broke the mold.

 

Today, Jesus is the Son of God, Son of Man, Savior of the world, King of kings, Lord of lords, our High Priest, our mediator before the throne of the Almighty God, our brother, our friend, our guide, our instructor, but when you look at His Earthly lineage you might wonder how that could be so. “How can any good come out of Nazareth?” Jesus was, after all, a Nazarene, yet Jesus didn’t fit the mold. Wasn’t He just the son of a carpenter? Who is this man who goes around preaching and teaching and performing miracles, healing and raising the dead? It was very upsetting to those of the higher social echelons. He soon became the enemy or what they construed as the enemy.

 

That same sort of thing happens today. I remember having a friend, pen pal from Japan. Now don’t take this wrong, my father was a very good man in many ways. He was a good father but he fought in World War II and he served in the Pacific Theater. War is hell. He suffered and he saw a lot of good men die, close friends, others maimed for life, thrown into prisons and left to die cruel deaths.) Ten or twelve years later or so I was assigned a pen pal from Japan. We became good friends until my father found out about it. It had all begun as one of those school projects where you write to someone from another land to learn about them and their culture.

 

My father did not want me corresponding with this person in any way. I was to have no sort of relationship with anyone who was Japanese, in his eyes; they were the enemy though the war had been over for several years. The war wasn’t my pen pals fault and it wasn’t my fault. We had barely been born at the time World War II was going on. We were infants and the innocent. How could any good come out of Japan? My father didn’t know at the time that what he was doing was wrong. You couldn’t have explained it to him if you had wanted to. If my pen pal then had been from France or England or one of our other Allies it would have been an entirely different story.

 

People are conditioned by society to be and think and feel in certain ways and if you step out of that mold it isn’t very graciously accepted. How could anything good come out of Nazareth or Germany or Japan or currently the Middle East? How could anything good come from that community, that neighborhood, that family? Yet, when you really look at it, there is both good and bad in every Nation, community and neighborhood and family. How could anything good come out of America? There are people in the world who ask that question. Yet we believe we are the greatest nation and people on Earth and in many ways we are very, very good but not in all ways any more than the people, the nations of Jesus Earthly heritage were good in all ways.

 

We judge whole nations of people, communities, neighborhoods and families by past reputations rather than looking at the individual heart and mind. Maybe in tracing our roots we will learn not to be so judgmental.

 

It is interesting to learn about the folks who came before you, the famous, the infamous, the heroes, the cowards, the cheats, the liars, the good, the bad, and all those in-between. We all have a few skeletons in our closet. Tracing one’s roots can be very humbling.

 

It is fun to learn about the lives, the choices our ancestors made and about what life was like in their generations, when they walked on this Earth but they are not who or what you and I are. We are who we are, what we are by the choices we make. We are each responsible for our own individual actions and reactions.

 

Tracing our roots can be a real eye opener, a good thing. We can learn from our past generations and maybe learn not to repeat the same mistakes or better still, find a role model for good.