Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 67:3 (Sep 2024)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

JETS 67:3 (September 2024) p. 543

Book Reviews

All the Genealogies of the Bible: Visual Charts and Exegetical Commentary. By Nancy S. Dawson. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2023, xxvi + 581 pp., $49.99.

Nancy S. Dawson, with the help of two esteemed scholars—OT contributing author Eugene H. Merrill and NT contributing editor Andreas J. Köstenberger—has provided the church and academy a remarkable resource. This thorough and comprehensive reference work will be an invaluable tool for serious biblical students and scholars alike.

In his preface, Merrill notes what everyone knows to be true, that biblical readers and even OT scholars have given genealogies “short shrift” or “ignored them completely” (p. xvii). He encourages readers to adjust their view of genealogies by considering them a literary genre.

In her introduction, Dawson provides a thorough and helpful introduction that gives some necessary information for effective use of this book. She entices the reader with these words: “Thus, a great need seemed to exist to simplify the genealogical data, outline complicated lineages, disentangle branches of large family trees, and portray familial relationships in a clear and concise manner” (p. xxi). Carefully reading through this book makes it clear that she has satisfied this need admirably. The introduction provides concise guidelines to understand two basic structural forms as well as nineteen potential functions in “the domestic, social, political and religious spheres” (p. xxiv), and each is accompanied by brief examples. A few statistics provide a glimpse of what follows: “approximately 300 family tree charts … and an additional 13 supplement charts” (p. xxiv).

The introduction further illuminates genealogical insights with two metaphors: a house being built up, and a tree of life growing in height and breadth. These metaphors contribute throughout the book to consistent parallel themes of the family of God and salvation history. It is therefore fitting that the genealogy of Jesus be highlighted in the introduction. Interestingly, the genealogy of Jesus produces an early pinnacle in the book, occurring in the genealogical chart on 1 Chronicles 3 (pp. 189–201). This lengthy treatment will be highlighted below, but the introduction again entices the reader with this promise: “Harmonization is possible between the Matthew and Luke accounts of Jesus’ genealogy if the biblical patterns and the literary structure of the compositions are understood and if selective, plausible extrabiblical information is included” (p. xxv).

The format of the book proceeds not by chapters, but by genealogical charts. The only subdivision among the 300 chart...