GENEALOGY (γενεαλογία: γένος race, and λόγος account), an enumeration of a series of ancestors, or a summary account of the relations and alliances of a person or family, both in the direct and collateral lines. A genealogy or lineage is frequently drawn out under the figure of a tree, with its root, stem, and branches, and the genealogical degrees are usually represented in circles or parallelograms, ranged over, under, and beside each other.
No nation was more careful to frame and preserve its genealogical tables than Israel. Their sacred writings contain genealogies which extend through a period of more than 3500 years, from the creation of Adam to the captivity of Judah. Indeed, it appears from the books of Ezra and Nehemiah that the same carefulness in this matter was observed after the captivity; see Ezra, ii. 62. The division of the whole Hebrew nation into tribes, and the allotment to each tribe of a specified portion of the land of Canaan as an inalienable possession, rendered it indispensable that they should keep genealogical tables. But it was not this alone that made the Jews so anxious to preserve their pedigrees; for the voice of prophecy had declared that the promised Messiah should be of the seed of Abraham, of the posterity of Isaac, of the sons of Jacob, of the tribe of Judah, and of the family of David.
The Rabbins affirm that after the Captivity the Jews were most careful in keeping their pedigrees (Babyl. Gemar. Gloss. fol. xiv. 2). Josephus (De Vita sua, p. 998, D) states that he traced his own descent from the tribe of Levi by public registers. And he informs us, that however dispersed and depressed his nation were, they never neglected to have exact genealogical tables prepared from the authentic documents which were kept at Jerusalem; and that in all their sufferings they were careful to preserve those tables, and to have them renewed from time to time. Since, however, the period of their destruction as a nation by the Romans, all their tables of descent seem to be lost, and now they are utterly unable to trace the pedigree of any one Israelite who might lay claim to be of that line from which their still expected Messiah is to arise.