First Chronicles opens with the genealogy of Adam, the father of the entire human race (1 Chronicles 1:1–4), narrows down to that of Noah (1 Chronicles 1:5–27), and then to Abraham the Hebrew, the father of the covenant people (1 Chronicles 1:28–33).

Both the former and the latter prophets recognized the significance of Israel as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6). This function would best be accomplished by a series of covenants, all initiated by the Lord, as a means of recovering and redeeming fallen mankind. Adam's disobedience in the garden of Eden had brought estrangement between God and his creatures made in his image, and therefore necessitated a plan whereby fallen man could be restored to covenant fellowship with God. To this end, he established a covenant with Abraham whose seed would be the channel through which all nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:1–3; Genesis 15:18; Genesis 17:1–8; Genesis 22:18; Genesis 26:4; Genesis 28:14).

The first word in 1 Chronicles 1:1 is Adam. This is probably one of the more defining opening verses of the books in the Bible (on par with the opening verses of Genesis, Mark, Hebrews, and Revelation). It tells us of Adam, the man, the father of the human race, the first of the people of God, the father of Seth who was followed by name after name of men who would have been precious and well-known to the ear of any discouraged Jew who had returned from exile.

The Chronicler’s expansive view of history and of Israel’s role as a divinely appointed agent of redemption dictates that he should begin with the descent of humanity from Adam, the first man.¹ Israel’s history is tied up with the history of the whole world. Israel did not simply drop out of the sky as an entity all on it own. We all, Jew and Gentile, are the offspring of our first father.

The genealogy is presented in linear fashion (from one generation to the next in sequential order). The first three names in the Chronicler’s list are Adam, Seth, and Enosh. It is through Seth that the line will continue.

We find the same three names at the end of Luke’s genealogy of Jesus Christ: the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God (Luke 3:38). The Lord’s purpose and destination with all of these genealogies should now be very clear: the coming of the second or last Adam into the world as deliverer from the exile brought about by the fall of the first man into sin and separation from the Creator.

It is significant to note that what takes thirty-two verses in Genesis to record (Genesis 5:1–32), the Chronicler rapidly deals with in the space of four verses (1 Chronicles 1:1–4). His purpose is obviously to get to the Davidic ancestry as quickly as possible.