In ancient times, a genealogy was used to determine who could be king or queen. If a person had an ancestor who was a king or queen, then that person could be a king or queen.
In the Old Testament, genealogies determined many different things. Genealogies determined who was allowed to be a priest, who was allowed to be king, and who belonged to God’s covenant people. For a person to be a priest, he had to be a descendant of Levi. For a person to be king in Jerusalem, he had to be a descendant of David. For a person to be a part of God’s covenant people, the person had to be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
In the New Testament, genealogies proved that Jesus was a descendant of King David. Therefore, Jesus could be the king of the Jews.
In ancient times, a genealogy often only mentioned someone’s ancestors who were men.
Paul warned Christians about studying and discussing genealogies too much (see: 1 Timothy 1:3-5; Titus 3:9). Paul said that genealogies cause arguments and are not helpful for serving God.
See: [Old Testament (Law and Prophets)](../articles/oldtestament.md); [People of God](../articles/peopleofgod.md ); [Priest (Priesthood) ](../articles/priest.md); [Covenant](../articles/covenant.md); [Tribes of Israel](../articles/tribesisrael.md); [Son of David](../articles/sonofdavid.md)
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