The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. These were the clans of Simeon. Simeon is listed briefly — his line will not be the focus of the genealogy — but the detail that Shaul was the son of a Canaanite woman is recorded honestly. The genealogy does not clean up the family tree. The mixed heritage within the twelve tribes, the complicated unions, the sons of servant women alongside the sons of wives — all are preserved. Ruth 4:18–22 provides another genealogy that includes what might seem like inconvenient ancestors, and Matthew 1:3–6 preserves four women in Jesus' lineage whose stories are anything but simple. The God who works through family lines is not selecting only the uncontaminated branches. He works through the whole tree, complicated and mixed as it is.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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