“There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of zuph, an Ephraimite” (1Samuel 1:1).
The Bible could simply have said, “There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah.” However, the Bible adds that Elkanah was the son of Jeroham. It further adds that Jeroham was the son of Elihu. It continues that Elihu was the son of Tohu and that Tohu was the son of Zuph. We know that the Holy Spirit had a reason for causing this Scripture to be presented this way. We can put it out as follows:
We say without hesitation that what Zuph was, was in some measure found in Elkanah. Elkanah was already in Zuph and, to some extent, Elkanah did what Zuph did, and Elkanah learnt and imbibed what was in Zuph and what Zuph did. The spiritual content of Zuph was reflected in some measure in Elkanah. This also means that what Elkanah was, influenced his descendants in many generations to come. We can put it this way:
What we are saying can be seen in the following:
Max Jules, the atheist, lived a godless life. He married an ungodly girl. From that union the following were produced:
- 310 who were paupers,
- 150 were criminals,
- 7 were murderers,
- 100 were drunkards,
- more than half of the women were prostitutes.
- His 540 known descendants cost the United States government 1.250.000 dollars.
Jonathan Edwards, the revivalist, lived at the same time as the atheist Max Jules. He married a godly girl. An investigation was made of his 1,394 known descendants. The investigation revealed the following about them:
- 13 became university presidents (vice-chancellors, rectors),
- 65 became university teachers,
- 3 became United States Senators,
- 30 became judges,
- 100 became lawyers,
- 60 became medical doctors,
- 75 became army and navy officials,
- 100 became preachers and missionaries,
- 60 became authors of prominence,
- 1 became a Vice-President of the United States of America,
- 80 became public officers in other capacities,
- 295 became university graduates among whom were the following :
- state governors,
- diplomats,
- and so on.
None of his descendants cost the United States government a dime. (Quoted From The Book, “Meat for Men” by Leonard Ravenhill, Bethany Fellowship Publishers, Minneapolis).
It is obvious that spiritual genetics is real. It is foolish to ignore it. The Lord God put the same matter in other words by saying, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation” (Exodus 34:6-7). Again the Bible says, “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:5-6).