Thus says the LORD:
“Keep justice, and do righteousness,
For My salvation is about to come,
And My righteousness to be revealed.
Blessed is the man who does this,
And the son of man who lays hold on it;
Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
Do not let the son of the foreigner
Who has joined himself to the LORD
Speak, saying,
“The LORD has utterly separated me from His people”;
Nor let the eunuch say,
“Here I am, a dry tree.”
For thus says the LORD:
“To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,
And choose what pleases Me,
And hold fast My covenant,
Even to them I will give in My house
And within My walls a place and a name
Better than that of sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
That shall not be cut off. (Isaiah 56:1-5)

Do you know the name of your great grandfather? Or would you have to go look it up? Most of us never met our great grandparents and most of us don’t even know their names.

Non-Israelites who converted to Judaism too often felt excluded. In fact, after the captivity, many were in fact put out: the Samaritans and others who could not demonstrate a genealogy, a direct connection to Jewish ancestors, were excluded from participation in most aspects of worship. According to the Mosaic legislation, a descendent of Aaron who had “damaged testicles” (Leviticus 21:20) could not serve as a priest in the temple. Eunuchs would not even have testicles, of course—and so any of them descended from Aaron would be excluded. Worse for them, of course, was the simple fact that they could never have children: no descendents. When they died, there would be nothing of them left behind. But God reassured them, as he reassured the foreign convert, that they belonged to God as much as anyone else might and that if they had signed on to God’s covenant, it meant that they were as everlasting as God was: their names could never be cut off. They belonged to God and would be with him always. Our great grandchildren might not remember our names, but God will never forget us: we’ll be part of him forever.

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