Day 35: Achim Lent 2016 - Forty days in the genealogy of our Lord
The thirty-fifth generation in the genealogy of Jesus Christ is Achim. Achim is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Jokim. The name Achim (Jokim) means "the Lord establishes." As you can see, the meaning of his name is similar to the name of his great-grandfather Eliakim. These people were living during the intertestamental period when Judea was under Persian and Greek rule. They did not have complete freedom, their country was not fully established with complete sovereignty. Thus, these people of faith looked to God to establish their nation again so that the coming path of the Messiah would be established through them.
“‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10, NASB)
Today, as we await the second coming of Christ and the establishment of the Messianic kingdom, we should also be praying, "Your kingdom come and your will be done..." When we seek first, the establishment of God's kingdom and His righteous rule in this world, then God Himself will establish our lives firmly in His grace and blessing!
There is one person with the name Achim (Jokim) in the Old Testament.
Jokim appears as a descendant of Shelah, the third son born to Judah by Bath-shua the Canaanitess (1 Chr 2: 3; 4: 21-22). Jokim worked for the king as a potter. First Chronicles 4: 23 states, “These were the potters and the inhabitants of Netaim and Gederah; they lived there with the king for his work.” The word lived is yāšab in Hebrew and means “to dwell” (for an extended period of time), “to stay,” “to remain,” or “to marry.”
The expression “lived there with the king” does not mean that they actually lived with the king for an extended period of time. It means that they managed his land for a long time although they may have dwelt away from the king geographically. It appears that their hearts were always with the king and were acknowledged by the king for their faithfulness.
Wherever we may be working for the Lord today, if we have the faith that the King of kings is always with us, then we will be acknowledged by God and be able to manage that task until the end.
The name Achim (Jokim) means, “The Lord establishes.”
Jokim, who appears once in the Old Testament, belongs to the tribe of Judah; and the father of Achim, who appears in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, is also from the tribe of Judah. It appears that there were cases where people of those times chose names for their children from among the names of their forefathers.
As Jokim worked as a potter (1 Chr 4: 22-23), he probably realized and experienced that only God establishes our lives, as it is written, “But now, O LORD, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You our potter; and all of us are the work of Your hand” (Isa 64: 8). The father of Achim in the genealogy of Jesus Christ probably also realized this and named his son Achim (“the Lord establishes”) with the earnest hope that God would establish his son’s life.
It is presumed that Achim lived during the period of the Greek rule (331– 164 BC) in the intertestamental period. Unlike the Persian rulers who were religiously tolerant, the Greeks oppressed religion in their attempt to Hellenize Judah. If Achim lived according to the meaning of his name during times when there was no religious freedom, then he probably hoped earnestly that God would quickly establish the Messianic kingdom through Israel as God had covenanted with Abraham and David. Psalm 127:1-2 states, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors.”
God is the beginning and the end of everything (Isa 44:6; 48:12; Rev 1:17; 2:8; 21:6; 22:13). If God does not begin something, establish it, and protect it to the end, then the result will lack substance and all will be in vain. Thus, when we live our lives entrusting everything to God from the beginning to the end without despairing in any difficult situation, then we will receive the blessing of God raising us up and establishing us, as well as our families, our churches, and our businesses.
- from The Promise of the Eternal Covenant by Rev. Abraham Park