Anniversary of the End of the Vietnam War

On April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese Army tanks moved through the gate of the Presidential Palace in Saigon, effectively ending the war. The last few Americans still in South Vietnam were airlifted out of Saigon. 

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/ending-vietnam?fbclid=IwAR1TXDSrTra76REBqsOtsGvdICfcE2lpxHUCqQ2LJw56EvOLlfeDwgiCkU0#:~:text=On%20April%2030%2C%201975%2C%20NVA,Saigon%2C%20effectively%20ending%20the%20war

A Birthday of Route 66

Friend Susan Croce Kelly is the author of "Route 66: The Highway and Its People" and "Father of Route 66: The Story of Cy Avery." She reminds us that today is the day "66" was selected as the number for the new highway from Chicago to Los Angeles. As she explains in her books, Cy Avery and B H Piepmeier had wanted the number to be 60--but so did promoters of the present U.S. 60 which, at that time, was planned from Virginia Beach to Springfield, MO. (Eventually, 60 was routed all the way to LA, too, though now it terminates In Arizona.) On April 30, 1926, Avery and Piepmeier decided that 66--a number that was not yet assigned to a highway--would be an acceptable substitute for “60,” and the new number became irresistibly catchy. This is an old photo where 60 and 66 overlap ---around Vinita, Oklahoma, I think. (Photo from https://www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=OK19260601 )

Republicans and Big Government

Wonderful op-ed piece  

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/21/opinion/republicans-abortion-guns-big-government.html

Science Birthdays

Happy birthday to Francis Collins, born April 14, 1950! He led the Human Genome Project, which mapped and identified the functions of the genes of the human genome. He also discovered genes associated with several diseases.

Multitalented Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens was born April 14, 1649. He is considered the first theoretical physicist; he derived the formulae for centripetal and centrifugal force; identified the laws of elastic collision; developed a wave theory of light; invented the pendulum clock; made improvements to the telescope; discovered Saturn's moon Titan and also the rings of Saturn.

Born April 15, 1772, Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was a French naturalist who theorized an underlying unity of organismal design, and the possibility of species transmutation in time. Developing on the ideas of his colleague Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Saint-Hilaire gathered evidence in embryology, amassing evidence for his claims through research in comparative anatomy, and paleontology. His ideas anticipated the evo-devo evolutionary concept.

Lincoln Assassination

158 years ago this evening, April 14, 1865, Lincoln and his wife Mary and two others went to Ford’s Theatre to see the comedy “Our American Cousin.” April 14 was Good Friday that year. John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirers had plotted to assassinate Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward. Seward was seriously injured but was not killed. But Booth entered Lincoln’s theatre box, at a moment in the play where Booth knew the gunshot would be drowned out by audience laughter: "Don’t know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal — you sockdologizing old man-trap." At that, Booth fatally wounded Lincoln with a single shot and jumped onto the stage, breaking his leg in the process. He escaped, and a few days later he was located and killed. Lincoln was carried to the house across the street from the theatre, where he died at 7:22 AM Saturday morning, April 15. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton is reported to declared, "Now he belongs to the ages."

 

Titanic Anniversary

The Titanic sank 111 years ago tonight. (My dad, who was 44 when I was born, was born a few months after the sinking. Random fact 🙂 ). I looked up the Titanic’s time line: the ship hit the iceberg at 11:40 PM April 14th, by the ship's time, which was two hours ahead of the eastern time zone. It sunk at 2:20 AM ship's time on April 15th. According to this site, this photo is the last known photo of the ship on the ocean surface. She had departed Cobh, Ireland, then called Queenstown, on April 11th. https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-the-last-photograph.html According to the article, the small boat was picking up the pilot who had guided the ship out of harbor. 

April 15 Tragedies

Several tragedies in history happened on April 15th. In 1865, President Lincoln died of his wounds that he received the evening before…. In 1912, the Titanic sank, with the loss of life of over 1500 persons… In 1927, New Orleans experienced 15 inches of rain in 18 hours, damaging much property from the high water. Some of the worst damage, though, came later, to homes and property destroyed when city officials decided to dynamite a levee to ease the water level. The property owners were poorly reimbursed, if at all…. During that same time, extensive flooding was happening along the Mississippi River because of other rains…. In 1989, 94 people died and 766 were injured in a fatal human crush at a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England. Three more persons died later from their injuries…. In 2013, 3 people were killed and hundreds injured from the detonation of homemade bombs at the Boston Marathon…. In 2019, a fire broke out at Notre-Dame de Paris, destroying much of the roof and damaging upper walls. Restoration work is anticipated to be finished in 2024.

Holy Saturday, Nuzul Al Quran, Passover Sabbath

Today is Holy Saturday, the second day of the Eastern Triduum when many Christians honor the fact that Jesus lay dead in the grave but soon will rise from the dead on Easter morning.

For Orthodox Christians, today is Lazarus Saturday, commemorating the raising of Lazarus from the dead. The day combines with tomorrow's celebration of Palm Sunday here at the end of Great Lent.  

Today is also the third day of Pesach (Passover) and the Sabbath of Passover. As I read about it this morning: a special prayer for God's favor, the Yaaleh v'Yavo, is inserted into the main body of prayers, and "Half Hallel" (a shorted version of Psalm 113-118) is recited. (The Full Hallel is recited during Passover's first two days.) Two Torah scrolls are taken out of the ark.

Today is also the third day of the Theravada Buddhist New Year, a festival that begins with the first full moon of April.  

(Easter is a full moon-determined holiday, too!  It's the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.)

Today is also the traditional birthday of Siddhartha Gautama, Shakyamuni Buddha, who was born about 563 BCE.

The Muslim holiday Nuzul Al-Quran continues till this evening (April 7-8). The day honors the first recital of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad by the Angel Gabriel (Jibrail), as Muhammad was praying (doing Ibadah) in a cave near Mecca. The first recitation was eventually written as verses 1-5 of Surah 96 (Al-Alaq). The Prophet received many more revelations during his life, which were written and assembled and became the holy Quran.

Quite a wonderful day!

Dancing in the Dark

A devotion written for our church for Good Friday

Dancing in the Dark

John 18:1-19:42

Paul Stroble 

Good Friday is a difficult holiday. It leaves us in the dark---literally. “Tenebrae,” the name of the Good Friday service, is a plural Latin word for darkness. Candles are extinguished during the service, giving increasing degrees of darkness in the sanctuary. Sad hymns, like “Were You There?” or “O Love Divine, What Hast Thou Done” may be sung during the service.

Years ago, when I served a little church in rural Illinois, I had a Tenebrae service in which we turned out all the lights in the church except the pulpit light. It was disconcerting, appropriate to the day. 

The expression “dancing in the dark” can mean that you’re looking for hope and purpose when you’re uncertain about everything. Good Friday is that kind of day—if we only look at Good Friday in isolation from the whole story. 

The suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus certainly have deep meaning. The Old Testament is rich and wonderful on its own, and the early followers of Jesus found the meaning of Jesus’ experiences in many passages of the scriptures. For a research project, I found nearly two pages of references: http://paulstroble.blogspot.com/2020/04/to-fulfill-scriptures.html  

The New Testament authors sought to show how Jesus’ sufferings were messianic, corresponding with biblical traditions. Even Jesus’ horrible death was rooted in the ancient word—and there was no shortage of scriptures!    

But during Jesus’ awful experiences (as narrated in our whole Gospel lesson), no one was leafing through the Bible to find key passages. Jesus suffered arrest, betrayal, the absence of all his friends, interrogation, scourging, and crucifixion and death. John’s Gospel does portray Jesus as being in control of the situation, confident in God’s purposes. But the situation is still, on the face of it, horrible. 

This past fall, I taught a course at Webster U called “The Meaning of Life”. We looked at all kinds of topics like: What is the source of meaning? Does the immensity of the universe make our lives less meaningful? Does the inevitability of death heighten or lessen one’s sense of meaning? Does God exist? Why is there suffering? Is there life after death?  

The Discipleship Resources for this lesson raise an interesting issue: What if a person visits your church only on Good Friday, without also coming to Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Easter Sunday? What would a preacher say about Good Friday that would point that person in directions of significance and purpose? Focusing only on the darkness may not give the person all they need.  

Generally, a preacher could put Good Friday in context of God’s whole purposes for our salvation. Jesus took our burdens. Jesus made it possible for us to give all our concerns to God. Jesus gave us confidence that we need never be afraid of God’s rejection---for nothing will separate us from God’s love. Jesus opened a rich tradition of the one true God that we, as Gentiles, might otherwise have missed. Jesus gives us wonderful opportunities to serve other people, to minister to their suffering and to love them unconditionally. 

Even the difficult passage about the lancing of Jesus’ side has positive meaning. The Romans wanted to ensure that Jesus was dead on the cross, so one of them pierced him with a spear. I’ve read that it’s physiologically likely that fluid had gathered around Jesus’ lungs and so both blood and clear liquid flowed from his wound. But notice that John really wants us to understand that this really happened (verse 35)!* The details stand for the sacraments of baptism and Eucharist, water and blood and body. 

A pastor would say to that evening visitor: Jesus established the very church in which we all sit! Come back to the church and see what other amazing, wonderful things God has in store!  

Prayer: 

Lord Jesus, thank you for being our Savior. Thank you for going through so much for people you never met—like us who live so long afterward, and those who will live after we are gone. Amen.  

*John refers to Zechariah 12:10, written five hundred years earlier: “so that, when they look on the one whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.” John also stresses that Jesus’ bones were not broken in connection to Psalm 34:20, as well as Passover Scriptures like Exodus 12:43–46 and Numbers 9:12. These Passover texts, in turn, connect us back to the image of Jesus as the Lamb of God. The Romans, acting in reluctant mercy, unknowingly acted according to rich traditions of Hebrew scriptures. 

Commanded to Love

Here's my wife Beth's devotional for our church for Maundy Thursday. 

Maundy Thursday. April 6, 2023

By Beth Stroble

Commanded to Love

Maundy Thursday, or as it is also called, Holy Thursday, immerses us in Jesus’ final days among his disciples, as he faced the time of his trial and crucifixion. Our United Methodist discipleship resource points out that by calling the day “Maundy,” we are called to focus on the teaching of Jesus in this moment with his disciples. Maundamus means to command.  Jesus uses the activity of washing the disciples’ feet to give the disciples a new commandment. It is here that we should give our attention because the command is for all who are his disciples.

As recounted by John, in the 13th chapter of his gospel, Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

John describes the details of this evening meal shared by Jesus and his disciples before the Festival of Passover, helping us understand that Jesus knew that “his time had come to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them fully.” This was a meal among constant and close companions, bound by love of Jesus and each other. What happens as they prepare to break bread is described by John in an understated and unassuming way: “So he [Jesus] got up from the table and took off his robes. Picking up a linen towel, he tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he was wearing.”

Yet, the act of being cleaned by the one who led them, their teacher and Lord, was anything but assumed for the disciples.  Peter responds emphatically, “You will never wash my feet!” Only after Jesus’ explanation of the need for their cleaning and the meaning of his example did Peter and the others relax to accept this act of love and service.  Jesus urges the disciples to follow his example, humbling themselves to be served and to serve.

Why did Peter react as he did?  Did he think that he did not need to be washed?  Did he object to being washed by his Lord? Did he feel pride, only the need to rely on himself, without dependence on others, even Jesus?

Because of my recent experience recovering from surgery to replace my left knee, I have a new understanding of the way in which dependence upon others’ care affected my sense of self. As I counted on Paul to assist me with the most basic activities and functions, I had no choice but to give up my usual independence and self-reliance.  I needed to accept the acts of love and kindness he gladly extended and to seek help rather than resist being dependent. Of course, I am glad to have regained my mobility and with it my usual independence. I hope I will not soon forget that I am and can be more vulnerable as a choice and a necessity. As I consider Jesus’ teaching, I want to respond to the call to serve others and to heed the command of Maundy Thursday: the command to love. 

Dear Lord, as we stand in awe of your grace, your time with us in this world, your journey to the cross, your sacrificial love for us, and your redeeming gift of salvation, we seek to live as you command. Teach us how to follow your new commandment: to love you and love each other.

Tales of Two Yales

Born April 5, 1649, Elihu Yale was an American-born British colonial administator who served as President of the British East India Company settlement in Fort St. George, at Madras. He oversaw economic operations, including slave trading, while supervising Fort St. George. Historians debate whether he opposed or encouraged the slave trade. Two paintings of him do show a young enslaved man, apparently Tamil, with a locked collar around his neck. ... Yale retired to Wales. Back in America, in 1718, a small place in Connecticut called Collegiate School was struggling financially. New England clergyman Cotton Mather approached Yale about a gift to the school. Yale sent over £800 worth of books and goods--$100,000 or more today. Collegiate School was soon named Yale College in his honor. Yale College became Yale University in 1887... During the past several years, there have been many discussions about the fact that the school's namesake had some involvement in the slave trade, and what was the school's early history in relation to slavery. Should the school be renamed after 322 years? It seems unlikely, although one of the colleges was recently renamed for Rear Adm. Grace Hopper, rather than the slavery-supporting alumni John C. Calhoun. A recent alum magazine has an article about slavery at Yale and in New Haven in the early years. Good that it's being acknowledged and discussed.

Born April 4, 1821, Linus Yale Jr. was a mechanical engineer and manufacturer who cofounded the Yale Lock Company. He invented types of locks, notably the cylinder lock, and types of bank locks still in use today. Linus Yale was a distant relative to Elihu Yale, both of them related through Thomas Yale, one of the founders of New Haven Colony in 1639. 

Bible Families: Jacob and Sons

I'm continuing my informal study of the Bible's genealogies. Now, we turn to the family of Jacob! 

(The full range of these families will take quite a while to study. Jacob had twelves sons and one daughter by four women. From this family came the Twelve Tribes of Israel.) 

Here is the first list of the sons of Jacob. Remember that Israel and Jacob are the same person.  (And, again, this is KJV, which is in the public domain.) 

Genesis 35:22 And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it. [This sin is noted in Genesis 49:4.] 

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:

23 The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun:

24 The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin:

25 And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali:

26 And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid: Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padanaram.

27 And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

28 And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.

29 And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Then, we have more detail in Genesis 46, when Jacob and his whole family travel to Egypt to see Joseph—who has been alive all this time! 

The heads of the tribes are in bold, and the wives/concubines are in bold and underlined. 

Genesis 46:5  And Jacob rose up from Beersheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.

6 And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him:

7 His sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt.

8 And these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn.

9 And the sons of Reuben; 

Hanoch, and Phallu, 

and Hezron, and Carmi.

10 And the sons of Simeon; 

Jemuel, and Jamin, 

and Ohad, and Jachin, 

and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman.

11 And the sons of Levi; 

Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

12 And the sons of Judah; 

Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zarah: 

but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. 

And the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul.

13 And the sons of Issachar; 

Tola, and Phuvah, 

and Job, and Shimron.

14 And the sons of Zebulun; 

Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel.

15 These be the sons of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob in Padanaram, with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty and three.

16 And the sons of Gad; 

Ziphion, and Haggi, 

Shuni, and Ezbon, 

Eri, and Arodi, and Areli.

17 And the sons of Asher; 

Jimnah, and Ishuah, 

and Isui, and Beriah, 

and Serah their sister: 

and the sons of Beriah; 

Heber, and Malchiel.

18 These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls.

19 The sons of Rachel Jacob's wife; 

Joseph, and Benjamin.

20 And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him.

[Remember that the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, became heads of two tribes of Israel---so Joseph is associated with two tribes rather than one.]

21 And the sons of Benjamin were 

Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, 

Gera, and Naaman, 

Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, 

and Huppim, and Ard.

22 These are the sons of Rachel, which were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen.

23 And the sons of Dan; 

Hushim.

24 And the sons of Naphtali; 

Jahzeel, and Guni, 

and Jezer, and Shillem.

25 These are the sons of Bilhah, which Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter, and she bare these unto Jacob: all the souls were seven.

26 All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob's sons' wives, all the souls were threescore and six;

27 And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten.

Verse 14 refers to Judah’s sons Er and Onan. Read Genesis 38 for the story of how Tamar tricked her father-in-law into impregnating her. She was the childless widow of Er. By marital tradition of the time, her brother-in-law Onan was required to impregnate her. But he withdrew before ejaculation and subsequently died! Tamar turned to her husband’s father. She had twins Perez and Zerah. Perez became the ancestor of David—and of Jesus—via Boaz and Ruth. Jesus’ genealogies in Matthew and Luke both mention Perez. 

Wikipedia has a lot of information about Dinah: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinah

Genesis 49 gives us Jacob’s deathbed blessings to his sons. 

49 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.

2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.

6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.

7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.

9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?

10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:

12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.

14 Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:

15 And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.

16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

18 I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.

19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.

20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.

21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.

22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:

26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

27 Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.

29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

30 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.

31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.

33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

I'll return to this topic later, but much later in biblical history, this is how the book of Joshua lays out the lands of the Twelve Tribes. 

                                                            from Wikipedia 

This is getting a little ahead, but I'll return to it.  Exodus 6 takes the above genealogies slightly further, but only for Simeon, Reuben, and Levi. 

Exodus 6:13 And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

14 These be the heads of their fathers' houses: The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel; Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi: these be the families of Reuben.

15 And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman: these are the families of Simeon.

16 And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari: and the years of the life of Levi were an hundred thirty and seven years.

17 The sons of Gershon; Libni, and Shimi, according to their families.

18 And the sons of Kohath; Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel: and the years of the life of Kohath were an hundred thirty and three years.

19 And the sons of Merari; Mahali and Mushi: these are the families of Levi according to their generations.

20 And Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years.

21 And the sons of Izhar; Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri.

22 And the sons of Uzziel; Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Zithri.

23 And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bare him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

24 And the sons of Korah; Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph: these are the families of the Korhites.

25 And Eleazar Aaron's son took him one of the daughters of Putiel to wife; and she bare him Phinehas: these are the heads of the fathers of the Levites according to their families.

26 These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom the Lord said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies.

27 These are they which spake to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: these are that Moses and Aaron.

My New Interpreter's Bible notes that this genealogy seems to be inserted into the narrative of Exodus 6 in order to show the lineage of Moses and Aaron. In chapter 6, the Lord reaffirms his purposes for his people, who are in despair.  

Moses and Aaron (and sister Miriam) are simultaneously grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Jacob's son Levi, since their mother Jochebed was also their grandfather's sister. 

from Wikipedia.