Who was Perez in the Bible?

Son of Judah and Tamar, his daughter-in-law, through whom David descended. Gen. 38:29; Gen. 46:12; Num. 26:20-21; Ruth 4:12, 18; 1 Chr. 2:4-5; 1 Chr. 4:1; 1 Chr. 9:4; Matt. 1:3; Luke 3:33. The Hebrew is the same as PEREZ in 1 Chr. 27:3; Neh. 11:4, 6.

They desired (2) for Boaz that he who was already a man of substance might through the redeemed inheritance acquire further power and possess a still more famous and illustrious name in Bethlehem. This prayerful hope was gloriously and supremely answered, for by this marriage Boaz became ancestor of Israel's Messiah Who in due time was born in Bethlehem, little though it was "among the thousands of Judah" (Micah 5:2).

Further, their desire (3) was that the house or family of Boaz might be numerous and influential in the tribe of Judah, like the house of Pherez. Pherez (Pharez in the A.V.) was the second son of Judah, and twin-brother of Zerah or Zarah. His two sons and their families are mentioned in the census of the children of Israel taken in the plains of Moab near Jericho (Num. 26:20-21). He was an ancestor of Boaz (Ruth 4:18-21), and Jashobean, one of his descendants, was "chief of all the captains of the host," commanding 24,000 men selected for service in the court of king David during the month Nisan (1 Chron. 27:2. 3).

The brief narrative in this Book shows how, through the providential over-ruling of Jehovah, Ruth the Moabitess became naturalized in Bethlehem-Judah in the land of Israel. The narrative ends with the statement that Obed, the son of Boaz and Ruth, "is the father of Jesse, the father of David," this brief sentence expressing the main object of the record. But a fuller genealogy is added, which extends David's pedigree backwards as far as Pherez, the son of Judah. "Now these are the generations of Pherez. Pherez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab, and Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salma, and Salma begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed, and Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David" (Ruth 4:18-22).

This table of lineage unaccompanied by comment is of importance, forming as it does plain proof of the descent of David from the tribe of Judah, to which tribe the sceptre and the lawgiver in Israel belonged, according to the inspired promise and prophecy of Jacob on his deathbed (Gen. 49). The evidence afforded by this short list of names is sufficient in itself to invalidate all rival claims to royalty either by the tribe of Ephraim or by the tribe of Benjamin. It therefore connects the Book of Ruth with the histories of king Saul of Gibeah in Benjamin and king David of Bethlehem in Judah, which follow in the Books of Samuel. The period covered by the table extends from the calling of the Israelites out of Egypt to be Jehovah's people and nation to the time when Jehovah raised up David to reign over them as His king.

The list contains ten generations, and these may be divided into two groups of five. The first five names — Pherez to Nahshon — are connected mainly with Israel when in Egypt and in the wilderness; the second — Salmon to David — with Israel in the land up to the time when monarchy was established under God's chosen king. The pedigree shows the distinct line of constitutional royalty promised to the nation. The names given in it are not always those of the eldest in the family. David himself, for instance, was the seventh son of Jesse (1 Chron. 2:15). The line of descent from Pherez was decreed to end with the Messiah, and it was therefore continuously under the superintendence of Jehovah. Elimelech's name does not appear in the list, but that of Boaz, the son of Salmon. This selection shows the religious value attached to the marriage of Ruth and the redemption of the inheritance, of which perhaps the happy couple themselves were entirely unaware.

Some historical items connected with the names in this list may be noted. Pherez (Perez), the son of Judah and Tamar is always given precedence over his twin-brother Zarah or Zerah, so that he possessed the right of primogeniture. The family of Pherez (Num. 26:20) held highest rank in the tribe of Judah in David's reign (1 Chron. 27:3), and seems to have been distinguished by its fertility and virility. This rapid increase of the family explains the allusion to "the house of Pherez" by the people at the marriage of Boaz (4:12). The list in Ruth begins with Pherez, and not with his father, Judah, who died prior to the time of the Exodus, which was the beginning of national life for the children of Israel. Hezron was the firstborn of Pherez. Ram is sometimes called Aram (Matt. 1:3). Amminadab was the father of Elisheba, who became the wife of Aaron, brother of Moses, and first of the hereditary high-priests of Israel (Ex. 6:23). Nahshon (Naason) was brother-in-law of Aaron (Ex. 6:23), and prince or head of the tribe of Judah (Num. 1:7; Num. 2:3; 1 Chron. 2:10). Salmon (Salma), son of Nahshon, married Rahab the harlot, and was the father of Boaz (Matt. 1:5). Salmon was probably one of the two men whom Joshua sent to Jericho and the neighbourhood secretly, and who lodged in Rahab's house (Joshua ii). Obed has been already noticed. Jesse the Bethlehemite (1 Sam. 16:1, 18; 1 Sam. 17:58) had eight sons (1 Sam. 16:10-11; 1 Sam. 17:12). Jesse is described as "that Ephrathite of Bethlehem-Judah," and "was old in the days of Saul; advanced in years among men" (1 Sam. 17:12). He was a wealthy man, but his great distinction in the nation seems to have been that he was the father of David, his youngest son, who rose to the throne of Israel, having been chosen by Jehovah to be the ruler of His people.

But while the Spirit of God thus for a moment raises the veil, and we see the abominations that are now done in Israel, we are given also to catch the faint glimpse of distant blessing. Judah is brought to know and confess his sin; the pledges of his full abomination are produced and owned by him in the spirit of a repentant one; and then "mercy rejoiceth against judgment." Pharez comes forth, and he is the second Jacob, the supplanter, who, in spite of fleshly title in his elder brother, gets the birthright. The kingdom suffers violence at his hand, and he takes it by force. And from this Pharez comes the true Inheritor of the blessing, the righteous Supplanter of every usurper, the one that shall prevail, and whose kingdom shall stand for ever. (Matt. 1:3.)

(a) First, then, we are carried back to Er and Onan, that we may remember what a history was that of Judah's family. In these the enmity to God, and the iniquity in which it displays itself find their condemnation and pass away. No fruit of righteousness — Tamar, the "palm" — can be from these. In the third son, Shelah, does Judah's seed find, as it were, its resurrection, and his name tells of "peace," now for the first time found.

Shelah is fruitful, but much more Tamar's seed; of which Pharez, the "breaker forth," breaks out into a multitudinous fruit, which fills up all the after history of Judah. Hence come her kings, and her great King; while twin with Pharez comes Zerah. or the [sun] rise, from whom come afterward singers, as Ethan, and warriors, as Shammah, Sibbechai, Maharai, stout defenders of the throne. A little care may easily find here the meaning.

Two families of Pharez have special mention, Hetzron ("inclosure"?), and Hamul ("compassionate.") They may perhaps represent tendencies which easily come into opposition with one another, and which should not, whose true meaning is seen in union, as with the walled palm-stem of which we have been led to think, and which supports its plenteous fruit.

Now in all this history of Tamar's the thing that strikes me in this connection is, that there is no redeeming feature about it. If I take the record attached to the other names which have place with hers in this genealogy, I may find perhaps in each case something that breaks the darkness a little. But I find nothing similar recorded about Tamar. She comes before me in this picture as a sinner and nothing else. The wife successively of two men, each cut off for his wickedness by divine judgment, she dares yet in her own person, by crime equal to theirs, provoke divine judgment. But the wonder above all this is, that it is this very sin that brings her name into the Lord's genealogy — for this sin it was that made her the mother of Pharez, one of the direct line in Christ's ancestry.

Pha’res - Greek for Pharez

Pha’rez - A breach

The book closes with the genealogy of David. Is it not remarkable that this record should begin with Pharez? That the elders and the people should take the house of Pharez as a pattern of blessing for the house of Boaz? "Let thy house be like the house of Pharez "? Who was Pharez? Let Gen. 38 answer. Why not begin with his father, Judah? His was the greatest of the tribes of Israel. But it was through Pharez, son of Tamar, the promised blessing must come. God led His line of promise through base things of the world, and took up those that man would spurn. This was to magnify His grace and exalt His name. How unlike man, by whom the greater the object before him, the better the means used. Not so with God; base things, and things that are not, characterise the instruments, or the channels, to accomplish His word. Truly, "my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah" (Isa. 55) At that moment, Israel, according to the righteousness of law was ruined, and could have no valid title to any one thing on the ground of obedience and fidelity to God. They had joined themselves to idols; they were then morally in the condition of Pharez, children of transgressions, as the prophet said long after (Isa. 57:4). Their own ordinances shut them out, for God had said by Moses, "A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of Jehovah" (Deut. 23:2). But in a world of sin, where even saints fail, there can be no other ground, save judgment, than absolute grace, and then sovereign grace. It forms and carries out its own purposes, and chooses its own way; and so it comes to pass that, if the beginning be Pharez, the end is David.

Of no other son of Israel have we such a picture; and there is no reason to suppose Judah worse than his brethren. But the light is let in on his private life that time grace of our Lord Jesus Christ when He humbled Himself to become a man might be more manifest. He chose this tribe of Judah, which is continued not through the honourable tie of marriage but through sin. Look at Pharez, the next link in the chain — a child of incest — the stream was polluted at its source. What honourable man of the world would boast of ancestry like this, with the bar sinister across his escutcheon? The heroes of paganism pretend descent from their gods. All fable and imagination, you say. Most true. But they did imagine even a celestial origin: not one would admit that he sprang from the despised and the ignoble. The semi-civilised aborigines of Mexico claimed for their chiefs descent from the sun and moon, the objects of their worship. The Brahmins claim Brahma — a sort of demi-god — as their ancestor; the Chinese boast of a quasi-celestial origin.

In the next place, we have a description of the distribution of the people. (See also 1 Chr. 9:2-16.) In Jerusalem there were, besides priests and Levites, children of Judah and children of Benjamin (vv. 4, 10, etc.); while in the cities there were "Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the Nethinims, and the children of Solomon's servants."* We may briefly glance at the details. Of Judah there were in the holy city "four hundred threescore and eight valiant men" — all "sons of Perez" or Pharez; i.e., they are traced back to the son of Judah, as evidence that they could show their genealogy. Of Benjamin there were nine hundred and twenty-eight. Of these "Joel the son of Zichri was their overseer: and Judah the son of Senuah was second over the city." We find here abundant confirmation of the fact that, apart from the priests and Levites, only the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, or representatives of these, were brought back from Babylon. That there might have been individual members of other tribes, such, for example, as Anna, who was "of the tribe of Aser" (Luke 2:36), in no wise affects this statement. As tribes, Judah and Benjamin only were restored; and thus the remaining ten tribes are "lost" to this day, hidden, in the ways of God, among the peoples of the earth; but the time is fast approaching, though it may be not until after the appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, when they will be brought out of their hiding-place, and set in security and blessing in their own land under the peaceful sway of their glorious Messiah. (See Jeremiah 29:14, 31; Ezekiel 20:33-44.)