Pharez

AI summary: Pharez matters because the cross references place him at the surprising and morally tangled origin of a major royal line. Born through the difficult Tamar narrative, he becomes the ancestor through whom Judah's family expands in ways later celebrated in Ruth, Chronicles, and post-exilic lists. His significance is therefore mostly genealogical, but that genealogy carries enormous biblical weight. Taken together, the material presents Pharez as a foundational Judahite ancestor whose line shows how God works through flawed family histories to carry covenant purposes forward.¹

=Pharez, (q.v.), breach, the son of Judah (Neh. 11:4). “The chief of all the captains of the host for the first month” in the reign of David was taken from his family (1 Chr. 27:3). Four hundred and sixty-eight of his “sons” came back from captivity with Zerubbabel, who himself was one of them (1 Chr. 9:4; Neh. 11:6). ³