Jesse () or Yishai ( he, יִשַׁי – ''Yīšay'', – ''ʾĪšay''. in
pausa he, יִשָׁי – ''Yīšāy'', meaning "King" or "God's gift"; syr, ܐܝܫܝ – ''Eshai''; el, Ἰεσσαί – ''Iessaí''; la, Issai, Isai, Jesse), is a figure described in the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
as the father of
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
, who became the king of the
Israelites
The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan.
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...
. His son David is sometimes called simply "Son of Jesse" (''Ben Yishai''). The role as both father of King David and ancestor of
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
has been used in various depictions in art, e.g. as the
Tree of Jesse
The Tree of Jesse is a depiction in art of the ancestors of Jesus Christ, shown in a branching tree which rises from Jesse of Bethlehem, the father of King David. It is the original use of the family tree as a schematic representation of a g ...
or in hymns like "
Lo, how a rose e'er blooming."
Biblical background
Narrative
According to the Bible, Jesse was the son of
Obed and the grandson of
Ruth
Ruth (or its variants) may refer to:
Places
France
* Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France
Switzerland
* Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny
United States
* Ruth, Alabama
* Ruth, Ar ...
and of
Boaz
Boaz (; Hebrew: בֹּעַז ''Bōʿaz''; ) is a biblical figure appearing in the Book of Ruth in the Hebrew Bible and in the genealogies of Jesus in the New Testament and also the name of a pillar in the portico of the historic Temple in J ...
. He lived in
Bethlehem
Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...
, in Judah, and was of the
Tribe of Judah
According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe of Judah (, ''Shevet Yehudah'') was one of the twelve Tribes of Israel, named after Judah, the son of Jacob. Judah was the first tribe to take its place in the Land of Israel, occupying the southern ...
, he was a
farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...
,
breeder
A breeder is a person who selectively breeds carefully selected mates, normally of the same breed to sexually reproduce offspring with specific, consistently replicable qualities and characteristics. This might be as a farmer, agriculturalist, ...
and owner of sheep. He was a prominent resident of the town of Bethlehem. Jesse is important in
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
because he was the father of the most famous King of Israel. He is important in
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
, in part because he is in the
Old Testament and mentioned in the
genealogy of Jesus
The New Testament provides two accounts of the genealogy of Jesus, one in the Gospel of Matthew and another in the Gospel of Luke. Matthew starts with Abraham, while Luke begins with Adam. The lists are identical between Abraham and David, but ...
. Later rabbinic traditions name him as one of four ancient Israelites who died without sin, the other three being
Benjamin,
Chileab and
Amram.
The
Book of Samuel states that Jesse had eight sons, naming the first three as Eliab, Abinadab and Shammah, and David as the youngest. The
Book of Chronicles names seven sons of Jesse—Eliab, Abinadab, Shimea, Nethanel, Raddai, Ozem and David—as well as two daughters,
Zeruiah Zeruiah ( sometimes transliterated Tzruya or Zeruya) was a sister of King David. According to both and the Babylonian Talmud, Zeruiah was a daughter of Jesse and sister of Abigail, to whom reference is made in 1 Chronicles () and Samuel 2 (). Ze ...
and
Abigail
Abigail () was an Israelite woman in the Hebrew Bible married to Nabal; she married the future King David after Nabal's death ( 1 Samuel ). Abigail was David's second wife, after Saul and Ahinoam's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later marri ...
. Among his grandchildren were the three sons of
Zeruiah Zeruiah ( sometimes transliterated Tzruya or Zeruya) was a sister of King David. According to both and the Babylonian Talmud, Zeruiah was a daughter of Jesse and sister of Abigail, to whom reference is made in 1 Chronicles () and Samuel 2 (). Ze ...
:
Abishai,
Joab
Joab (Hebrew Modern: ''Yōʼav'', Tiberian: ''Yōʼāḇ'') the son of Zeruiah, was the nephew of King David and the commander of his army, according to the Hebrew Bible.
Name
The name Joab is, like many other Hebrew names, theophoric - de ...
and
Asahel
Asahel ( he, עשהאל, grc, ‘Ασαέλ, Latin ''Asael'') was a military leader under King David and the youngest son of David's sister Zeruiah. Asahel thus was the nephew of David and the younger brother of David's general, Joab, Asahel is ...
; and
Amasa, the son of Abigail.
One day the prophet
Samuel came to Bethlehem sent by God, to anoint the next king of Israel. Ostensibly, his visit to Bethlehem was to offer a sacrifice to God. He used that excuse because he was afraid that
King Saul
Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered tri ...
might kill him if he suspected the true reason for his arrival in Bethlehem. Samuel offered a sacrifice with Jesse and then went to his house, where he sanctified him and his family. The
prophet
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
asked Jesse to present his sons. When Samuel saw Eliab, Jesse's eldest son, he was impressed by his stature and convinced that he must be God's anointed king, however, God said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7 NIV). When Jesse presented his second son, Abinadab, God told Samuel, "The Lord has not chosen this one either" (1 Samuel 16:8 NIV). This happened again with his third son, Shammah, then his fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh sons. Finally, Samuel inquired of Jesse if he had any other sons. Jesse told him that David the youngest was tending the flock. The prophet then asked for him to be brought in from tending the sheep. Samuel waited, and when he arrived
God
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
asked the prophet to anoint David as king over
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
(1 Samuel 16:13).
Some time later, Saul, suffering from depression and melancholy, asked Jesse for his son David to play the harp for him, since he had heard that David played the harp beautifully. Jesse sent his son along with some gifts for the King. The King was so taken with David's harp playing that he asked Jesse to keep him in his court to play for him whenever he was depressed. Later on Jesse sent his son David with gifts to be given to his older brothers who were to fight in the war against the
Philistines
The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, whe ...
in Saul's army. Years later David fled to the desert away from Saul, who sought to kill David in order for him to stay in power and not have his throne be taken away from him. David, worried about the safety of his parents, went to
Mizpah in
Moab, to ask permission from the King to allow his father Jesse and his mother to stay under the royal protection of the King. They stayed there until David's fortunes took a turn for the better.
In prophecy
![John in Korovniki church - prophet 01 Jesse (c](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/John_in_Korovniki_church_-_prophet_01_Jesse_%28c._1654%2C_Yaroslavl%29.jpg)
The name ''Jesse'' is referenced in the Old Testament, and in particular the passages of
Isaiah
Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named.
Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...
, Chapter 11, Verses 1–3:
Also Chapter 11, Verse 10:
These are two of the verses regarded by Christians as prophecy of the
advent of Jesus, whom they consider to be the
Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
and
Messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...
. These two prophecies are regarded by Bahá'ís as referring to
Bahá'u'lláh, alleged to also have arisen from "the stump of Jesse".
These prophecies are also regarded in Latter-Day Saint Movement about the coming
Root of Jesse, an ensign who holds special priesthood keys and a gathering of the Lord's people.
Tomb of Jesse
![YSHAI747](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/YSHAI747.JPG)
The Tomb of Ruth and Jesse is an old stone structure on a hilltop in
Hebron
Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...
which today serves as a synagogue. It receives numerous visitors every year, especially on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot when the Book of Ruth is read. The 1537 book ''Yihus HaAvos V'Neviim (Lineage of the Patriarch and the Prophets)'' describes the tomb as "a handsome building up on the mount, where Jesse, the King David's father is buried." It includes a drawing of the site, and notes an "ancient Israelite burial ground" nearby and Crusader courtyard. Rabbi Moshe Basola wrote in his travel journal that the site houses a cave which connects to the
Tomb of Machpela
A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...
, an assertion postulated by many over the years. The site was refurbished in 2009.
See also
*
List of people named Jesse
*
Nitzevet
Nitzevet bat Adael ( ''Nīṣṣeḇeṯ baṯ ʿAḏʾēl'') is, according to Hanan bar Rava, the mother of David with her husband Jesse. According to the Bible Jesse had at least nine children: Eliab, Abinadab, Shimma, Nethaneel, Raddai, Ozem, ...
Note
References
External links
Tree of Jesse Directory"Jesse"at behindthename.com
at th
Christian Iconographyweb site
{{Authority control
Books of Samuel people
Books of Chronicles people
11th-century BCE Hebrew people
People from Bethlehem
Eastern Orthodox saints
Jewish Roman Catholic saints
Christian saints
Tribe of Judah
Farmers