Jesse

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Jes'se. (Wealthy). The father of David, was the son of Obed, who again, was the fruit of the union of Boaz, and the Moabitess Ruth. His great-grandmother was Rahab, the Canaanite, of Jericho.  Matthew 1:5. Jesse's genealogy is twice given in full, in the Old Testament, namely,  Ruth 4:18-22, and  1 Chronicles 2:5-12.

He is commonly designated as "Jesse, the Bethlehemite,"  1 Samuel 16:1;  1 Samuel 16:18;  1 Samuel 17:58, but his full title is "the Ephrathite, of Bethlehem Judah."  1 Samuel 17:12. He is an "old man" when we first meet with him,  1 Samuel 17:12, with eight sons,  1 Samuel 16:10;  1 Samuel 17:12, residing at Bethlehem.  1 Samuel 16:4-5.

Jesse's wealth seems to have consisted of a flock of sheep and goats, which were under the care of David.  1 Samuel 16:11;  1 Samuel 17:34-35. After David's rupture with Saul, he took his father and his mother into the country of Moab, and deposited them with the king, and there they disappear from our view, in the records of Scripture. (B.C. 1068-61). Who the wife of Jesse was, we are not told.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Jesse ( Jĕs'Se ), Wealthy. The father of David, the son of Obed, and grandson of Boaz and the Moabitess Ruth. He was also a descendant of Rahab the Canaanite, of Jericho.  Matthew 1:5. Jesse's genealogy is twice given in full in the Old Testament, viz.,  Ruth 4:18-22 and  1 Chronicles 2:5-12. He is commonly designated as "Jesse, the Bethlehemite,"  1 Samuel 16:1;  1 Samuel 16:18;  1 Samuel 17:58; but his full title is "the Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah."  1 Samuel 17:12. He was an "old man" when noticed in  1 Samuel 17:12, with eight sons,  1 Samuel 16:10;  1 Samuel 17:12, residing at Bethlehem.  1 Samuel 16:4-5. Jesse's wealth seems to have consisted of sheep and goats, which were under the care of David.  1 Samuel 16:11;  1 Samuel 17:34-35. After David was compelled to leave the court of Saul, he took his father and his mother into the country of Moab, and there they disappear from the records of Scripture, b.c. 1068-61.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

JESSE (more correctly Jishai , cf., as regards formation, Ittai  ; perhaps an abbreviated form; the meaning of the name is quite uncertain). A Bethlehemite, best known as the father of David. The earliest historical mention of him (  1 Samuel 17:12; see David, § 1) represents him as already an old man. On this occasion he sends David to the Israelite camp with provisions for his brothers; this was destined to be a long separation between Jesse and his son, for after David’s victory over the Philistine giant he entered definitely into Saul’s service. There are two other accounts, each of which purports to mention Jesse for the first time:   1 Samuel 16:1 ff., in which Samuel is sent to Bethlehem to anoint David; and   1 Samuel 16:18 , in which Jesse’s son is sent for to play the harp before Saul. Nothing further is heard of Jesse until we read of him and his ‘house’ coming to David in the ‘cave’ of Adullam; David then brings his father and mother to Mizpeh of Moab, and entrusts them to the care of the king of Moab (  1 Samuel 22:3-4 ). This is the last we hear of him. In   Isaiah 11:1 the ‘stock of Jesse’ is mentioned as that from which the Messiah is to issue; the thought probably being that of the humble descent of the Messiah as contrasted with His glorious Kingdom which is to be.

W. O. E. Oesterley.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Obed's son, father of David; sprung from the Moabitess Ruth and the Canaanite Rahab of Jericho; and from Nahshon, at the Exodus chief of Judah, and so from the great house of Pharez, through Hezron. His designation "the Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah" ( 1 Samuel 17:12) implies that he was of a very old family in the place. He was elderly and had eight sons when we first read of him. The Targum on  2 Samuel 21:19 makes him a weaver of veils for the sanctuary. (On His Removal To Moab In David'S Flight From Saul See David, Also See Abigail On Jesse'S Connection With Her And Joab, Abishai And Asahel, And Zeruiah.) His own name is immortalized, probably because of his faith in the coming Messiah, "the rod out of the stem (stump) of Jesse" even long after David had eclipsed him ( Isaiah 11:1;  Isaiah 11:10), expressing the depressed state of David's royal line when Messiah was to be born of it (Luke 2).

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Son of Obed, a Bethlehemite, and father of David. Little is recorded of Jesse, but his name constantly occurs in the description of David as 'the son of Jesse.'  Ruth 4:17,22;  1 Samuel 16:1-22;  1 Samuel 17:12-20,58;  Psalm 72:20;  Matthew 1:5,6;  Luke 3:32 . The Lord Jesus is referred to as a branch and a root of Jesse.  Isaiah 11:1,10 : cf.  Revelation 22:16 .

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Ruth 4:17,22 Matthew 1:5,6 Luke 3:32 1 Samuel 17:12 Isaiah 11:1 Isaiah 11:10 Revelation 5:5 1 Samuel 17:17,18,20 Psalm 78:71 1 Samuel 22:3

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) A genealogical tree represented in stained glass.

(2): ( n.) Any representation or suggestion of the genealogy of Christ, in decorative art

(3): ( n.) A candlestick with many branches, each of which bears the name of some one of the descendants of Jesse; - called also tree of Jesse.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Son of Obed and father of David. He was a grandson of Ruth the Moabitess, and in he native land he found an asylum while David was most in danger from the jealous pursuit of Saul,  Ruth 4:17   1 Samuel 16:1-23   17:12   22:3   Matthew 1:5 .

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

The son of Obed, and father of David—derived from Jesh, to be. ( Ruth 4:17) He is memorable in the genealogies of the Lord Jesus Christ. (See  Matthew 1:5)

Holman Bible Dictionary

 1 Samuel 16:1 1 Samuel 16:1 Ruth 4:17David

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

JESSE. —The father of king David, named in our Lord’s genealogy ( Matthew 1:5 f.,  Luke 3:32).

King James Dictionary

JES'SE, n. A large brass candlestick branched into many sconces, hanging down in the middle of a church or choir.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

See DAVID and See Ruth .

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

jes´ē ́ ( ישׁי , yishay , meaning doubtful; according to Gesenius it = "wealthy"; Olshausen, Gram., sections 277 f, conjectures ישׁיה , yēsh yāh , "Yahweh exists"; Wellhausen (  1 Samuel 14:49 ) explains it as אבישׁי , 'ǎbhı̄shay (see Abishai ); Ἰεσσαί , Iessaı́  ; Rth 4:17, Rth 4:22; 1 Sam 16; 17; 20; 22;  1 Samuel 25:10;  2 Samuel 20:1;  2 Samuel 23:1;  1 Kings 12:16;  1 Chronicles 10:14;  1 Chronicles 12:18;  Psalm 72:20;  Isaiah 11:1 ,  Isaiah 11:10 ( =   Romans 15:12 ));  Matthew 1:5 ,  Matthew 1:6;  Acts 13:22 ): Son of Obed, grandson of Boaz, and father of King David. The grouping of the references to Jesse in 1 Sam is bound up with that of the grouping of the whole narrative of David and Saul. See Samuel , Books Of . There seem to be three main veins in the narrative, so far as Jesse is concerned.

(1) In  1 Samuel 16:1-13 , where Jesse is called the Bethlehemite. Samuel is sent to seek among Jesse's sons successor to Saul.

Both Samuel and Jesse fail to discern at first Yahweh's choice, Samuel thinking that it would be the eldest son ( 1 Samuel 16:6 ), while Jesse had not thought it worth while to call the youngest to the feast ( 1 Samuel 16:11 ).

(2) (a) In  1 Samuel 16:14-23 , Saul is mentally disturbed, and is advised to get a harpist. David "the son of Jesse the Bethlehemite" is recommended by a courtier, and Saul sends to Jesse for David.

"And Jesse took ten loaves (so emend and translate, and not as the Revised Version (British and American), "an ass laden with bread"), and a (skin) bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them" to Saul as a present with David, who becomes a courtier of Saul's with his father's consent.

(b) The next mention of Jesse is in three contemptuous references by Saul to David as "the son of Jesse" in  1 Samuel 20:27 ,  1 Samuel 20:30 ,  1 Samuel 20:31 , part of the quarrel-scene between Saul and Jonathan. (But it is not quite certain if 1 Sam 20 belongs to the same source as  1 Samuel 16:14-23 .) In answer to the first reference, Jonathan calls his friend "David," and Saul repeats the phrase "the son of Jesse," abusing Jonathan personally ( 1 Samuel 20:30 , where the meaning is uncertain). The reference to David as "the son of Jesse" here and in the following verse is contemptuous, not because of any reproach that might attach itself to Jesse, but, as Budde remarks, because "an upstart is always contemptuously referred to under his father's name" in courts and society. History repeats itself!

(c) Further references of a like kind are in the passage,  1 Samuel 22:6-23 , namely, in  1 Samuel 22:7 ,  1 Samuel 22:8 ,  1 Samuel 22:13 by Saul, and repeated by Doeg in   1 Samuel 22:9 .

(d) The final one of this group is in  1 Samuel 25:10 , where Nabal sarcastically asks "Who is David ? and who is the son of Jesse?"

(3) The parts of  1 Samuel 17 through 18:5 which are omitted by Septuagint B, i.e. 17:12-31,  1 Samuel 17:41 ,  1 Samuel 17:48 ,  1 Samuel 17:50 , 55 through 18:6a. Here Jesse is mentioned as "an Ephrathite of Beth-lehem-judah" ( 1 Samuel 17:12 , not "that" Ephrathite, which is a grammatically impossible translation of the Massoretic Text), Ephrath or Ephrathah being another name for Bethlehem, or rather for the district. He is further said to have eight sons ( 1 Samuel 17:12 ), of whom the three eldest had followed Saul to the war ( 1 Samuel 17:13 ).

Jesse sends David, the shepherd, to his brothers with provisions ( 1 Samuel 17:17 ). Afterward David, on being brought to Saul and asked who he is, answers, "I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite" ( 1 Samuel 17:58 ). Jesse is also described ( 1 Samuel 17:12 ) as being "in the days of Saul an old man, advanced in years" (so emend and translate, not as the Revised Version (British and American), "stricken in years among men"). The mention of his having 8 sons in   1 Samuel 17:12 is not in agreement with   1 Chronicles 2:13-15 , which gives only 7 sons with two sisters, but where Syriac gives 8, adding, from  1 Chronicles 27:18 , Elihu which Massoretic Text has there probably by corruption (Curtis, Chronicles, 88).  1 Samuel 16:10 should be translated" and Jesse made his 7 sons to pass before Samuel" (not as the Revised Version (British and American), the King James Version, "seven of his sons"). Budde ( Kurz. Hand-Komm. , "Samuel," 114) holds  1 Samuel 16:1-13 to be a late Midrash, and (ibid., 123 f) omits (a) "that" in   1 Samuel 17:12; (b) also "and he had 8 sons" as due to a wrong inference from  1 Samuel 16:10; (c) the names of the 3 eldest in  1 Samuel 17:13; (d)  1 Samuel 17:14; he then changes  1 Samuel 17:15 , and reads thus: (12) "Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem-Judah, whose name was Jesse who was...(years) old at the time of Saul. (13) And the 3 eldest sons of Jesse had marched with Saul to the war, (14) and David was the youngest, (15) and David had remained to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. (16) Now the Philistines came," etc.

According to all these narratives in 1 Samuel, whether all 3 be entirely independent of one another or not, Jesse had land in Bethlehem, probably outside the town wall, like Boaz (see Boaz ) his grandfather (Rth 4:17). In  1 Samuel 22:3 ,  1 Samuel 22:4 David entrusts his father and mother to the care of the king of Moab, but from   1 Samuel 20:29 some have inferred that Jesse was dead (although most critics assign   1 Samuel 22:3 at any rate to the same stratum as chapter 20).

Jonathan tells Saul that David wanted to attend a family sacrificial feast at Bethlehem ( 1 Samuel 20:29 ). Massoretic Text reads, "And he, my brother, has commanded me," whereas we should probably read with Septuagint, "and my brethren have commanded me," i.e. the members of the clan, as we have farther on in the verse, "Let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren." As to Jesse's daughters, see Abigail; Nahash .

(4) Of the other references to Jesse, the most noteworthy is that in  Isaiah 11:1 : "There shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots shall bear fruit," i.e. out of Jesse's roots (compare   Revelation 5:5 ). "Why Jesse and not David?" asks Duhm; and he answers, "Because the Messiah will be a second David, rather than a descendant of David." Marti explains it to mean that he will be, not from David, but from a collateral line of descent. Duhm's explanation suggests a parallelism between David and Christ, of whom the former may be treated as a type similar to Aaron and Melchizedek in He. Saul might pour contempt upon "the son of Jesse," but Isaiah has given Jesse here a name above all Hebrew names, and thus does Providence mock "society." See also Root Of Jesse .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Yishay', יַשִׁי , perhaps firm, otherwise Living; once אַשִׁי , Ishay ' , either by prosthesis, or Manly,  1 Chronicles 2:13; Sept. and N.T. Ι᾿Εσσαί ; Josephus ῾Ιεσσαῖος , Ant. 6, 8, 1), a son (or descendant) of Obed, the son of Boaz and Ruth ( Ruth 4:17;  Ruth 4:22;  Matthew 1:5-6;  Luke 3:32;  1 Chronicles 2:12). He was the father of eight sons ( 1 Samuel 17:12), from the youngest of whom, David, is reflected all the distinction which belongs to the name, although the latter, as being of humble birth, was often reproached by his enemies with this parentage ( 1 Samuel 20:27;  1 Samuel 20:30-31;  1 Samuel 22:7-8;  1 Samuel 25:10;  2 Samuel 20:1;  1 Kings 12:16;  2 Chronicles 10:16). "Stem of Jesse" is used poetically for the family of David ( Isaiah 11:1), and "Root [ i.e. root-shoot, or sprout from the stump, i.q. Scion ] Of "Jesse " for the Messiah ( Isaiah 11:10;  Revelation 5:5; comp.  Revelation 22:16). He seems to have been a person of some note and substance at Bethlehem, his property being chiefly in sheep ( 1 Samuel 16:1;  1 Samuel 16:11;  1 Samuel 17:20; comp.  Psalms 78:71). It would seem from  1 Samuel 16:10, that he must have been aware of the high destinies which awaited his son, but it is doubtful if he ever lived to see them realized (see  1 Samuel 17:12). The last historical mention of Jesse is in relation to the asylum which David procured for him with the king of Moab ( 1 Samuel 22:3). B.C. cir. 1068-1061. (See David).

"According to an ancient Jewish tradition, recorded in the Targum on  2 Samuel 21:19, Jesse was a weaver of the vails of the sanctuary; but as there is no contradiction, so there is no corroboration of this in the Bible, and it is possible that it was suggested by the occurrence of the word oregim, ‘ weavers,' in connection with a member of his family. (See Jaare- Oregim). Who the wife of Jesse was we are not told. The family contained, in addition to the sons, two female members — Zeruiah and Abigail; but it is uncertain whether these were Jesse's daughters, for, though they are called the sisters of his sons ( 1 Chronicles 2:16), yet Abigail is said to have been the daughter of Nahash ( 2 Samuel 17:25). Of this, two explanations have been proposed.

(1.) The Jewish: that Nahash was another name for Jesse (Jerome, Quoest. Hebr. on  2 Samuel 17:25, and the Targum on  Ruth 4:22).

(2.) Prof. Stanley's: that Jesse's wife had formerly been wife or concubine to Nahash, possibly the king of the Ammonites ( Jewish Church, 2, 5, 51)." (See Nahash).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Jes´se (firm), a descendant of Obed, the son of Boaz and Ruth. He was the father of eight sons from the youngest of whom, David, is reflected all the distinction which belongs to the name. He seems to have been a person of some note and substance at Bethlehem, his property being chiefly in sheep. It would seem, from , that he must have been aware of the high destinies which awaited his son; but it is doubtful if he ever lived to see them realized. The last historical mention of Jesse is in relation to the asylum which David procured for him with the king of Moab .