Ruth 4:12

Rth 4:12 And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman.

Ver. 12. And let thy house be like the house of Pharez.] That breach maker, as the midwife called him, because he would needs be born before his brother, and carried away the first birthright: and afterwards became happy in a numerous and honourable posterity, though he were basely begotten, and that in incest also. {Gen 38:15; Gen 38:18; Gen 38:29} {See Trapp on "Mat 1:3"} This prayer of the people for Boaz and Ruth God graciously heard and granted: for they: had children, and wealth, and honour: of them came many and mighty kings, yea, "Messiah the Prince," "who is over all, God blessed for ever, Amen." {Rom 9:5}

Of the seed which the Lord shall give thee.] Children are called seed: as if the parents were but the husk only. Here I cannot but insert what I read in the Life of Luther, {a} that he being present at the marriage of Philip, duke of Pomerania, with Mary, daughter to the elector of Saxony, prayed heartily for a blessing thereupon; and taking Philip by the hand, said, The Lord God be with you, and keep your posterity from failing. But his wife continuing barren four years, all his male stock was like to be extinct. Yet at length, by God’s blessing, according to Luther’s prayer, he had seven sons by her, which wonderfully enlarged that noble family.

{a} Luth. Life, by Mr Clark.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rth 4:12. Like the house of Pharez — As honourable and numerous as his family was; whom, though he also was born of a stranger, God so blessed, that his family was one of the five families to which all the tribe of Judah belonged, and the progenitor of the inhabitants of this city.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:12 Like Ruth, Tamar had been a foreigner; she became the mother of Perez and Zerah, through whom Judah’s descendants came.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

let thy house be like the house of Pharez--that is, as honorable and numerous as his. He was the ancestor of the Beth-lehem people, and his family one of the five from which the tribe of Judah sprang.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 12. Like the house of Pharez] This was very appropriate; for from Pharez, the son of Judah, by Tamar, came the family of the Beth-lehemites and that of Elimelech.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(12) Pharez.—(See Gen_38:29). Judah having, though unwittingly, fulfilled the Levirate obligation to the widow of his eldest son, the child thus born becomes the heir of that eldest son, and therefore the head of the house of Judah.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. Perez] is mentioned because he was one of the ancestors of the house of Judah, Gen_38:29, and, according to the genealogies, Boaz was his descendant, 1Ch_2:4; 1Ch_2:9-11.

the seed which the Lord shall give] Cf. 1Sa_2:20.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah,.... Of whose tribe the Bethlehemites were, and were also of the house or family of Pharez, as appears from Rut 4:18, &c. who was born to Judah of Tamar, one of another nation, as Ruth was, and from whom sprung a very numerous family, one of the five families of Judah; and they wish that the family of Boaz, by Ruth, might be as numerous; and if Boaz was the same with Ibzan, as the Jews say, though that wants proof, he had a very numerous offspring, thirty sons and thirty daughters, Jdg 12:8.

of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman; by which it is plain Ruth was present, for they do, as it were, point to her, and that she was a young woman, though a widow: the Jews say she was forty years of age, as observed in Rut 3:10 and the elders wish and pray he might have a numerous family of the children the Lord would give him by her; and this might be the rather expected of her, as being a young woman, yet only as the gift of God, as children are, Psa 127:3.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Phares. His family was chief among the five, descended from Juda. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Like the house of Pharez; as honourable and numerous as his family was; whom, though he also was born of a stranger, God so far blessed, that his family was one of the five families to which all the tribe of Judah belonged, and the progenitor of the inhabitants of this city.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. Whom Tamar bare unto Judah — See the history, as given in Genesis 38. There was a peculiar appropriateness in this allusion to Boaz’s ancient ancestors, for Tamar’s playing the harlot with Judah was not from lust on her part, but a forcing of him unawares to perform the part of a kinsman to her. His two sons Er and Onan had married her, and died leaving her childless. He then had promised her his younger son, but seems not to have kept his word, and therefore she took the bold step to be redeemed by Judah himself from the lonely estate and condition of a childless widow. Nor was Pharez, the offspring of that connexion, ever regarded as illegitimate, but he figures most honourably in the genealogy of David and the Messiah.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And may thy house he as the house of Pharez, whom Tamer bare to Judah, (springing) from the seed which Yahveh will give to thee of this young woman! Pharez"s descendants, the Pharzites, were particularly numerous, and hence the good wishes of Boaz"s fellow-townsmen. (see Num_26:20, Num_26:21)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pharez - As honourable and numerous as his family was; whom, though be also was born of a stranger, God so blessed, that his family was one of the five families to which all the tribe of Judah belonged, and the progenitor of the inhabitants of this city.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

like the house of Perez from which you are descended.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.