Ruth 4:20

Rth 4:20 And Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon,

Ver. 20. Nahshon.] Prince of Judah, the first standard.

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.

Verse 20. Amminadab begat Nahshon] The Targum adds, "And Nahshon was chief of the house of his father in the tribe of Judah."

Nahshon begat Salmon] In the Hebrew it is שלמה Salmah, which Houbigant thinks was an error of an ancient scribe, before any final letters were acknowledged in the Hebrew alphabet: for then the word would be written שלמון Salmon, which a scribe, after final letters were admitted, might mistake for שלמה Salmah, and so write it, instead of שלמון Salmon, the ו vau and ן final nun in conjunction (ון) bearing some resemblance to .

The Targum calls him "Salmah the Just; he was the Salmah of Beth-lehem and Netopha, whose sons abolished the watches which Jeroboam set over the highways; and their works and the works of their father were good in Netopha."

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

(20) Nahshon was the prince of the children of Judah in the wilderness. (See Num_1:7, &c).

Salmon—Heb., Salmah, though called Salmon in the next verse. In 1Ch_2:11 he is called Salma. Salmon may very probably have been one of the two spies sent to Jericho, who having been sheltered by Rahab, had repaid her kindness by marrying her.

It has been observed above that the smallness of the number of the generations hardly suits the long period of years here implied, and on the whole we are disposed to believe that some links of the chain have been dropped, and if so, then doubtless in the period before Boaz. Thus we may suppose that we have here the distinguished names, others of less note being passed over. Unless this is done we are forced to increase largely the average length of a generation, and suppose that most of these generations were children of their fathers’ old age. We know from 1Ki_6:1 that from the Exodus to the fourth year of Solomon was 480 years. If we deduct from this forty years for the wanderings in the desert, then, seeing that David died at the age of seventy, we have for the period from the entrance into Canaan to the birth of David, 480-40-70-4 = 366 years. But if Rahab bears Boaz to Salmon only a few years after the beginning of this period, we have to cover nearly 366 years with three generations, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, which entails upon us the conclusion that each of the above three begat the specified son at the age of over a hundred, and that Salmon was also well advanced in years at his marriage. This, however, seems hardly credible, and the theory that one or two generations have dropt from the list is, at any rate, reasonable.

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

20. Nahshon] i.e. serpent, a name belonging to the early period. This Nahshon son of Amminadab was a prince of Judah (Num_1:7; Num_2:3; Num_10:14) and a contemporary of Moses and Aaron (Exo_6:23), according to P; here he is made the grandfather of Boaz, obviously by omitting a good many links.

Salmon] From Salmah (1Ch_2:11 Salma’) or Salmon (St Mat_1:4 f., St Luk_3:32) to Boaz is a long step, if the former is the same as ‘Salma the father of Beth-lehem’ 1Ch_2:51. In St Mat_1:5 Salmon’s wife was Rahab, obviously an anachronism.

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 Amminadab begat Nahshon,.... The prince of the tribe of Judah, as the Targum adds; and so he was when the Israelites were come out of Egypt, and were in the wilderness at the time of the dedication of the altar, Num 7:12 called Nahsson, Mat 1:4, and Nahshon begat Salmon; or, as in the Hebrew text, Salmah, and in Ch1 2:11, Salma; and yet in the verse following Salmon, as we read it.

, Salma; and yet in the verse following Salmon, as we read it.

Ruth 4:21

rut 4:21

rut 4:21

rut 4:21And Salmon begat Boaz,.... Of Rahab the harlot, whom he married, Mat 1:5 the very same person that makes a principal part of this book, and whom the Targum here takes to be the judge Ibzan; see Gill on Rut 1:1.

and Boaz begat Obed; of Ruth; of whom see the preceding verses.

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

Hebrew and Chaldean, Salma, (Haydock) though we read Salmon in the following verse. (Calmet) --- This is one argument adduced by Houbigant, to shew that this genealogy is now imperfect. He concludes that Salma ought to be admitted, as well as Salmon; and, as the reason for calling the first son of Ruth, Obed, "serving or ploughing," seems rather harsh, as we should naturally expect some more glorious title. He thinks that the immediate son of Ruth was called Jachin, "he shall establish;" and that Solomon called one of the pillars before the temple by his name, as he did the other Booz, "in strength," in honour of his ancestors. Baz icin means, "In strength (or solidity) it (he) shall (stand or) establish." As the son of Booz established his father’s house, (ver. 10, 11,) so these pillars denoted the stability of the temple. We must thus allow that the hand of time has mutilated the genealogy of David, and that two ought to be admitted among his ancestors, who have been here omitted, as St. Matthew likewise passes them over as well as three others, who were the descendants of Joram. The same omission of Jachin occurs 1 Paralipomenon ii. 11, where we find Salma instead of Salmon. Houbigant supposes that the sacred writers, Esdras and St. Matthew, gave the genealogies as they found them, without correcting the mistakes of transcribers. (Chronolog. sacra, p. 81.) But there might be some reason for the omission which we do not know; and Nahasson, Booz, and Joram might be said to beget Salmon, Obed, and Jechonias, though they were not their immediate children. Salien and many others assert, that there were three of the name of Booz, succeeding each other, so that six persons instead of four fill up the space of 440 years, from the taking of Jericho till the building of the temple. Salien, in the year of the world 2741, in which year he places the birth of the third Booz, who married Ruth, seventy years afterwards. Petau allows 520 years from the coming out of Egypt till the fourth year of Solomon, so that he leaves above 420 years to the three generations of Booz, Obed, and Isai. But he prudently passes over this chronological difficulty. Usher supposes that each of these people were almost 100 years old when they had children; and he produces many examples of people who lived beyond that age, but he does not mention any, since the days of Moses, who had children at such an advanced age, much less that many in the same family, and in succession, were remarkable for such a thing. Moreover, according to Houbigant’s chronology, Booz and Obed must have had children when they were almost 120, and Isai in his 107th year. But by admitting Salma and Jachin, the five persons might each have sons when they were about seventy, and thus would complete 347 years. See chap. ii. 1. (Haydock).

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).

20. Nahshon — Prince or chief captain of the tribe of Judah during the journeys of the wilderness, (Num_2:3,) and whose offering to the Lord among other tribe-princes is described at Num_7:12-17.

Salmon — שׂלמה, Salmah; whilst the name in the next verse is שׂלמון, Salmon; whence Dr. Kennicott conjectures that these are the names of two distinct persons, and that one link has been dropped out between Nahshon and Boaz, which might be thus supplied: Nahshon begat Salmah, and Salmah begat Salmon, and Salmon begat Boaz. Some names, doubtless, have been left out; but no weighty argument can be made from so slight a difference in the orthography of the names of persons.

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