Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 24/02/2005 14:22, Sesamo m. wrote:

> Hi all
>
> In Ruth 4:20-22 we find that Boaz' father was Salmon, and Boaz' 
> grandson was Jesse (David's father).  In Mathew 1:5 we learn that 
> Salmon's wife was Rahab.
> This means that this part of the chain begins before the period of the 
> judges. Too few links for more than 300 years.
> Of course, the Hebrew word for "father" also means "grandfather", 
> "great-grandfather", and so on, and one can assume that some names in 
> the genealogy are not mentioned for some reason.
> But is there any indication of where should those lacking links be? I 
> mean, is there a way (or at least a theory) to know if Rahab was 
> really Boaz' mother, or if Ruth was really David great-grandmother? Is 
> there a way to set the story by the beginning of the period of the 
> judges or by the end?


The full genealogy from Perez son of Judah to David is given in Ruth 
4:18-22, 1 Chronicles 2:5,9-15, Matthew 1:2-6 and Luke 3:32-33. In each 
case the list is (Jacob), (Judah), Perez, Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, 
Nahshon, Salmon/Salma, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David. So 11 recorded 
generations to cover probably at least 700 years: it looks as if 
something must have been left out - although possibly not if the time 
period is reduced to around 400 years as some might argue (based on an 
Exodus under Rameses II and only about 200 years in Egypt based on 
Exodus 12:40 LXX and Sam).

Nahshon son of Amminadab is identified as the leader of Judah in Numbers 
1:7 etc, cf. 1 Chr 2:10. As he was part of the generation which died in 
the wilderness, it makes sense that his son Salmon took part in the 
Conquest and married Rahab. On an orthodox chronology (ignoring 1 Kings 
6:1) with an Exodus in the time of Rameses II, the Exodus was c. 1280 
BC, with Salmon being born up to 20 years later, and David was born c. 
1030 BC. Four generations are unlikely to cover 230 years. So four 
generations from the Conquest to David seems too few on almost any 
chronology.

The story of Ruth seems to reflect a settled period, not the early 
aftermath of the Conquest, thus that Boaz is unlikely to have been the 
son of one of the conquerors. So I would suggest missing generations 
between Salmon and Boaz.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/



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