Ruth 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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) Pharez.—(See Genesis 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.

Benson Commentary

Ruth 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.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:9-12 Men are ready to seize opportunities for increasing their estates, but few know the value of godliness. Such are the wise men of this world, whom the Lord charges with folly. They attend not to the concerns of their souls, but reject the salvation of Christ, for fear of marring their inheritance. But God did Boaz the honour to bring him into the line of the Messiah, while the kinsman, who was afraid of lessening himself, and marring his inheritance, has his name, family, and inheritance forgotten.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the margin. There is something of a poetical turn in this speech of the elders, and something prophetic in the blessing pronounced by them. It is unique and obscure. The Greek Version (lxx) is unintelligible. Jerome seems to have had a slightly different reading, since he applies both clauses to Ruth. "May she be a pattern of virtue in Ephratah, and have a name famous in Bethlehem." The meaning of "be famous" seems to be, Get thyself a name which shall be celebrated in Bethlehem, as the head of a powerful and illustrious house: literally it is, "proclaim a name," i. e. cause others to proclaim thy name, as in Ruth 4:14.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. 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.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

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.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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 Ruth 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, Judges 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 Ruth 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, Psalm 127:3.

Geneva Study Bible

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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. Perez] is mentioned because he was one of the ancestors of the house of Judah, Genesis 38:29, and, according to the genealogies, Boaz was his descendant, 1 Chronicles 2:4; 1 Chronicles 2:9-11.

the seed which the Lord shall give] Cf. 1 Samuel 2:20.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - 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 Numbers 26:20, 21). Ruth 4:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"May thy house become like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah" (Genesis 38). It was from Perez that the ancestors of Boaz, enumerated in Ruth 4:18. and 1 Chronicles 2:5., were descended. As from Perez, so also from the seed which Jehovah would give to Boaz through Ruth, there should grow up a numerous posterity.