Jesse

Biblical Record

Jesse was a man of Bethlehem (1 Samuel 16:1). 1 Samuel 17:12 calls him "that Ephrathite" and records that he was already old in the days of Saul. According to Ruth 4:17-22 and 1 Chronicles 2:12, he was the son of Obed, who was the son of Boaz and Ruth.

• The anointing of David: God sent Samuel to Jesse's house to choose the one who would be king. Jesse had his sons pass before Samuel one by one, but the youngest, David, was out tending the sheep and had not been called. Samuel had David brought in and anointed him (1 Samuel 16:11-13).
• Relationship with Saul: When Saul summoned David to his court, Jesse sent him with a donkey laden with bread, a bottle of wine, and a young goat (1 Samuel 16:19-20). During the war with the Philistines, Jesse sent David to the battlefield to bring food to his brothers (1 Samuel 17:17-18).
• Refuge in Moab: While David was fleeing from Saul, he entrusted his parents to the king of Moab (1 Samuel 22:3-4). Nothing further is recorded of Jesse's life or death.

1 Chronicles 2:13-16 lists Jesse's children as his sons Eliab, Abinadab, Shimma, Nethaneel, Raddai, Ozem, and David, and his daughters Zeruiah and Abigail. Zeruiah's son Joab was thus Jesse's grandson through his daughter.

Significance in the Bible

Jesse's name survives chiefly in the phrase "David the son of Jesse." Saul belittled David by calling him "the son of Jesse" rather than using his name (1 Samuel 20:30-31). When the kingdom divided, the northern tribes broke away from the house of David, saying, "neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse" (1 Kings 12:16).

Isaiah 11:1 and 11:10 foretell a king who would arise from the house of David: "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots," and "there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people." In the New Testament, Jesse appears in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:5-6; Luke 3:32). Paul mentions "David the son of Jesse" in Acts 13:22, and in Romans 15:12 he quotes Isaiah 11:10 to speak of Christ as the hope of the Gentiles.

Interpretations and Debates

• Messianic prophecy: Christian tradition reads the "stem of Jesse" as a prophecy of Jesus Christ. Judaism likewise reads the passage as referring to a messianic king from the Davidic line but does not identify that king with Jesus. Many interpreters explain the text's use of Jesse's name rather than David's as signifying that a dynasty reduced to something like a felled stump would begin anew from its root.
• The number of sons: According to 1 Samuel 16:10-11 and 17:12, Jesse had eight sons, yet 1 Chronicles 2 lists David as the seventh son. Among the explanations offered for this discrepancy is that one son died young without descendants and was therefore omitted from the genealogy.
• Extrabiblical tradition: The name of Jesse's wife does not appear in the Bible. The Talmud is reported to contain a tradition that Jesse lived without sin but died because of Adam's fall; this is a later tradition not found in the biblical text. In the medieval Western church, the "Tree of Jesse," which depicts the lineage from Jesse to Christ in the form of a tree, was widely used in stained glass and other media.

In the Korean Church

1 Samuel 16 is a frequent text for sermons. The scene in which Jesse does not even call his youngest son David is often explained in light of the verse "for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). Jesse is also introduced in Sunday school when the story of David's anointing is taught. During Advent, Isaiah 11 is often read as a text anticipating the birth of Jesus.