Puvah

Biblical Record

Puvah was the second son of Issachar, the son of Jacob and Leah. Scripture mentions him only in genealogical lists and records no account of his life or deeds.

• Genesis 46:13: In the list of Jacob's household that went down to Egypt, he is named among "the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron."
• Numbers 26:23: The record of the second census taken in the wilderness lists "of Pua, the family of the Punites." This shows that Puvah was the ancestor of a family (clan) within the tribe of Issachar.
• 1 Chronicles 7:1: He appears again as one of Issachar's four sons, under the form Puah. In Korean, the Korean Revised Version and the New Korean Revised Version also use a different spelling of his name in this verse.

Significance in the Bible

Puvah's name is preserved in the genealogies that identify the families making up the tribe of Issachar. Old Testament genealogies served as the basis for allotting land and determining tribal membership, and within that system Puvah is recorded as the founder of one family. He is not mentioned in the New Testament.

Interpretation and Issues

• Spelling of the name: In the Hebrew text, Genesis and Numbers give a form close to "Puvah," while 1 Chronicles gives a form close to "Puah," and translations differ in their spelling accordingly. The name of one of his brothers likewise varies: "Job" in Genesis 46:13 but "Jashub" in Numbers 26:24.
• Others with the same name: Puah, the father of Tola, mentioned in Judges 10:1, was also a man of Issachar, but he lived in the period of the judges and is regarded as a different person from the Puvah of this article. Some hold that the names of Issachar's sons (Tola, Puah) were reused among later descendants. Puah, the Hebrew midwife of Exodus 1:15, is also a different person.
• Because the biblical text says nothing about Puvah as an individual, stories describing his character or deeds have no textual basis.

In the Korean Church

In Korean churches, Puvah is rarely treated on his own in sermons or Sunday school. Readers usually encounter him during reading through the Bible, when they come to the genealogies of Genesis, Numbers, and 1 Chronicles, as one of the names that make up the lineage of the twelve tribes of Israel.