Serah (Daughter of Asher)

Biblical Record

Serah was the daughter of Asher, son of Jacob. Scripture mentions her by name only three times, all in genealogies.

• Genesis 46:17: In the list of Jacob's household going down to Egypt, she appears among "the sons of Asher; Jimnah, and Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah, and Serah their sister." The list totals seventy persons (Genesis 46:27).
• Numbers 26:46: In the list of the tribe of Asher from the second census, taken on the plains of Moab at the end of the wilderness period, she appears in the statement "the name of the daughter of Asher was Sarah" (so spelled in the KJV).
• 1 Chronicles 7:30: Her name is listed with her brothers in the genealogy of the descendants of Asher.

The Bible records none of Serah's deeds or words, and nothing is known about her life or age.

Significance Within Scripture

Genealogies usually record only the names of sons, so the inclusion of a daughter's name, as in Serah's case, is unusual. In the list of seventy in Genesis 46, the only women named are Jacob's daughter Dinah and Serah. The Bible does not explain why Serah was included in the list. She does not appear in the New Testament.

Interpretation and Debate

Distinguishing the names. Serah should not be confused with several other biblical figures bearing the similar name Zerah, such as Zerah the son of Judah (Genesis 38:30), Zerah the son of Simeon (Numbers 26:13), and Zerah the descendant of Esau (Genesis 36:13). The Hebrew names differ: Serach (the daughter of Asher) and Zerach. In Korean Bibles, however, the Korean Revised Version and the New Korean Revised Version render both names identically, so several different people share the same name in those translations. None of them is the same person as Serah the daughter of Asher.

The time gap between the two records. Serah's name appears both in the account of the descent into Egypt (Genesis) and in the census taken after the Exodus generation had passed away (Numbers). Interpreters read this differently. Many commentators take the record in Numbers as referring to a family or line within the tribe of Asher that bore her name.

Later Jewish tradition. Rabbinic midrash (literature interpreting Scripture) and some Aramaic translations take this time gap as grounds for holding that Serah lived an extraordinarily long life. This tradition preserves stories such as the following:

• Serah told Jacob through song that Joseph was still alive.
• As a reward, she entered paradise without dying.
• At the Exodus, she showed Moses where Joseph's bones lay.

Some midrashim also identify Serah with the "wise woman" of Abel who saved her city in 2 Samuel 20. These stories are not found in the biblical text and should be distinguished as accounts handed down within the Jewish interpretive tradition. Protestant denominations generally do not accept them as part of the biblical record.

In the Korean Church

Because Serah appears only as a name in a genealogy, sermons and Sunday school materials centered on her are not widely known in Korean churches. Korean believers most often encounter her name while reading the genealogies of the twelve tribes of Israel in the course of reading through the Bible.