Perez, the Unsung Ancestor

There is a Hebrew word, Toldot or ṯō-wl-ḏō-wṯ (H8435), which appears in Genesis 2:4, and then does not reappear with the same spelling until Ruth 4:18.

Why did this word, translated often as “generations” disappear?  Why did it reappear?  Why did it reappear where it did?

First, let’s look at Genesis 2:4 (ESV) - - 

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

Now, here is Ruth 4:18 (ESV) - - 

Now these are the generations of Perez:

In both of these passages, the word "toldot" is spelled with a Hebrew letter, "vav", sometimes called "waw".  Even though you see "generations" or "toldot" in between Genesis 2:4 and Ruth 4:18, the word is not spelled with that missing letter.

"Who cares?", you say.

Good question.  But, this is something very curious....

One of the reasons we are able to read the Old Testament today is because of the painstaking way the scriptures were copied and re-copied by heavily-vetted scribes.  Not just anyone could become a scribe.  A scribe had to be the most trustworthy of men.  Furthermore, each scribe regarded any error as a huge sin.  No mistakes, errors of any kind, were tolerated.  If an error was made, the entire scroll was discarded and “buried” in a sort o “scroll graveyard”.1

I share this to emphasize that the elimination of this "vav" was not an error or mistake.  It was deliberate, as the Author of scripture, God's own Spirit, inspired the Old and New Testament writers.

Genesis 2:4 occurs after God has created the heavens and the earth, but right before He created man.  The "vav" is the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  We see it first appear in Genesis 1:1, in the word "and" - - the heavens AND the earth.  Here is the word, and "vav" is the hook letter:

וְאֵ֥ת

The "vav" looks also like a fish hook or a tent peg (see above, the huge picture, which I can't seem to make smaller)  In the case of Gen. 1:1 the vav is a divine hook which joins heaven and earth.  This shows a connection between spiritual matters and earthly matters.  Man, similarly, is a spirit being in an earthly body.  In those days before The Fall of Man, creation was sinless, including Adam and Eve.

But, that soon changed, with The Fall.  When Adam sinned, Yahweh removed the vav from mankind for many generations.

Now, take a look at Exodus 27:9-10, which talks of the silver hooks which were part of the first Tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, as it was called.  These silver hooks were used to anchor the curtains of the Tabernacle, the place where Yahweh came to meet with man.2  Again, the vav, in a sense, joined heaven and earth.  Silver as a metal has antimicrobial properties; it always symbolizes redemption, in scripture.  

Back to Perez, whose name means "breach" or "breakthrough", and who was the offspring of Tamar and Judah.  That is an interesting story.  You can read it in Genesis 38.  This is another story of levirate marriage (as was the story of Ruth and Boaz)!  How amazing, right?

Tamar had been married to Judah's eldest son, Er.  Before they could have children Er had died and, through a succession of events, Tamar ended up married to her father-in-law.  She was an amazing woman, which may explain why she is only one of 4 women (other than Mary, the mother of Jesus) mentioned in Matthew's genealogy of the Lord Jesus.  God had a sovereign plan, as He always does.  God accomplishes His purposes in spite of man's unrighteousness.  And, He used another broken woman to achieve it, in this case.  Praise His holy Name!

Satan attempted to disrupt the genealogy of Messiah by ending Judah's line with the death of Er.  And, he attempted to interfere again with Perez' birth.  You see, Perez was an identical twin. At the twins' birth (Genesis 38:27-30), the brother's hand emerged from the birth canal first; so, the midwife tied a scarlet thread around it.  However, the first baby to emerge fully did not have the scarlet thread! This was Perez, who then was crowned the firstborn.  

Aren't you glad the ancestors of Jesus Christ were not already "squeaky clean"?  God does not attempt to gloss over or hide the human frailties of those who loved Him. He knew who would be in the family tree of Jesus Christ.  As infamous as the stories of Judah and Tamar (and Perez and his twin brother, Zerah) are, they illustrate redemption so beautifully.  It is no accident the midwife used a scarlet thread, you know.  

But WHY did those 10 "witnesses" from Ruth 4:1-2 bless Boaz with a "Perez blessing" in verse 12?  Maybe they recognized some parallels between Judah and Boaz?  Judah had 3 sons.  The older 2 died and the younger was much younger.  Meanwhile, Judah's wife died.  At this point, Judah had no grandchildren to carry on the line. It all looked rather bleak.... Based on what we know of Boaz, he (before Ruth) had no heirs either.  In both cases, God provided an unusual route for each man to continue the family line that would eventually produce the Messiah, Jesus.

Or, maybe the 10 witnesses did not fully understand the significance of the blessing they pronounced.3  They knew that, to carry on the line of Judah was a tremendous blessing in and of itself, because God had promised "The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; the nations will obey him. " (Genesis 49:10 NET).  This was absolutely a prophecy of Messiah. The 10 men certainly could not have known that 1700 or so years later, a baby would be born, in Bethlehem Ephrathah, from the line of Judah, who would fulfill the Perez blessing pronounced that day.

When I was sojourning and serving in a local Presbyterian church decades ago, the pastor would say this when he baptized a baby:  "Behold!  How good God is!"  The theology of infant baptism - - let's not careen off into that right now.  Instead, let's behold how GOOD God is, as we ponder the closing words of the story of Ruth:

18Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, 19Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, 20Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, 21Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, 22Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.

Ruth 4:18-22 (ESV)

Sources:

1  http://www.justthesimpletruth.com/was-the-bible-copied-accurately/

2  http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/Unit_One/Aleph-Bet/Vav/vav.html

3  http://www.feelingoutstanding.com/Perez.html

A King's Ransom

When we left Ruth, she was sitting still, waiting on word from Boaz (her hopeful go'el - - Hebrew for kinsman-redeemer), waiting on God.  Today's text is Ruth 4.

The climax of the Ruth story is full of suspense.
In verse 1 Boaz goes to where he knows he will encounter the closer kinsman than he, that place being the city gates.  Once he sees that person, he invites him to have a chat.  Boaz then goes on to convene a group of 10 witnesses, godly Jewish men whom he knows, to listen in on the conversation.

Now, let's stop for a moment.
As I've mentioned in previous posts, Boaz is in this historical account a "type" (forerunner, representative) of Jesus Christ.  Ruth is a "type" of the Church, the Bride of Christ.  So, who, then, would the other characters in the story represent?
Some theologians believe the "other, nearer kinsman" represents the sin nature.1  Others believe he represents satan, from whom Jesus took the keys of Hell and Death, after His death and before His resurrection.  The latter group believes this entire transaction is a forerunner of what Jesus did when His spirit descended to Hell during those three days his body was in the grave (1 Peter 3:18-20).

Most agree the 10 witnesses were chosen to overhear so that no one could come back later and claim the transaction was false or flawed (4:9).  The Hebrew word for a group of this type was "minyan", a group which settled legal disputes.  Some think that the number 10 represents the 10 Commandments, or the Law, which has no ability to bring salvation, since "there is salvation in none other" than Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).  This is pictured by Boaz telling both the nearer kinsman and the 10 witnesses to "sit down" in verses 1 and 2. 
In verses 11-12 the witnesses prophesy over Boaz and Ruth, after the deal was done.  Similarly, the Law points to Jesus Christ, finding its fulfillment in Him.  The utter following of the OT Law, the Torah, in this story, this obedience - - how beautifully it points to and foreshadows the ultimate Love Story of the Bible, that love story between the final Kinsman-Redeemer and His Beloved, His Church.

Ok, back to the story:
At first, the nearer kinsman wants to BE that guy, to redeem Ruth.  And, we're thinking, "No, no!  This is NOT how we want the story to go!"  You know, like when you read a great book and it looks like the hero is not going to triumph, to win, right?  But then, we see the the nearer relative is not willing to make the sacrifice that Boaz is willing to make.  And, indeed, satan would never had died for us, even if he could've.  His "love" for us is a complete counterfeit.  In stark contrast, Jesus' love for us is perfect.

Don't miss this:
Ruth was married to Mahlon for 10 years, and yet was childless.  Stop to grasp the significance of that.  Boaz was willing to marry Ruth, suspecting full well that their union might not produce an heir.  There is no record that Boaz had any other wives (i.e. heirs either).  So, he was willing to sacrifice his (genealogical) "all" to redeem Ruth.  Not many men of that day would have done the same, since "carrying on the family name" was paramount, a huge deal.
Boaz recognized that Ruth was a "hidden treasure" of Matthew 13:44 (ESV) - - - and the price he paid for her was dear, a king's ransom, you might say.

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Jesus made His supreme sacrifice for all mankind, knowing that not all would receive it, or Him.  No other Savior.  Hallelujah!

18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors,19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

22Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.^b 23For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

1 Peter 1:18-23 (NIV)

Oh praise God, Who, in His divine providence, opened Ruth's womb.  She did indeed bear children to Boaz.  One of them, the first, was Obed, whose name means "servant".2

A precious and utterly amazing ending of the story is the snippet of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, given in 4:12, 18-22, and the character, Perez.  In the next post, our last Ruth post, we will take a look at that.

Sources:

1    http://www.oudesporen.nl/Download/OS2040.pdf

2    http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Spring_Holidays/Shavuot/Ruth/ruth.html