Pharez

Pharez — also called Perez and Phares — is the twin son of Judah by Tamar whose order-breaking birth gives him his name and whose line carries the Judahite chain forward through Hezron and Hamul. The UPDV traces him from his Genesis 38 origin, through the Egyptian descent and the wilderness census, into the Chronicler's Judah-rolls, on to the post-exilic Jerusalem resettlement, and finally up the Messianic genealogies of Matthew and Luke.

Birth and Naming

The naming-scene is set at Tamar's delivery: "And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, look, his brother came out: and she said, Why have you made a breach for yourself? Therefore his name was called Perez" (Gen 38:29). The hand drawn back reverses the first-out sign, the brother comes out ahead of order, and the midwife's breach-question gives the naming-ground — so Pharez is fixed at origin as Judah's son by Tamar whose name answers his order-breaking entry into birth.

Sons of Perez

From the start the line is enumerated by his two sons. In the descent into Egypt, Judah's five sons are named — "Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Perez, and Zerah" — and a nested clause adds, "the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul" (Gen 46:12). The Chronicler repeats the same pair in his own enumeration: "The sons of Perez: Hezron, and Hamul" (1 Chr 2:5).

The Family of the Perezites

At the second wilderness census on the plains of Moab, Pharez heads a named branch of the Judah tribe: "the sons of Judah after their families were: of Shelah, the family of the Shelanites; of Perez, the family of the Perezites; of Zerah, the family of the Zerahites" (Num 26:20). The next verse breaks the Perezite branch into its own two sub-families: "And the sons of Perez were: of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites; of Hamul, the family of the Hamulites" (Num 26:21). The of-Perez family-tag flanks him with his surviving brothers and assigns the Perezite line a recognised standing inside the Judah-roll at the threshold of the land.

The Chronicler likewise registers the twin pair under Judah: "And Tamar his daughter-in-law bore him Perez and Zerah. All the sons of Judah were five" (1 Chr 2:4). The Tamar-his-daughter-in-law apposition identifies the Genesis 38 daughter-in-law-made-mother, Perez is named first as the continuing line, and the all-the-sons-of-Judah-were-five summation closes the Er-Onan-Shelah-Perez-Zerah set.

Return from the Captivity

After the exile Pharez surfaces again as a named ancestral clan-head in Nehemiah's Jerusalem-resettler roster: "And in Jerusalem dwelt certain of the sons of Judah, and of the sons of Benjamin. Of the sons of Judah: Athaiah the son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, of the sons of Perez" (Neh 11:4). A six-generation father-chain climbs back from the post-exilic settler Athaiah and is anchored in "the sons of Perez" as the Judahite clan-head. The list is then closed with a numerical total: "All the sons of Perez who dwelt in Jerusalem were four hundred threescore and eight valiant men" (Neh 11:6).

The Chronicler's parallel post-exilic Jerusalem-resettler notice runs the same way: "Uthai the son of Ammihud, the son of Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Bani, of the sons of Perez the son of Judah" (1 Chr 9:4). Across both rosters the Perezite clan stands as a continuing presence in the reoccupied capital.

In the Lineage of Jesus

The Messianic genealogies pick the twin pair out of Judah's house and select Perez as the carrier. Matthew's descent reads, "and Judah begot Perez and Zerah from Tamar; and Perez begot Hezron; and Hezron begot Ram" (Matt 1:3) — the twin pair is named with Tamar, but only Perez's begetting of Hezron is given, choosing him out of the pair to carry the chain forward. Luke's ascent climbs in the opposite direction through the same link: "the [son] of Amminadab, the [son] of Admin, the [son] of Arni, the [son] of Hezron, the [son] of Perez, the [son] of Judah" (Luke 3:33). His position between Judah and Hezron continues the Messianic chain through the tribal patriarch's son without mention of the twin birth.

The figure first named for an order-breaking entry into the world thus stands in the UPDV as Judah's chosen son for the lineage that runs to Hezron, to Boaz's stock, and on into the Davidic and Messianic line.