Perez

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible on Perez

In AV of OT this name is, except in 1 Ch 278, Neh 11* 5, His Pharez, a modification of the LXX Φάρες and ulg. Phares. This last form is found in AV of Mt 1 , Lk 3%, and is retained by RV in 1 Es 5°. Perez was one of the twin sons of Judah by Tamar his daughter-in-law, and received his name from the manner of his birth, Gn 38”. Nothing else is known of his personal history. In the goveslogies he takes precedence of his twin brother erah, and to him the leading families of the tribe of Judah traced their descent. According to Gn 46", Nu 26-21, there were four Judahite clans, two of which, Hezron and Hamul, represented Perez; the others were descended from Shelah and Zerah respectively. Ewald (HT i. 365) has an ingenious theory, that as in Levi, so in Judah there were twelve families, and that the clan of Perez preponderated in the latter tribe, as that of Kohath did in the former, the Kohathite families being equal to the Ger- shonite and Merarite combined. In support of this he appeals to 1 Ch 2 and 41:33, which he thinks represent two different genealogies of *See an article 2nd seri…