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Bible Dictionaries
Jesse
Smith's Bible Dictionary
or Jes'se. (wealthy). The father of David, was the son of Obed, who again, was the fruit of the union of Boaz, and the Moabitess Ruth. His great-grandmother was Rahab, the Canaanite, of Jericho. Matthew 1:5. Jesse's genealogy is twice given in full, in the Old Testament, namely, Ruth 4:18-22, and 1 Chronicles 2:5-12.
He is commonly designated as "Jesse, the Bethlehemite," 1 Samuel 16:1; 1 Samuel 16:18; 1 Samuel 17:58, but his full title is "the Ephrathite, of Bethlehem Judah." 1 Samuel 17:12. He is an "old man" when we first meet with him, 1 Samuel 17:12, with eight sons, 1 Samuel 16:10; 1 Samuel 17:12, residing at Bethlehem. 1 Samuel 16:4-5.
Jesse's wealth seems to have consisted of a flock of sheep and goats, which were under the care of David. 1 Samuel 16:11; 1 Samuel 17:34-35. After David's rupture with Saul, he took his father and his mother into the country of Moab, and deposited them with the king, and there they disappear from our view, in the records of Scripture. (B.C. 1068-61). Who the wife of Jesse was, we are not told.
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Smith, William, Dr. Entry for 'Jesse'. Smith's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/sbd/j/jesse.html. 1901.
