Rut and Tamar, David and Yehudah: unlikely connections in Megillat Rut

(9) And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people: ‘Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi. (10) Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I acquired to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place; ye are witnesses this day.’ (11) And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said: ‘We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thy house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel; and do thou worthily in Ephrath, and be famous in Beth-lehem; (12) and let thy house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman.’ (13) So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in unto her, and the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son. (14) And the women said unto Naomi: ‘Blessed be the LORD, who hath not left thee this day without a near kinsman, and let his name be famous in Israel. (15) And he shall be unto thee a restorer of life, and a nourisher of thine old age; for thy daughter-in-law, who loveth thee, who is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him.’ (16) And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it. (17) And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying: ‘There is a son born to Naomi’; and they called his name Obed; he is the father of Jesse, the father of David. (18) Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez begot Hezron; (19) and Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab; (20) and Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon; (21) and Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed; (22) and Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David.

(31) And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a he-goat, and dipped the coat in the blood; (32) and they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said: ‘This have we found. Recognize now whether it is thy son’s coat or not.’ (33) And he recognized it, and said: ‘It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces.’ (34) And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

(1) And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. (2) And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her, and went in unto her. (3) And she conceived, and bore a son; and he called his name Er. (4) And she conceived again, and bore a son; and she called his name Onan. (5) And she yet again bore a son, and called his name Shelah; and he was at Chezib, when she bore him. (6) And Judah took a wife for Er his first-born, and her name was Tamar. (7) And Er, Judah’s first-born, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him. (8) And Judah said unto Onan: ‘Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother unto her, and raise up seed to thy brother.’ (9) And Onan knew that the seed would not be his; and it came to pass when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother. (10) And the thing which he did was evil in the sight of the LORD; and He slew him also. (11) Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter-in-law: ‘Remain a widow in thy father’s house, till Shelah my son be grown up’; for he said: ‘Lest he also die, like his brethren.’ And Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house. (12) And in process of time Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheep-shearers to Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. (13) And it was told Tamar, saying: ‘Behold, thy father-in-law goeth up to Timnah to shear his sheep.’ (14) And she put off from her the garments of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the entrance of Enaim, which is by the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she was not given unto him to wife. (15) When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a harlot; for she had covered her face. (16) And he turned unto her by the way, and said: ‘Come, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee’; for he knew not that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said: ‘What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me?’ (17) And he said: ‘I will send thee a kid of the goats from the flock.’ And she said: ‘Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it?’ (18) And he said: ‘What pledge shall I give thee?’ And she said: ‘Thy signet and thy cord, and thy staff that is in thy hand.’ And he gave them to her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him. (19) And she arose, and went away, and put off her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood. (20) And Judah sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman’s hand; but he found her not. (21) Then he asked the men of her place, saying: ‘Where is the harlot, that was at Enaim by the wayside?’ And they said: ‘There hath been no harlot here.’ (22) And he returned to Judah, and said: ‘I have not found her; and also the men of the place said: There hath been no harlot here.’ (23) And Judah said: ‘Let her take it, lest we be put to shame; behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.’ (24) And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying: ‘Tamar thy daughter-in-law hath played the harlot; and moreover, behold, she is with child by harlotry.’ And Judah said: ‘Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.’ (25) When she was brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law, saying: ‘By the man, whose these are, am I with child’; and she said: ‘Recognize, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and the cords, and the staff.’ (26) And Judah acknowledged them, and said: ‘She is more righteous than I; forasmuch as I gave her not to Shelah my son.’ And he knew her again no more. (27) And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb. (28) And it came to pass, when she travailed, that one put out a hand; and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying: ‘This came out first.’ (29) And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold his brother came out; and she said: ‘Wherefore hast thou made a breach for thyself?’ Therefore his name was called Perez. (30) And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand; and his name was called Zerah.

(1) AND IT came to pass in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth-lehem in Judah went to sojourn in the field of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

(5) Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers: ‘Whose damsel is this?’ (6) And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said: ‘It is a Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the field of Moab; (7) and she said: Let me glean, I pray you, and gather after the reapers among the sheaves; so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, save that she tarried a little in the house.’ (8) Then said Boaz unto Ruth: ‘Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither pass from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens. (9) Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them; have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn.’ (10) Then she fell on her face, and bowed down to the ground, and said unto him: ‘Why have I found favour in thy sight, that thou shouldest take cognizance of me, seeing I am a foreigner?’ (11) And Boaz answered and said unto her: ‘It hath fully been told me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thy husband; and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people that thou knewest not heretofore. (12) The LORD recompense thy work, and be thy reward complete from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to take refuge.’ (13) Then she said: ‘Let me find favour in thy sight, my LORD; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken to the heart of thy handmaid, though I be not as one of thy handmaidens.’ (14) And Boaz said unto her at meal-time: ‘Come hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar.’ And she sat beside the reapers; and they reached her parched corn, and she did eat and was satisfied, and left thereof. (15) And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying: ‘Let her glean even among the sheaves, and put her not to shame. (16) And also pull out some for her of purpose from the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean, and rebuke her not.’ (17) So she gleaned in the field until even; and she beat out that which she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.