Jesse the Bethlehemite: The Father Who Left One Son with the Sheep

A man of Judah in the days of Saul

Jesse (Hebrew יִשַׁי) belongs to the tribe of Judah and to the era of the united kingdom, placed around 1095 BC to 975 BC (era placed on Ussher's chronology, 1650). He first appears in Ruth 4:17 and again in Ruth 4:22, and the genealogy of 1 Chronicles 2:12-13 sets him in his line: "and Boaz became the father of Obed, and Obed became the father of Jesse; and Jesse became the father of his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimea the third." His home town is named plainly: "Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons. The man was an elderly old man in the days of Saul" (1 Samuel 17:12). Across the Bible his name occurs in forty-four verses, but Jesse himself acts in only a handful of scenes. Most often he is a name attached to someone else, above all to his youngest son.

Seven sons before Samuel

Jesse's one extended scene begins when Samuel is sent to him (1 Samuel 16:1, 16:3, 16:5). What follows is a father parading his sons: "Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, 'Yahweh has not chosen this one, either.' Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. He said, 'Yahweh has not chosen this one, either.' Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. Samuel said to Jesse, 'Yahweh has not chosen these'" (1 Samuel 16:8-10).

Seven sons, and not one of them the man God had come for. Then the question that exposes the household: "Samuel said to Jesse, 'Are all your children here?' He said, 'There remains yet the youngest. Behold, he is keeping the sheep.' Samuel said to Jesse, 'Send and get him, for we will not sit down until he comes here'" (1 Samuel 16:11). Jesse had not thought the boy worth summoning. The prophet refuses to sit down until he arrives.

Bread, wine, and a young goat

The next time we see Jesse he is sending that same son away. A servant of Saul speaks of "a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and Yahweh is with him" (1 Samuel 16:18). Saul's message is blunt: "Send me David your son, who is with the sheep" (1 Samuel 16:19). Jesse obeys, and does it with a father's provision: "Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, and a container of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by David his son to Saul" (1 Samuel 16:20). Saul then asks Jesse to let David remain (1 Samuel 16:22).

In the next war Jesse's three oldest go to the fighting: "The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah" (1 Samuel 17:13). Jesse sends David to them with supplies (1 Samuel 17:17), David rises early to obey (1 Samuel 17:20), and after the fighting he is named as "the son of Jesse" before Saul (1 Samuel 17:58). That is the last we see of Jesse acting. Everything after is his name in another man's mouth or another man's record: 1 Samuel 20:27, 22:13, 25:10; 2 Samuel 20:1 and 23:1; 1 Kings 12:16; 1 Chronicles 10:14, 12:18, 29:26; 2 Chronicles 10:16 and 11:18; Psalms 72:20; and twice in Isaiah 11:1 and 11:10.

The name Saul spat out

Jesse's name became a weapon. Saul says to Jonathan, "don't I know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame... For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you will not be established, nor will your kingdom. Therefore now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die!" (1 Samuel 20:30-31). To his servants he says, "Will the son of Jesse give everyone of you fields and vineyards?" and Doeg the Edomite answers, "I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub" (1 Samuel 22:7-9). Jesse's own failure is quieter and stands in his own scene: asked whether all his children were present, he had already counted one out and left him with the sheep (1 Samuel 16:11).

What we are not told

The dossier lists further children of Jesse: Nethanel and Raddai (1 Chronicles 2:14), Ozem (1 Chronicles 2:15), Elihu (1 Chronicles 27:18), Zeruiah (1 Samuel 26:6) and, with a question mark left standing, Abigail (2 Samuel 17:25). The third son is called Shammah in 1 Samuel 16:9 and 17:13 and Shimea in 1 Chronicles 2:13. The name of the mother of Jesse's children is not given in the passages before us; a partner, Nahash, is listed at 2 Samuel 17:25 and nothing further is said. When Jesse died, and where, Scripture here does not tell us.

The line to Christ

Four New Testament passages carry Jesse's name forward. The genealogies of Matthew 1:5-6 and Luke 3:32 place him in the line that runs to Jesus Christ. Acts 13:22 names him again, and so does Romans 15:12. The old man of Bethlehem who nearly forgot his youngest son stands, by God's choosing rather than his own counting, in the family record of the Messiah.