JESSE jĕs’ ĭ (יִשַׁ֖י; LXX ̓Ιεσσαι, meaning uncertain). Father of King David. Son of Obed and grandson of the prosperous Bethlehemite, Boaz, and his Moabitess wife, Ruth (Ruth 4:17, 22; 1 Chron 2:12; Matt 1:5, 6; Luke 3:32). A member of the tribe of Judah, he was a wealthy landholder in Bethlehem. He was the father of eight sons (1 Sam 16:1f.; 17:12) or of seven sons (1 Chron 2:15): Eliab, Abinadab, Shimea or Shamah, Nethanel, Raddai, Ozem, Elihu (omitted from 1 Chron 2:15), and David; and two daughters: Zeruiah and Abigail (1 Chron 2:13-17). The two daughters were mothers of famous warriors in David’s army—Zeruiah’s sons: Joab, Abishai, Asahel; Abigail’s son, Amasa. The difficult statement in 2 Samuel 17:25 about Abigail (Abigal) being the daughter of Nahash has been interpreted by some to mean that David’s mother had been married to Nahash before she married Jesse, making Zeruiah and Abigail stepdaughters of Jesse, and stepsisters of David. Other explanations have been offered, but the matter cannot be settled with certainty (cf. Lange, p. 525).

Jesse is formally introduced to the reader of the OT where Samuel anointed Jesse’s son David as the future king of Israel (1 Sam 16:1-13). At the command of Yahweh, the prophet journeyed to Bethlehem for a sacrificial meal to which Jesse and his family were invited. In the course of events, seven of Jesse’s sons passed in review before Samuel, but none was chosen of God. Upon inquiry, the prophet found that the eighth and youngest son was in the field tending sheep. David was summoned, reviewed, given the divine sanction, and anointed. The indications are that neither Jesse nor David understood all the implications of Samuel’s actions on this occasion.

Jesse is next mentioned where Saul sent a messenger requesting him to allow David to come to court and play his harp to cure the king’s melancholia (1 Sam 16:14f.). Jesse agreed to the king’s request, and not only sent his son, but also a present of meat, bread, and wine for the king. This indicates that Jesse was a prosperous and generous farmer, and also one who knew the courtly protocol of his day. He was also magnanimous enough to leave David at Saul’s court when the latter made further request of his services (16:22, 23).

Jesse, on another occasion, unwittingly initiated David into his military career by sending him to the battle front at the appropriate moment. Laden with fresh provisions for his three older brothers who were serving in Saul’s army, David stumbled into camp just as the Israelites were confronted by a huge Philistine force whose champion was Goliah of Gath. The stripling David gained immortal renown by slaying the Philistine giant (1 Sam 17:17ff.).

Jesse’s safety and welfare became the concern of David during the years he lived as a fugitive from Saul. Fearing that Saul, in one of his periodic fits of depression, might harm his aged parents, David sent them away to the land of Moab until the danger was past. They apparently survived the sojourn in Moab without mishap (1 Sam 22:2-4).

David is often called “the son of Jesse” in the OT. It was a derisive and hateful term in the mouth of Saul and other enemies of David (1 Sam 20:27, 30, 31; 22:7, 8; 22:9; 25:10; 2 Sam 20:1; 1 Kings 12:16; 2 Chron 10:16). In time, however, it became a term of honor and renown, and greatly beloved by the people of Israel (2 Sam 23:1; 1 Chron 10:14; 29:26; Ps 72:20; Acts 13:22).

Jesse is mentioned in the prophecies of Isaiah as an ancestor of the future messianic king. Here “the shoot from the stump of Jesse” (Isa 11:1) and “the root of Jesse” (11:10) were symbolic terms for that messianic personage who was to bring in the long-awaited eschaton. Paul used the expression “the root of Jesse” (Rom 15:12) to identify Jesus with the messianic prophecies of the OT. The same could be said for Matthew’s and Luke’s inclusion of Jesse in the genealogies of Jesus (Matt 1:5; Luke 3:32).

Bibliography J. P. Lange, “Samuel,” Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (1877), 221f.; also “Isaiah” (1878), 162, 165; K. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, “Samuel,” Biblical Commentary (1866), 167, 178f.; also “Isaiah” (reprint 1949), 281, 288; A. Edersheim, Bible History, IV (reprint 1949), 800-884; Brown, Driver and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon (1955), 445.