Long before the birth of David, from whose dynasty came Jesus the Messiah, David was prophesied in the Bible. The first clue is found in the Book of Ruth. The story of Ruth occurred just a few years after the Children of Israel settled the Promised Land. In the last chapter, Boaz, a righteous man, married Ruth. The name of their child was Obed, who was the grandfather of David, who would become king. But immediately following the Scripture in the Book of Ruth showing the lineage of Obed, the generations of Pharez are given. There are ten generations and the list goes from Pharez to David.
So, who was Pharez? Chapter thirty-eight of Genesis gives us the story of Judah and his daughter-in-law, Tamar. I will not go into the details here, but Tamar became pregnant by Judah. (Genesis 38:6-30) The child born to Tamar was illegitimate. His name was Pharez. (Please note that the Bible tells all the truth, warts and all.)
Several hundred years after the time of Judah and Tamar, the Book of Ruth explains the lineage of Judah through David.
“A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.” – Deuteronomy 23:2Pharez was illegitimate and his descendants to the tenth generation could not have been king. This in itself is explanation enough, but the Lord had a little extra information for us in Genesis chapter thirty-eight.
Beginning in verse nine of chapter thirty-eight, counting every forty-nine Hebrew letters, are found the names of Boaz, Ruth, Obed, Jesse and David. The names are in the proper chronological order, beginning with Boaz.
This system of equidistant letter spacing is commonly called the Bible Code. Many do not wish to believe such a thing exists, but it is there. (For more information, please click HERE.)
“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.” – Proverbs 25:2Hundreds of years before the birth of Boaz and Ruth, their names were placed in Genesis by the Holy Spirit, and placed in the very chapter that began the lineage of King David from Judah, the son of Jacob. Genesis was written by Moses. The Book of Ruth was probably written by Samuel. These men clearly did not know each other, having lived hundreds of years apart.
These Scriptures show that the Lord knew that David would be born and when he would be born. The Lord intended David, whom he foreknew, to be king from the beginning. However, because of the clamor of the people, the Lord directed Samuel to choose Saul, because David was not yet born. He was born after Saul had ruled for twelve years.
Praise the Lord for choosing us before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4)