Bible Dictionaries
Jesse

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Obed's son, father of David; sprung from the Moabitess Ruth and the Canaanite Rahab of Jericho; and from Nahshon, at the Exodus chief of Judah, and so from the great house of Pharez, through Hezron. His designation "the Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah" (1 Samuel 17:12) implies that he was of a very old family in the place. He was elderly and had eight sons when we first read of him. The Targum on 2 Samuel 21:19 makes him a weaver of veils for the sanctuary. (On his removal to Moab in David's flight from Saul see DAVID, also see ABIGAIL on Jesse's connection with her and Joab, Abishai and Asahel, and Zeruiah.) His own name is immortalized, probably because of his faith in the coming Messiah, "the rod out of the stem (stump) of Jesse" even long after David had eclipsed him (Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 11:10), expressing the depressed state of David's royal line when Messiah was to be born of it (Luke 2).

Bibliography Information
Fausset, Andrew R. Entry for 'Jesse'. Fausset's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/​dictionaries/​eng/​fbd/​j/jesse.html. 1949.