PEREZ "breach" because he broke forth from the womb before his twin brother Zarah who had first put out his hand. Son of Judah and Tamar his daughter in law (Matthew 1:3; Luke 3:33; Genesis 38:29). His house retained the primogeniture; it was famous for being prolific, so as to pass into a proverb (Rth 4:12; Rth 4:18-22). After the deaths of Er and Onan childless, Pharez took the rank of Judah's son, next after Shelah. His sons Hezron and Hamul became heads of two new chief houses. Hezron was forefather of David and Messiah. Caleb's house too was incorporated into Hezron's.
        Under David "the chief of all the captains of the host for the first month was of the children of Pharez" (1 Chronicles 27:2-3), famed for valor (1 Chronicles 11:11. (See JASHOBEAM.) 2 Samuel 23:8). Hezron married a second time Muchir's daughter; so one line of Pharez's descendents reckoned as sons of Manasseh. Pharez's house was the greatest of the houses of Judah; 468 valiant men of the children of Pharez alone of Judah dwelt in Jerusalem (Nehemiah 11:3-6; 1 Chronicles 9:3-6) after the return from Babylon.