Nahshon

Nahshon, son of Amminadab, was the leader of the tribe of Judah at the time of the Exodus from Egypt and an ancestor of King David and of Jesus Christ. The Orthodox Church commemorates him among the righteous of the Old Testament on the Sunday of the Forefathers, before Christmas.

In Holy Scripture

According to the Book of Numbers, Nahshon, called Naasson in the Greek and Slavonic form, was the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah, a descendant in the fifth generation of the patriarch Judah through Perez and Hezron, and brother-⁠in-⁠law of Aaron, since his sister Elisheba was Aaron's wife. At the census at Sinai he was at least twenty years old. Those who set out from Egypt, he among them, did not reach the Promised Land but perished in the forty years of wandering in the wilderness.

Moses appointed him, at God's command, prince and commander of the host of the tribe of Judah. Although his tribe was fourth in the order of the patriarchs, at the dedication of the Tabernacle he was the first to bring his offering. Through Boaz he is a direct male ancestor of King David, and so of Solomon and all the kings of Judah, and he stands halfway between Judah and David. The father of Salmon, he appears in the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew (1:4) and in that of Luke.

Tradition

In Jewish tradition Nahshon is praised for having entered the Red Sea first, trusting in the Lord. According to a midrash, the Israelites stood weeping on the shore, and Nahshon entered the water, and only when the water reached his nose did the sea part. It is also told there that when the princes of the tribes were called to bring their offerings, each on a different day, Moses did not know who should be first, and all Israel pointed to Nahshon. The Hebrew name Nahshon has been understood as "persistent", from a root that also means to be steadfast.

Nahshon is painted among the ancestors of Christ in a lunette of the Sistine Chapel, as a young man in a red robe, reading a book. The Orthodox Church honours him as a saint and commemorates him on the Sunday of the Forefathers.