Salmon

Salmon (Hebrew Salmon or Salma, shady) is an ancestor of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh, the son of Nahshon of the tribe of Judah and husband of Rahab, father of Boaz and, in the line of generations, great-⁠great-⁠grandfather of King David. He is mentioned only in genealogies, so no stories are told of him, only his place in the Saviour's lineage.

In Scripture His name appears in the First Book of Chronicles, the Book of Ruth, the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of Matthew says that Salmon begot Boaz of Rahab. This Rahab may be the woman of Jericho, but her marriage to Salmon is not mentioned in the account of her hiding the messengers sent by Joshua. Some sources suppose, without being able to prove it, that Salmon was one of the two spies whom Joshua sent to Jericho.

His time His father Nahshon was one of the leaders of Israel who were with Moses at the exodus from Egypt and who took part in the census of the whole congregation of the children of Israel. Salmon was therefore, in all likelihood, a contemporary of Joshua and belongs to the first generation of Israelites who crossed the Jordan and entered the Promised Land.

Veneration The Orthodox Church counts him among the righteous forefathers of Christ and remembers him on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers of the Lord, before the Nativity. His likeness appears, together with Boaz and Obed, in a painting in the Sistine Chapel.