Perez and Zerah (Tamar's Twins) Facts for 9-13 Year Olds

Categories: Family

• Judah picks Tamar as a wife for his first son, Er.
• After Er dies, Judah gives Tamar to his second son through levirate marriage.
• Any son from that union would be Er’s heir.
• The second son also dies.
• Judah reneges on his promise to Tamar to give her to his third son.
• Wanting an heir for Er, Tamar tricks Judah into lying with her.
• Tamar immediately gets pregnant with twins.
• Judah is the father, and proclaims her innocent of all wrongdoing.
• When Tamar is in labor, one of the babies puts out his hand.
• The midwife ties a crimson thread on his hand, identifying him as firstborn.
• But then he pulls his hand back.
• The other baby comes out.
• Tamar names him Perez.
• The first baby is named Zerah.
• The name, Perez, means “to break.”
• Perez has two sons, Hezron and Hamul.
• According to the Book of Ruth, there are nine generations between Perez and King David.
• Perez is, therefore, an ancestor of Jesus.
• Zerah is the second twin.
• His name comes from a verb meaning, “to rise or shine.”
• Zerah has five sons: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara.
• Scholars think that because they lost their birthright, many of them left the area.
• His oldest son has a descendant, Achan, that steals goods from Jericho.
• Because of this, Joshua loses a big battle, and Achan loses his life.
• Zerah’s son, Darda, establishes cities in Turkey.
• Darda and Zerah become part of Greek mythology.
• Zerah is mentioned alongside Perez in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus.
• It could be because after the fall of Troy, his descendants migrated to Britain and Ireland.
• By the time of David, the Zerahites had become the royal family in Ireland.
• Around the time of the fall of Jerusalem, one of Zedekiah’s daughters (descendant of Judah through Perez) marries one of Ireland’s princes (descendant of Judah through Zerah).
• When Zedekiah and his sons are killed in the conquest, this marriage endures fulfilling the prophecy stated in Genesis 49:10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah…”
• There is no information regarding the death of either twin.