Jarha

Jar´ha the Egyptian slave of a Hebrew named Sheshan, who married the daughter of his master, and was, of course, made free. As Sheshan had no sons, his posterity is traced through this connection (1Ch 2:34-41), which is the only one of the kind mentioned in Scripture. Jarha was doubtless a proselyte, and the anecdote seems to belong to the period of the sojourn in Egypt, although it is not easy to see how an Egyptian could there be slave to an Israelite.

Jar’ha. The Egyptian servant of Sheshan, about the time of Eli, to whom his master gave his daughter and heir in marriage; 1Ch 2:34-35. (B.C. before 1491).

An Egyptian; servant or slave of Sheshan of Judah, about the time of Eli; married Sheshun’s daughter Ahlai, Sheshun having no sons (1Ch 2:34). An extraordinary occurrence. Jarha was forefather of a chief house of the Jerahmeelites, which lasted at least until Hezekiah’s time, and of which sprung Zabad and Azariah. (See ZABAD; AZARIAH.) Ahlai’s descendants were called after her, as Joab, Abishai, and Asahel are called "the sons of Zeruiah" (1Ch 2:16). It is an undesigned coincidence, confirming the Bible record, that the Jerahmeelites dwelt on the S. of Judah nearest Egypt, so that an Egyptian servant might naturally be in a Jerahmeelite family, such as Sheshan’s was (1Sa 27:10).

[Jar’ha]

Egyptian servant to Sheshan, who gave him his daughter in marriage. 1Ch 2:34-35.

JARHA.—An Egyptian slave who married the daughter of his master Sheshan (1Ch 2:34 f.).

jar´ha (ירחע, yarḥā‛, meaning unknown): An Egyptian slave of Shesham, about Eli’s time (compare HPN, 235), who married his master’s daughter, and became the founder of a house of the Jerahmeelites (1Ch 2:34).