{
  "id": "dict_003871",
  "term": "Nahshon",
  "slug": "nahshon",
  "letter": "N",
  "entry_type": "biblical_person",
  "entry_family": "theological_term",
  "depth_profile": "standard",
  "short_definition": "Nahshon was a Judahite leader in Israel’s wilderness generation and an ancestor in the line leading to King David and Jesus.",
  "simple_one_line": "Nahshon was a chief of Judah in the wilderness period and an ancestor of David and Jesus.",
  "tooltip_text": "A leader of Judah in the wilderness generation, named in Israel’s tribal records and in the genealogy of Jesus.",
  "aliases": [],
  "scripture_references": [],
  "original_language_terms": [],
  "related_entries": [
    "Judah",
    "Amminadab",
    "Salmon",
    "Boaz",
    "David",
    "Genealogy of Jesus"
  ],
  "see_also": [
    "Numbers",
    "Ruth",
    "Matthew",
    "Luke",
    "Tribe of Judah"
  ],
  "lede_intro": "Nahshon is a biblical person best known as the son of Amminadab and a chief of the tribe of Judah during Israel’s wilderness journey. He appears in Numbers as a tribal leader and in later genealogies as an ancestor in the line of David and, ultimately, Jesus.",
  "at_a_glance_definition": "Nahshon was a Judahite leader during the Exodus/wilderness period, recognized among the tribal heads of Israel.",
  "at_a_glance_key_points": [
    "Son of Amminadab",
    "chief of Judah in the wilderness",
    "associated with Judah’s tribal offering in Numbers",
    "named in Ruth’s genealogy of David",
    "included in the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke."
  ],
  "description_academic_short": "Nahshon, son of Amminadab, is identified in Numbers as a leader of the tribe of Judah during the wilderness period. He is later preserved in the genealogy of David in Ruth and in the messianic genealogies of Matthew and Luke. Scripture presents him as a historical and genealogical figure rather than as the bearer of a distinct doctrinal concept.",
  "description_academic_full": "Nahshon is a biblical figure identified as the son of Amminadab and a chief of the tribe of Judah during Israel’s wilderness period. In Numbers he is listed among the tribal leaders and is associated with Judah’s role in the dedication offerings for the tabernacle. He reappears in Ruth’s genealogy of David and is also named in the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke. Scripture treats Nahshon primarily as a historical and genealogical figure of significance within the tribe of Judah, not as a theological term or doctrinal category.",
  "background_biblical_context": "In the wilderness narratives, Nahshon stands among the heads of Israel’s tribes as Judah’s representative. His place in the record underscores Judah’s prominence early in Israel’s national history and anticipates the later royal line that comes through Judah.",
  "background_historical_context": "Nahshon belongs to the generation after the exodus from Egypt, when Israel was organized by tribes under Moses. His name is preserved in Israel’s census, leadership lists, and genealogical records, showing that he was remembered as part of the foundational history of the nation.",
  "background_jewish_ancient_context": "In Jewish genealogical memory, Nahshon is an important link in the line of Judah leading toward David. Later biblical genealogy uses him to connect the wilderness generation to Israel’s monarchy and, in the New Testament, to the Messiah.",
  "key_texts_primary": [
    "Numbers 1:7",
    "Numbers 2:3",
    "Numbers 7:12, 17",
    "Numbers 10:14",
    "Ruth 4:20-22",
    "Matthew 1:4",
    "Luke 3:32"
  ],
  "key_texts_secondary": [
    "1 Chronicles 2:10-11"
  ],
  "original_language_note": "Hebrew: נַחְשׁוֹן (Naḥshon).",
  "theological_significance": "Nahshon’s significance is chiefly covenantal and genealogical: he belongs to Judah, the tribe from which the royal line emerges, and he appears in the ancestry leading to David and Jesus.",
  "philosophical_explanation": "Nahshon is not a philosophical or abstract theological concept. He is a historical person whose importance comes from his place in the biblical narrative and genealogy.",
  "interpretive_cautions": "Do not overread Nahshon’s few biblical appearances. Scripture gives him no extended character study and no explicit doctrinal teaching under his name.",
  "major_views_note": "There is no major interpretive debate about Nahshon’s identity, though readers may vary in how much significance they assign to his role in the genealogies.",
  "doctrinal_boundaries": "Nahshon should be treated as a real biblical person, not as a doctrine, symbol, or allegorical figure. His inclusion in genealogies supports the historical continuity of the biblical record.",
  "practical_significance": "Nahshon reminds readers that Scripture often preserves faithful people whose lives are summarized briefly but whose place in God’s unfolding plan matters.",
  "meta_description": "Nahshon was a Judahite leader in the wilderness period and an ancestor in the line leading to David and Jesus.",
  "public_url": "/companion-bible-dictionary/nahshon/",
  "json_url": "/companion-bible-dictionary/data/dictionary/nahshon.json",
  "final_disposition": "PUBLISH_CANONICAL"
}