Twin brother of Peretz, born to Yehudah and Tamar (Genesis 38:27-30) — at the birth, his hand emerged first and the midwife bound it with a scarlet thread, saying 'this came out first'; but Peretz 'broke through' and was born first, giving Peretz the name and the elder-birthright role despite Zerach's hand appearing first
Numbers 26:20 names 'the family of the Zarhites' descended from him
Named alongside Peretz in Matthew 1:3 ('Judah begat Phares and Zara of Thamar') — one of the few figures in Matthew's genealogy who is not himself an ancestor of Yeshua, included because the verse names both twins together
1 Chronicles 2:6 names five sons of Zerach — Zimri, Eitan, Heman, Kalkol, and Dara — possibly the same 'Eitan the Ezrahite' (i.e. 'of Zerach'), Heman, Kalkol, and Darda whose wisdom 1 Kings 4:31 compares (favorably for Shlomo) to Shlomo's own; the identification is debated, and the sons themselves are beyond this dataset's scope
“Peretz's twin — his hand appeared first and was marked with the scarlet thread, but Peretz was born first; named alongside him in Matthew 1:3”
Traditional note: This entry was previously referenced only as a 'dangling reference' in both 'peretz's and 'tamar-eshet-yehudah's notes (Messianic Spine Batches A-B); both notes are updated in this batch to point here. See 'tzochar' (Batch E1) for the unrelated 'Zerach son of Shimon,' who likewise founds a 'Zarhite'-type family (Numbers 26:13) — two distinct Zerach figures in two different tribes, not to be confused.
