Abigail (mother of Amasa)

According to the Hebrew Bible, Abigail ( he, אֲבִיגַיִל‎, ʾAḇīḡayīl) was the mother of Amasa, the commander-in-chief of Absalom's army (2 Samuel 17:25).

2 Samuel 17:25 refers to Abigail as a sister of Zeruiah, and therefore an aunt to Joab. In the Books of Chronicles (), Abigail and Zeruiah are referred to as sisters to David. The Masoretic Text of calls Abigail the daughter of Nahash. While it is possible that Jesse's wife had first married to Nahash (and Abigail was David's half-sister), scholars think that ''Nahash'' is a typographic error,'' Peake's commentary on the Bible'' based on the appearance of the name two verses later.

According to the medieval commentator Rashi, "Nahash" refers to Jesse. Because he never sinned, he only died because of Adam's sin with the serpent, so he was called Nahash, meaning ''serpent''.

In Chronicles, Amasa's father is ''Jether the Ishmaelite,'' but in the Books of Samuel, Amasa's father is ''Ithra the Israelite''; scholars think that the latter case is more likely.

Jon Levenson and Baruch Halpern suggest that Abigail, mother of Amasa may, in fact, be the same Abigail who became David's wife. Richard M. Davidson, however, points out that "on the basis of the final form of the OT canon, references to Abigail in the biblical accounts indicate two different individuals."

References

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Books of Samuel people
Books of Chronicles people
Women in the Hebrew Bible
Ishmaelites
Tribe of Judah
People associated with David