Amasa (עמשא) or Amessai is a person mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

. His mother was

Abigail Abigail () was an Israelite woman in the Hebrew Bible married to Nabal; she married the future King David after Nabal's death ( 1 Samuel ). Abigail was David's second wife, after Saul and Ahinoam's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later married ...

(), a sister of King

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

(). Hence, Amasa was a nephew of David, and cousin of

Joab Joab (Hebrew Modern: ''Yōʼav'', Tiberian: ''Yōʼāḇ'') the son of Zeruiah, was the nephew of King David and the commander of his army, according to the Hebrew Bible. Name The name Joab is, like many other Hebrew names, theophoric - derive ...

, David's military commander, as well as a cousin of

Absalom Absalom ( he, ''ʾAḇšālōm'', "father of peace") was the third son of David, King of Israel with Maacah, daughter of Talmai, King of Geshur. 2 Samuel 14:25 describes him as the handsomest man in the kingdom. Absalom eventually rebelled ag ...

, David's son. David calls him "my bone and my flesh" (). Amasa's father was Jether (, ) who was also called Ithra (). When Absalom rebelled against David and won over the

tribes of Israel The Twelve Tribes of Israel ( he, שִׁבְטֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל, translit=Šīḇṭēy Yīsrāʾēl, lit=Tribes of Israel) are, according to Hebrew Bible, Hebrew scriptures, the descendants of the biblical Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch ...

(), he appointed Amasa as commander over the army, in effect replacing Joab, who had served as commander for David. After the revolt was crushed and Absalom died (), David was invited back to Jerusalem and restored as king. David re-appointed Amasa "from now on" as his military commander () in place of Joab. The

New International Version The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The ''NIV'' was created as a modern translation, by Bible scholars using the earliest an ...

translates the Hebrew text as commander "for life". David's appointment of Amasa has been interpreted as "a bold stroke of policy, to promise the post of commander-in chief to the general of the rebel army". Kirkpatrick, A.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
on 2 Samuel 19, accessed 13 August 2017 While being fiercely loyal to David, Joab was also suspicious of any potential rivals for

's power or threats to David's kingdom, and had no qualms about taking the lives of any who might stand in his way (e.g.,

Abner In the Hebrew Bible, Abner ( he, אַבְנֵר ) was the cousin of King Saul and the commander-in-chief of his army. His name also appears as "Abiner son of Ner", where the longer form Abiner means "my father is Ner". Biblical narrative Ab ...

: , and Absalom: ). So it was not difficult for Joab to also decide to murder Amasa (, ). Joab's own justification for killing Amasa may have been because he believed Amasa to be conspiring with Sheba son of Bichri the Benjamite, due to Amasa's slowness to mobilize the army against Sheba's rebels ().

References

{{Authority control Books of Samuel people People associated with David Ancient soldiers