2 Samuel 17 · a question people ask
Who was Amasa, and how was he related to Joab?
"Absalom set Amasa over the army instead of Joab" (17:25), and the verse goes on: "Now Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Ithra the Israelite, who went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab’s mother" (17:25). Chronicles says plainly, "Abigail bore Amasa" (1 Chronicles 2:17). So Amasa, Absalom's new captain, and Joab, the captain he replaced, were sons of two sisters (17:25; 1 Chronicles 2:17). Chronicles names the rest of the family differently. It lists Jesse's sons, David the seventh (1 Chronicles 2:13-15), and says, "and their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail" (1 Chronicles 2:16), and "the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite" (1 Chronicles 2:17). 1 Kings calls him "Amasa the son of Jether" (1 Kings 2:5). 2 Samuel names Abigail's father as Nahash and Amasa's father as Ithra the Israelite (17:25); Chronicles lists Abigail with Jesse's children and names Amasa's father Jether the Ishmaelite (1 Chronicles 2:16-17). The Bible doesn't explain the difference, and these notes don't try to. Nor does the text make this Abigail the Abigail who was Nabal's wife and then David's (1 Samuel 25:3, 25:42).
The verses
“Absalom set Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Ithra the Israelite, who went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.”
“and Jesse became the father of his firstborn Eliab, Abinadab the second, Shimea the third, Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, Ozem the sixth, and David the seventh; and their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. The sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel, three. Abigail bore Amasa; and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite.”
““Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his sash that was around his waist and in his sandals that were on his feet.”
“Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail. This woman was intelligent and had a beautiful face; but the man was surly and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb.”