Amasa

1. Nephew of David, son of Jether the Ishmaelite (II Sam 17:25:Jithra the Israelite) and Abigail. Amasa may be identical with Amasai of I Chronicles 12:18.

Absalom, when attempting his coup against his father David, appointed Amasa as commander of the army in place of another nephew of David, Joab, who remained loyal to the king. David's army defeated Amasa in the forest of Ephraim, and Absalom was killed by Joab, against David's orders. Thereafter, David urged the Judean elders to accept Amasa and offer him the command of his army in place of Joab. These offers accepted, David returned to Jerusalem; meanwhile, a rebellion of northern tribes had broken out. Amasa was instructed to muster the Judean army in three days, but he returned late, after the army had already set out, led by Abishai. Amasa joined them at Gibeon. There Joab, feigning a greeting, stabbed him to death. Years later Solomon avenged Amasa's death (I Kgs 2:5, 32).

2. An ephraimite leader, son of Hadlai. He was among those who urged the release of Judeans whom Pekah had captured while fighting Ahaz.

Concordance
AMASA 1: II Sam 17:25; 19:13; 20:4-5,8-12. I Kgs 2:5, 32. I Chr 2:17
AMASA 2: II Chr 28:12

For the bark beetle genus, see Amasa (beetle).

Amasa - burden.

• A son of Abigail (2 Sam 17:25), who was sister to King David (1 Chr 2:16,17) and Zeruiah, the mother of Joab. Hence, Amasa was a nephew to David, a cousin to Joab, as well as a cousin to Absalom.

Absalom, David's mutinous son, revolted and won over the tribes of Israel (2 Sam 15). He appointed Amasa over the army, in effect replacing Joab, who had been general for his father David.

After the revolt was crushed, David held out an olive branch to Amasa (in a likely effort to appease and reunite Judah with the other 10 tribes of Israel) by offering to appoint Amasa as his new army commander (2 Sam 19:13). While being fiercely loyal to David, Joab was also suspicious of any potential rivals for Joab'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: 2 Sam 3:27, and Absalom: 2 Sam 18:14). So it was not difficult for Joab to also decide to murder Amasa (2 Sam 20:10, 1 Kin 2:5,32).

• A son of Hadlai, and one of the leaders of Ephraim (2 Chr 28:12) during the reign of the evil King Ahaz (2 Chr 28:1-4).

This article incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.

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