Amasa
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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
Amasa (ăm'əsə, əmā'sə), in the Bible. 1 Cousin of Absalom, with whom he revolted. Later he became David's commander in chief; he was murdered by Joab. 2 Ephraimite chief.
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For the figure during the reign of Ahaz, see List of minor biblical figures#Amasa. For the bark beetle genus, see Amasa (beetle).
Amasa is a person in the Hebrew Bible. He was the 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). Joab's own justification for killing Amasa was that he believed Amasa to be conspiring with Sheba the Benjamite, due to Amasa's slowness to mobilize the army against Sheba's rebels (2 Sam 20:4,5).
This article incorporates text from Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897), a publication now in the public domain.
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Bible Dictionary and Concordance
Illustrated Dictionary & Concordance of the Bible. Copyright © 1986 by G.G. The Jerusalem Publishing House, Ltd. All rights reserved.
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The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.
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Mentioned in
Mozah
(city, Jerusalem)
Abigail
(in the Old Testament)
Joab
(in the Old Testament)
Amasa Delano
(literature)
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