Seth Freeman

I used my dear friend google (he's your friend to) to help me come up with this little gem:

(1) The father of Abigail and Zeruiah, the sisters of David (2 Sam 17:25; compare 1 Ch 2:16). The text in 2 S, where this reference is made, is hopelessly corrupt; for that reason there are various explanations. The rabbis maintain that Nahash is another name for Jesse, David's father. Others think that Nahash was the name of Jesse's wife; but it is not probable that Nahash could have been the name of a woman. Others explain the passage by making Nahash the first husband of Jesse's wife, so that Abigail and Zeruiah were half-sisters to King David.

(2) A king of Ammon, who, at the very beginning of Saul's reign, attacked Jabesh-gilead so successfully, that the inhabitants sued for peace at almost any cost, for they were willing to pay tribute and serve the Ammonites (1 Sam 11:1 ff). The harsh king, not satisfied with tribute and slavery, demanded in addition that the right eye of every man should be put out, as "a reproach upon Israel." They were given seven days to comply with these cruel terms. Before the expiration of this time, Saul, the newly anointed king, appeared on the scene with an army which utterly routed the Ammonites (1 Sam 11:1 ff), and, according to Josephus, killed King Nahash (Ant., VI, v, 3).

If the Nahash of 2 Sam 10:2 be the same as the king mentioned in 1 Sam 11, this statement of Josephus cannot be true, for he lived till the early part of David's reign, 40 or more years later. It is, of course, possible that Nahash, the father of Hanun, was a son or grandson of the king defeated at Jabesh-gilead by Saul. There is but little agreement among commentators in regard to this matter. Some writers go so far as to claim that "all passages in which this name (Nahash) is found refer to the same individual."

April 28 2014 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jack Gutknecht ABC/DTS graduate, guitar music ministry Baptist church

Who is Nahash? Lockyer says this:

Nahash [Nā'hăsh] is a name meaning "serpent" or "oracle." There were 2 men and 1 woman named "Nahash" in the Bible:

1. An Amorite king who besieged Jabesh-gilead and was defeated by Saul (1 Sam. 11:1- 2; 12:12).

2. The father of Shobi, and another Ammonite king (2 Sam. 10:2; 17:27; 1 Chron. 19:1-2). 

3. Also the name of the mother of Abigail (2 Sam. 17:25):

25 "Now Absalom had set Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Ishmaelite, who had married Abigal the daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joabs mother."

July 17 2022 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report