Bible Dictionaries
Amasa

Holman Bible Dictionary

(uh may' ssawee) Personal name meaning, “burden” or “bear a burden.” 1. Captain of Judah's army replacing Joab during Absalom's rebellion against his father David (2 Samuel 17:25 ). He is related to David, but the texts leave some question as to the exact relationship. Abigail was Amasa's mother. His father was either Ithra an Israelite (2 Samuel 17:25 ) or Jether the Ishmaelite (1 Chronicles 2:17 ). She was sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother (2 Samuel 17:25 ) or sister to David and to Zeruiah, Joab's mother (1 Chronicles 2:16 ). When he defeated the rebel forces and Joab murdered Absalom (2 Samuel 18:14 ), David made peaceful overtones to Judah by inviting Amasa as his relative to assume command of his army (2 Samuel 19:13 ). When called to battle, Amasa appeared too late (2 Samuel 20:4-5 ). Joab marched among David's army and cunningly killed Amasa (2 Samuel 20:10 ). This served as reason for David to advise Solomon to do away with Joab (1 Kings 2:5 ) and thus reason for Solomon to kill Joab (1 Kings 2:28-34 ). 2 . Leader in tribe of Ephraim who prevented Israel's soldiers from keeping captives of the army of King Ahaz of Judah, knowing this was a sin (2 Chronicles 28:12-14 ).