ZERUIAH . The mother of David’s officers Abishai, Joab, and Asahel, who are always referred to as ‘sons of Zerulah.’ The father’s name is never mentioned, and he may have died early; or the mother may have been so remarkable a woman that her husband’s name was not preserved; or we have a survival of the ancient custom of tracing kinship through the female line.
In 1 Chronicles 2:16 Zeruiah and Abigail are called ‘sisters of the sons of Jesse,’ but in 2 Samuel 17:25 Abigail is called the daughter of Nahash. It seems more probable that for Nahash in 2 Samuel 17:25 we ought to read Jesse , than that Jesse’s wife had previously been married to Nahash the Ammonite. According to this view, Zeruiah would be the daughter of Jesse and sister of David.
W. F. Boyd.