Amasa עֲמָשָׂא
Absalom's commander, pardoned by David and killed by Joab
"And Absalom set Amasa over the army in place of Joab" (II Samuel 17:25). The kinship: his mother was the sister of Joab's mother, so the two commanders were cousins.
After Absalom fell David sends to say: "Are you not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me and more also if you shall not be commander of the army before me continually in the place of Joab" (19:14). It was a calculation: by it the king was winning back the tribe of Judah.
The great stone at Gibeon. When Sheba son of Bichri rose, Amasa was sent to muster the army and delayed. Joab met him at the great stone, took him by the beard with the right hand as if to kiss him, and struck him in the belly—"and he did not repeat it" (20:9–10). The body was dragged from the road and covered with a garment, because the troops halted over it and would not go on.
Dying, David named to Solomon two men to be answered for—and the first was Joab, for Abner and for Amasa.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Tanakh
- Shmuel II 17:25 — set over the army by Absalom; his kinship with Joab
- Shmuel II 20:4–12 — the delay and the killing at the great stone
- Melachim I 2:5 — David names to Solomon the blood of Abner and Amasa
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.