Abigail (Hebrew: אֲבִיגַיִל / אֲבִיגָיִל, Modern Avigáyil Tiberian ʾĂḇîḡáyil / ʾĂḇîḡāyil ; "her Father's joy" or "fountain of joy") is a character in the Hebrew Bible She was the mother of Amasa, the commander-in-chief of Absalom's army (2 Sam. 17:25).
2 Samuel 17:25 refers to Abigail as a Zeruiah's sister, and therefore and aunt to Joab. In 1 Chronicles 2:13-16, Abigail and Zeruiah are referred to as sisters to David. It does not explicitly say that they are also daughters of Jesse, and the Masoretic Text of 2 Samuel 17:25 calls Abigail the daughter of Nahash. While it is possible that Jesse's wife had first married to Nahash (and Abigail was David's half-sister), scholars think that Nahash is a typographic error,[1][2] based on the appearance of the name two verses later.[1][3]
In the Book of Chronicles, Amasa's father is Jether the Ishmaelite,[4] but in the Books of Samuel, Amasa's father is Ithra the Israelite; (2 Samuel 17:25) scholars think that the latter case is more likely.[2]
Jon Levenson and Baruch Halpern suggest that Abigail, mother of Amasa may, in fact, be the same Abigail who became David's wife.[5]