AMASAI
189
AMAZIAH
feated, led David to offer him not only pardon, but the command of the army in the room of his cousin Joab (2 Sam. xix, 13), whose overbearing conduct had become intolerable to him, and to whom he could not entirely forgive the death of Absalom (q. v.). B.C. cir. 1023. But on the breaking out of Sheba's insurrection, Amasa was so tardy in his movements (probably from the reluctance of the troops to follow him) that David despatched Abishai with the house- hold troops in pursuit of Sheba, and Joab joined his brother as a volunteer. When they reached "the great stone of Gibeon," the}- were overtaken by Ama- sa with the force he had been able to collect. Joab thought this a favorable opportunity of getting rid of so dangerous a rival, and immediately executed the treacherous purpose he had formed. SeeAuNEE. He saluted Amasa, asked him of his health, and took his beard in his right hand to kiss him, while with the un- heeded left hand he smote him dead with his sword. Joab then put himself at the head of the troops, and continued the pursuit of Sheba ; and such was his pop- ularity with the army that David was unable to re- move him from the command, or call him to account for this bloody deed (2 Sam. xx, 4-12). B.C. cir. 1022. See Joab. Whether Amasa be identical with the Amasai who is mentioned among David's com- manders (1 Chron. xii, 18) is uncertain (Bertheau, ErMllr. p. 140). See David.
2. (Sept. 'Afiaffiag.) A son of Hadlai and chief of Ephraim, who, writh others, vehemently and success- fully resisted the retention as prisoners of the persons whom Pekah, king of Israel, had taken captive in a successful campaign against Ahaz, king of Judah (2 Chron. xxviii, 12). B.C. cir. 738.
Am'asai [some Amas'ai] (Heb. A masay' , ''iBHSJ. burdensome'), the name of several men. See also Amashai.
1. (Sept. 'A/iaai and 'Ajudc v. r. 'A/tujoi and 'AfiaSi.) A Levite, son of Elkanah, and father of Ahimoth or Mahatli, of the ancestry of Samuel (1 Chron. vi, 25, 35), B.C. cir. 1410.
2. (Sept. 'Af.uifrai.') The principal leader of a con- siderable body of men from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who joined David in "the stronghold," ap- parently the cave of Adullam ; his fervent declaration of attachment instantly dispelled the apprehensions that David expressed at their coming (1 Chron. xii, 18), B.C. cir. 1061. There is not much probability in the supposition (Ewald, Isr. Gesck. ii, 544) that he was the same with Amasa (q. v.), the nephew of David.
3. (Sept. 'AfiaacA.') One of the priests appointed to precede the ark with blowing of trumpets on its re- moval from the house of Obed-edom to Jerusalem (1 Chron. xv, 24), B.C. cir. 1043.
4. (Sept. 'A/iatri'.) Another Levite, father of a dif- ferent Mahath, and one of the two Kohathites that were forward at the instance of Hezekiah in cleansing the temple (2 Chron. xxix, 12), B.C. 726.
Am'ashai (Heb. Ama-shsay', ^GttJHS, prob. an in- correct form of the name Amasai ; Sept. 'Afitoai, 'Afiaaia, Vulg. Amassai), the son of Azareel, and chief of the valiant priests of his family, appointed by Nehemiah to reside at Jerusalem and do the work of the temple (Neh. xi, 13), B.C. cir. 440.
Amasi'ah (Heb. Amasyah', ■"Pp^", burden of [i. e. sustained by] Jehovah ; Sept. 'A/iacWnc v. r. Ma- cainc), the son of Zichri, and chieftain of the tribe of Judah, who volunteered to uphold King Jehoshaphat in his religious efforts, at the head of 200,000 chosen troops (2 Chron. xvii, 16), B.C. cir. 910.
Amasis, supposed to be the Pharaoh whose house in Tahpanhes is mentioned in Jer. xliii, 9, and who reigned B.C. 569-525 ; he was the successor of Aprics, or Pharaoh Hophra. Amasis, unlike his predecessors, courted the friendship of the Greeks ; and, to secure their alliance, he married Laodice, the daughter of I
Battus, th3 king of the Grecian colon}- of Cyrene (Herod, ii, 161-182; iii, 1-16; Diod. i, 68, 95). He also contributed a large sum toward the rebuilding of the temple of Delphi, and is said to have been visited by Solon (Herod, i, 30 ; Plut. Solon, 26 ; Plato, Timceus, p. 21). — Smith's Diet, of Class. Biog. s. v. See Egypt.
Amath. See Hamath ; Boeceos.
Amatha (AfiaSd, i. q. Hamath, q. v. ; comp. Jo- sephus, Ant. x, 5, 2), a place named by Jerome and Eusebius ('EjUjua&a) in the Onomasticon (s. v. JEmath, 'AiSa/.i) as one of several places by that name, this be- ing situated near Gadara, and having warm springs. It is apparently the modern ruin Amateh, discovered by Seetzen (Bitter, Erdk. xv, 372), on the Nahr Yarmuk, not far from Urn Keis (Burckhardt, Travels, p. 273, 276-278). See also Amathus.
Amathe'is (rather Amath 'as, 'AfiaSiac,), one of the "sons" of Bebai, who divorced his Gentile wife after the captivity (1 Esdr. ix, 29) ; evidently a cor- ruption for the Athlai (q. v.) of the genuine text (Ezra x, 28).
Am'athis (1 Mace, xii, 25). See Amathitis.
Amathi'tis ('A/ioSinc, Eng. Vers. " Amathis"), a district- to the north of Palestine, in which Jonathan Maccabaeus met the forces of Demetrius (1 Mace, xii, 25) ; not around the city Amathus (q. v.) beyond the Jordan (Josephus, Ant. xiii, 13, 3 ; War, i, 4, 3) ; but the neighborhood of the metropolis Amath or Hamath (q. v.), on the Orontes (Drusius ; Michaelis, in loc. Mace). So the Sept. gives 'A/xaSri for T^H in Gen. x, 17.