Nahash. [Na'hash]
1. Ammonite king who encamped against Jabesh-gilead, and who tauntingly agreed to make its inhabitants tributary on condition that he should thrust out the right eye of each for a reproach on all Israel. Saul raised an army and the Ammonites were defeated. 1 Samuel 11:1, 1 Samuel 1:11; 1 Samuel 1:12. Josephus relates that Nahash had successfully oppressed the tribes on the east of the Jordan, which gave him self-confidence in making his terms to Jabesh-gilead; and says that Nahash was slain. Perhaps the same as the father of Hanun who insulted David's ambassadors. 2 Samuel 10:2; 2 Samuel 1:17; 1 Chronicles 1:19, 1 Chronicles 1:19.
2. Apparently father or mother of Abigail and Zeruiah. 2 Samuel 17:25. In 1 Chronicles 2:16 Abigail and Zeruiah are called the sisters of Jesse's sons. The Rabbis say that Nahash was another name for Jesse (as in the margin); others suppose Nahash was Jesse's wife; and again others judge that Nahash was a former husband of Jesse's wife.