1 Chronicles 2:17

And Abigail bare Amasa: and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmeelite.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

1 Chronicles 2:17-18. Jether the Ishmaelite — By birth or habitation, but by profession an Israelite, 2 Samuel 17:25. And her sons — The sons of Azubah, who is by way of distinction called his wife, when Jerioth probably was only his concubine, and, it may seem, barren: therefore, upon Azubah’s death he married another wife, 1 Chronicles 2:19. And those other sons of this Caleb, mentioned 1 Chronicles 2:42, are his sons by some other wife distinct from all these.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:1-55 Genealogies. - We are now come to the register of the children of Israel, that distinguished people, who were to dwell alone, and not be reckoned among the nations. But now, in Christ, all are welcome to his salvation who come to him; all have equal privileges according to their faith in him, their love and devotedness to him. All that is truly valuable consists in the favour, peace, and image of God, and a life spent to his glory, in promoting the welfare of our fellow-creatures.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Jether the Ishmeelite - See the marginal note and reference.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

17. Jether the Ishmaelite—(compare 2Sa 17:25). In that passage he is called Ithra an Israelite; and there seems no reason why, in the early days of David, anyone should be specially distinguished as an Israelite. The presumption is in favor of the reading followed by the Septuagint, which calls him "Jetra the Jezreelite." The circumstance of his settling in another tribe, or of a woman marrying out of her own tribe, was sufficiently rare and singular to call for the statement that Abigail was married to a man of Jezreel.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The Ishmeelite, by birth or habitation, but by profession an Israelite, 2 Samuel 17:25, See Poole "2 Samuel 17:25".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Abigail bare Amasa,.... Who was Absalom's general, afterwards reconciled to David, and designed to be made general of his army, but was slain by Joab, see 2 Samuel 17:25,

and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite; he is called an Israelite, 2 Samuel 17:25, and so in the Targum here, he being either a proselyte, or else he was an Israelite by birth, but called an Ishmaelite, because he had dwelt among the Ishmaelites some time, as Obededom is called the Gittite for the like reason; so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it.

Geneva Study Bible

And Abigail bare Amasa: and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmeelite.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

17. Jether] 2 Samuel 17:25, “Ithra,” a small difference of spelling in the Heb.

the Ishmeelite] 2 Samuel 17:25, “the Israelite,” a reading yielding no satisfactory sense.

1 Chronicles 2:17

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The sisters of David have become known through their heroic sons. Zeruiah is the mother of the heroes of the Davidic history, Abishai, Joab, and Asahel (cf. 1 Samuel 26:6; 2 Samuel 2:18; 2 Samuel 3:39; 2 Samuel 8:16, and elsewhere). Their father is nowhere mentioned, "because their more famous mother challenged the greater attention" (Berth.). Abigail was, according to 2 Samuel 17:25, the daughter of Nahash, a sister of Zeruiah, and so was only a half-sister of David, and was the mother of Amasa the captain of the host, so well known on account of his share in the conspiracy of Absalom; cf. 2 Samuel 17:25; 2 Samuel 19:14, and 2 Samuel 20:10. His father was Jether, or Jithra, the Ishmaelite, who in the Masoretic text of 2 Samuel 17:25 is called, through a copyist's, error, היּשׂראלי instead of היּשׁמעאלי; see comm. on passage.