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 Sam. 11:1-2; 1 Sam. 12:12). 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 Sam. 10:2; 2 Sam. 17:27; 1 Chron. 19:1-2).
2. Apparently father or mother of Abigail and Zeruiah (2 Sam. 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.