Zeruiah

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

ZERUIAH . The mother of David’s officers Abishai, Joab, and Asahel, who are always referred to as ‘sons of Zerulah.’ The father’s name is never mentioned, and he may have died early; or the mother may have been so remarkable a woman that her husband’s name was not preserved; or we have a survival of the ancient custom of tracing kinship through the female line.

In  1 Chronicles 2:16 Zeruiah and Abigail are called ‘sisters of the sons of Jesse,’ but in   2 Samuel 17:25 Abigail is called the daughter of Nahash. It seems more probable that for Nahash in   2 Samuel 17:25 we ought to read Jesse , than that Jesse’s wife had previously been married to Nahash the Ammonite. According to this view, Zeruiah would be the daughter of Jesse and sister of David.

W. F. Boyd.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Mother of Abishai (called so from Ishai = Jesse), Joab, and Asahel, "the sons of Zeruiah"; sister of Abigail and of the sons of Jesse ( 1 Chronicles 2:13-17). The father of her three sons is nowhere mentioned, because their more famous mother challenged the greater attention. Josephus preserves a tradition that he was named Souri (Ant. 7:1, Section 3). Nahash was father of Zeruiah and Abigail. (See Nahash .) At his death their mother married Jesse, by whom she bore David ( 2 Samuel 17:25;  1 Chronicles 2:16). Therefore Zeruiah and Abigail are called "David's (half) sisters," but not Jesse's daughters.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Described with Abigail as 'sisters of the sons of Jesse.' They may have been half-sisters (Abigail was the daughter of Nahash,  2 Samuel 17:25 ). Zeruiah had three sons, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel, the leaders of David's army; but it is not stated who was her husband. David declared, after the murder of Abner, that the sons of Zeruiah were too hard for him.  1 Samuel 26:6;  2 Samuel 2:13,18;  2 Samuel 16:9,10; etc.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Zeru'iah. (Balsam). The mother of the three leading heroes of David's army - Abishai, Joah and Asahel - known as the "sons of Zeruiah." Of Zeruiah's husband, there is no mention in the Bible. (B.C. before 1046).

Holman Bible Dictionary

 2 Samuel 2:18 1 Chronicles 2:16 2 Samuel 17:25

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Sister of David, and mother of his famous generals, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel,  1 Chronicles 2:16 . Her husband is unknown.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 1 Chronicles 2:16

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

Well known in David's history. Perhaps from Tsarar, chains.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Tseruyah', צְרוּיָה [ 1 Samuel 14:1 צְריָּה , Wounded [Gesen.] or Balsam [F Ü rst]; Sept and Josephus, Σαρουϊ v Α ; Vulg. Sarvia ) , a woman noted as the mother of the three leading heroes of David's army-Abishai, Joab, and Asahel — the sons of Zeruiah ( 1 Samuel 26:6;  2 Samuel 2:18;  1 Kings 1:7, etc.). B.C. ante 1046. She and Abigail are specified in the genealogy of David's family in  1 Chronicles 2:13-17 as "sisters of the sons of Jesse" ( 1 Chronicles 2:16; comp. Josephus, Ant. 6: 10,1). The expression is in itself enough to raise a suspicion that she was not a daughter of Jesse, a suspicion which is corroborated by the statement of  2 Samuel 17:25, that Abigail was the daughter of Nahash. Abigail being apparently the younger of the two women, it is a probable inference that they were both the daughters of Nahash, but whether this Nahash be as Prof. Stanley has ingeniously conjectured-the king of the Ammonites and the former husband of Jesse's wife, or some other person unknown, must forever remain a mere conjecture. (See David); (See Nahash).

Her relation to Jessen (in the original Ishai) is expressed in the name of her son Abishai. Of Zeruiah's husband there is no mention in the Bible. Josephus (Anf. 7:3) explicitly states that his name was Souri ( Σουρί ) , but no corroboration of the statement appears to have been discovered in the Jewish traditions, nor does Josephus himself refer to it again. The mother of such remarkable sons must herself have been a remarkable woman, and this may account for the fact, unusual if not unique, that the family is always called after her, and that her husband's name has not been considered worthy of preservation in the sacred records.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

zḗ - rōō - ı̄´a , zḗ - rōō´ya ( צרוּיה , cerūyāh , צריה , ceruyāh (  2 Samuel 14:1;  2 Samuel 16:10 ), meaning uncertain; Σαρουία , Sarouı́a ): In  2 Samuel 2:18;  2 Samuel 17:25;  1 Chronicles 2:16 , and elsewhere where the names Joab, Abishai, occur. According to  1 Chronicles 2:16 a sister of David and mother of Joab, Abishai and Asahel, the two former being always referred to as sons of Zeruiah. This latter fact is explained by some as pointing to a type of marriage by which the children belonged to their mother's clan (compare Abimelech,   Judges 8:31;  Judges 9:1 ff); by others as being due to her husband's early death; and again as a proof of the mother in this case being the stronger personality. Either of the last two reasons may be the correct one, and plenty of parallels from the village names of boys today can be produced to illustrate both explanations. According to   2 Samuel 2:32 , her husband was buried at Bethlehem. In  2 Samuel 17:25 , "Abigal the daughter of Nahash" is said to be her sister. See Abigail .

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Zerui´ah (wounded), daughter of Jesse, sister of David (), and mother of Joab, Abishai, and Asahel (; ; ; ).