Women in the Bible – Ahinoam – King David's Wife, Mother of Amnon

Women in the Bible – Ahinoam – King David's Wife, Mother of Amnon

1 Samuel 25:43 (ESV) David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives.

1 Samuel 27:3 (ESV) And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow.

1 Samuel 30:5 (ESV) David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel.

1 Samuel 30:18-20 (ESV) David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken. David brought back all. David also captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove the livestock before him, and said, “This is David’s spoil.”

2 Samuel 2:2 (ESV) So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel.

2 Samuel 3:2 (ESV) And sons were born to David at Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam of Jezreel;

1 Chronicles 3:1-9 (ESV) These are the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn, Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelite; the second, Daniel, by Abigail the Carmelite, the third, Absalom, whose mother was Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith; the fifth, Shephatiah, by Abital; the sixth, Ithream, by his wife Eglah; six were born to him in Hebron, where he reigned for seven years and six months. And he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

These were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon, four by Bath-shua, the daughter of Ammiel; then Ibhar, Elishama, Eliphelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet, nine. All these were David’s sons, besides the sons of the concubines, and Tamar was their sister.

The next Women in the Bible we will look at is Ahinoam, wife of King David. We saw last time that her name means “brother of pleasantness.” This is not the same woman that was married to King Saul, even though they have the same name.

Ahinoam was married to David during some volatile years that led up to him reigning as king over Judah, and then Israel. She was the mother of David’s first born, a son named Amnon. Ahinoam was taken captive at one point, along with David’s other wife at the time. But David pursued the captors and recovered his family and all of their possessions. This tells me two things: David loved his family, and his family loved David. This would certainly cause a stronger bond to develop between them.

David’s first-born son by Ahinoam, Amnon, would cause much shame to come to his family. He raped his half-sister, Tamar, and was later killed by Tamar’s brother, Absalom. I cannot imagine what life must have been like for this family. Constantly under attack by enemies both inside and outside of Israel, being taken hostage by enemies of David, and the struggle for power in King David’s latter years, I’m sure all of took a toll on the peace in this home. Yet, we see David remain steadfast in his faith in God. Psalm 23 declares, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want …”

1 Samuel 30:6 (ESV) And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.

How blessed Ahinoam was to have been married to a man who went to the Lord for answers regarding his family!

We do not hear much about Ahinoam beyond her relationship to David. However, knowing what we know about David one can only imagine that she must have been a strong woman, emotionally, to endure all that she did as the wife of one ascending to the throne of a relatively new governmental structure over Israel. David would become only the second king to reign over Israel. She raised a son amidst all of this turmoil. However, the generational sins of David came to Amnon. It was his lust that brought him an untimely death.