LazyWiki - Nahash

King Nahash the Ammonite and/or Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites

Successor: Hanun
Sons: Hanun (2 Samuel 10:1), Shobi (2 Samuel 1 7:27) - unclear if this is the same Nahash. I wrote more about this on Shobi's page.

Biblical Account

Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead. When the people of Jabesh sought to cut a treaty, Nahash would only accept if he could gouge out all their right eyes and thus disgrace Israel. Upon elders' request, he gave them 7 days. (1 Samuel 1 1:1-3)

Saul and 300,000 people of Israel and 30,000 people of Judah in three companies struck down the Ammonites, scattering the survivors. (1 Samuel 1 1:5-1 1)

Josephus claims King Nahash was slain during this battle.

"So he divided the army into three companies; and fell upon their enemies on every side, on the sudden, and when they expected no such thing. And joining battel with them, they slew a great many of the Ammonites; as also their King Nahash."

(Antiquities of the Jews - Book VI: Containing the Interval of 32 Years. [From the Death of Eli, to the death of Saul.] by Josephus, Volume 6, Chapter 5, Section 3 @ https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/ant-6.html, accessed June 9, 2023)

In Samuel's farewell address as judge, he told Israel they would have the king they asked for. He reminded the people that while in Egypt, the LORD gave them Moses and Aaron, and when they forgot Him, he sold them into the hand of Sisera and the Philistines and the king of Moab. They cried out and confessed their sin, so the LORD sent Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered them. But when they saw Nahash the king of the Ammonites, they wanted a king instead of the LORD's providence. So Samuel appointed King Saul over Israel. (1 Samuel 12)

After receiving the Davidic covenant, the LORD gave victory to David wherever he went. King David dedicated the silver and gold from the nations he subdued, including from the Ammonites. (2 Samuel 8:1 1-12)

Nahash dealt loyally with King David. (2 Samuel 10:2)

After he died, his son Hanun reigned after him. (2 Samuel 10:1)

Is King Saul's King Nahash the same as King David's King Nahash?

There is an eye-gouging King Nahash (1 Samuel 1 1:1-3) whom King Saul defeated and earned the eternal loyalty of Jabesh-gilead (1 Samuel 31). There is also a King Nahash who dealt loyally with King David (2 Samuel 10:2). These are probably the same person, but who knows? Josephus claims the Nahash of Saul's reign died during the battle in 1 Samuel 1 1.