Jether

Jether (meaning he that excels or abundance) is the name of several biblical figures. The most significant are: (1.) Jether, Gideon's firstborn son, who was ordered to kill the captured Midianite kings Zebah and Zalmunna, but drew back in youth and fear — whereupon the kings themselves asked Gideon to kill them, as a warrior's death was preferable to being killed by a boy (Judges 8:20). (2.) Jether the Ishmaelite, husband of David's sister Abigail and father of Amasa who later became a general under Absalom and then briefly under David (1 Kings 2:5; 2 Samuel 17:25). (3.) Jether, an alternate form of Ithra, in 2 Samuel 17:25.

The episode of Gideon's firstborn illustrates the ancient code of honorable combat, while Jether the Ishmaelite's connection to the Davidic family through Amasa became the source of a complicated and ultimately fatal relationship between David and his nephew.