Ammihud

Ammihud is a personal name borne by several distinct figures scattered through the historical books of the Old Testament. Five of them are gathered under one umbrella: an Ephraimite ancestor of Joshua, a Simeonite, a Naphtalite, the father of a Geshurite king, and a Judahite of the line of Perez. The name's most prominent bearer is the father of Elishama, prince of Ephraim during the wilderness period; the others surface only briefly in genealogies, tribal lists, and one notice about Absalom's flight.

Ammihud the Ephraimite, Father of Elishama

This Ammihud appears in the Chronicler's genealogy of Ephraim as a link in the chain that runs from Ladan to Joshua: "Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son," (1 Chr 7:26). His significance is derivative — he is named because his son Elishama was the prince set over the tribe of Ephraim at Sinai. When Yahweh designates a leader from each tribe to assist Moses with the census, the Ephraimite is "Elishama the son of Ammihud" (Num 1:10). Elishama keeps that office in the camp arrangement: "On the west side will be the standard of the camp of Ephraim according to their hosts: and the prince of the sons of Ephraim will be Elishama the son of Ammihud" (Num 2:18). The patronymic preserves Ammihud's name through every later notice of Elishama, and through Elishama's grandson Joshua.

Ammihud, Father of Shemuel of Simeon

A second Ammihud is the father of the man chosen to apportion the land of Canaan on behalf of the tribe of Simeon. In the list of tribal heads charged with the land allotment, the text records, "And of the tribe of the sons of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud" (Num 34:20). Nothing further is said of him; he is named only as Shemuel's father in this single roster.

Ammihud, Father of Pedahel of Naphtali

A third Ammihud, distinct from both the Ephraimite and the Simeonite, is the father of the Naphtalite prince in the same allotment list: "And of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali a prince, Pedahel the son of Ammihud" (Num 34:28). Like the Simeonite Ammihud, he stands behind his son in the genealogical formula and otherwise drops out of the narrative.

Ammihud, Father of the King of Geshur

A fourth Ammihud is named in the aftermath of Absalom's killing of Amnon. Geshur — a small Aramean kingdom on Israel's northeast border — has already been introduced in the conquest material as a region only partly subdued under the tribes east of the Jordan: "Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called them, even Bashan, after his own name, Havvoth-jair, to this day" (Deut 3:14). Joshua's summary likewise lists "all the regions of the Philistines, and all the Geshurites" (Josh 13:2) among the lands yet remaining. Geshur surfaces again as a target of David's raids during his Ziklag period: "And David and his men went up, and made a raid on the Geshurites, and the Girzites, and the Amalekites" (1 Sam 27:8).

By David's reign the kingdom has become a marriage alliance. Among the sons born to David at Hebron is "the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur" (2 Sam 3:3). When Absalom murders his brother Amnon and flees, he runs to his maternal grandfather: "But Absalom fled, and went to Talmai the son of Ammihur, king of Geshur. And [David] mourned for his son every day" (2 Sam 13:37). UPDV here renders the name as "Ammihur," the same Hebrew personal name grouped under AMMIHUD; the bearer is Talmai's father and Absalom's great-grandfather. Absalom himself later recalls the place of refuge in his vow: "For your slave vowed a vow while I remained at Geshur in Syria, saying, If Yahweh will indeed bring me again to Jerusalem, then I will serve Yahweh" (2 Sam 15:8).

Ammihud, Son of Omri of Judah

A fifth Ammihud appears in the Chronicler's roster of those who returned to Jerusalem after the exile, listed along the line of Judah through Perez: "Uthai the son of Ammihud, the son of Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Bani, of the sons of Perez the son of Judah" (1 Chr 9:4). This Ammihud is identified only by his father Omri and his son Uthai; he is not the famous king of Israel of the same name, but a private link in a post-exilic Judahite genealogy.