Amminadab

This article is about the distant ancestor of Jesus Christ. For the person mentioned in the Book of Mormon, see Aminadab.

Amminadab, the ancestor of David (Sistine Chapel fresco by Michelangelo)

A close-up on Amminadab from the Sistine Chapel fresco

Amminadab (Hebrew: עמינדב, ʿAmminadabh ; "my people are generous") was a minor character in the Book of Genesis.

According to the genealogies of Genesis‎ and Jesus' genealogy, he was born of Ram (also known as Aram) during the Israelite exile in Ancient Egypt. He was also the father of Nahshon, chief of the tribe of Judah (Numbers 1:7; 2:3; 7:12, 17; 10:14). His daughter Elisheva was Aaron's wife (Exodus 6:23), making him Aaron's father-in-law.

In Bloodline of the Holy Grail, revisionist historian Laurence Gardner proposes Amminadab to be Akhenaten, allegedly the historical basis for Moses. According to Gardner's speculation, when Thutmose IV died, his son Amenhotep III married his sister Sitamun. Once he had secured his pharonic throne, he also married Tiye, the daughter of Chief Minister Yuya, who has been hypothesized to be the biblical patriarch Joseph, son of Jacob.").

Because the Israelites were gaining too much power in Egypt and because Yuya, a foreigner, had been governor for so long, it was decided that no children of Tiye would be allowed inherit the throne of Egypt, but instead should be killed at birth. Tiye's family lived in the Land of Goshen, so she went to have her baby at Zarw, her summer palace. Her son was put in a reed basket to float downstream to the house of Yuya's half-brother Levi.