Then said the king to Amasa,.... Whom he had promised to make general of his army, 2 Samuel 19:13; and by the following order declared him such:
assemble me the men of Judah within three days; which was done by the sound of the trumpet, or by the proclamation of a herald; it seems that the men of Judah, who attended David to Jerusalem, were gone to their respective cities and places of abode, or there would have been no occasion for such a summons; though it is strange they should, when the men of Israel appeared so inclinable to a new rebellion:
and be thou here present; to take the command of them.