Wives of Esau

Last updated

In Book of Genesis we see two different lists of Esau's wives. [1] Basemath's name is mentioned twice.

According to Bible, first two wives were Canaanite s and so not good to Good. To make the story clear, some Biblical scholars believed that Esau changed names of two wives to the Hebrew to pacify his parents:

Genesis 26:34–35 describes Esau's marriage at the age of forty to two Canaanite women: Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. This arrangement grieved his parents. [2] Upon seeing that his brother was blessed and that their father rejected Esau's union to Canaanites, Esau went to the house of his uncle Ishmael and married his cousin, [3] Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, and sister of Nebaioth. Esau's family is again revisited in Genesis 36, this passage names two Canaanite wives; Adhah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, and a third: Bashemath, Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebaioth. Some scholars equate the three wives mentioned in Genesis 26 and 28 with those in Genesis 36. [4] [5] Casting his lot with the Ishmaelites, he was able to drive the Horites out of Mount Seir to settle in that region. According to some views, Esau is considered to be the progenitor not only of the Edomites but of the Kenizzites and the Amalekites as well. [6] [7]

Reuven Chaim Klein summarizes how the various Medieval Jewish commentators broadly provide four interpretations to address the inconsistency between the accounts of Esau's wives in Genesis 26 and Genesis 36: [8]

In Midrash and Aggadah we found more context and background of the lives of Esau's wives. [9]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob</span> Regarded Patriarch of the Israelites

Jacob, later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, and Islam. Jacob first appears in the Book of Genesis, originating from the Hebrew tradition in the Torah. Described as the son of Isaac and Rebecca, and the grandson of Abraham, Sarah, and Bethuel, Jacob is presented as the second-born among Isaac's children. His fraternal twin brother is the elder, named Esau, according to the biblical account. Jacob is said to have bought Esau's birthright and, with his mother's help, deceived his aging father to bless him instead of Esau. Later in the narrative, following a severe drought in his homeland of Canaan, Jacob and his descendants, with the help of his son Joseph, moved to Egypt where Jacob died at the age of 147. He is supposed to have been buried in the Cave of Machpelah.

Aholibamah, is an eight-time referenced matriarch in the biblical record.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amalek</span> Nation and a character described in the Hebrew Bible

Amalek is described in the Hebrew Bible as the enemy nation of the Israelites. The name "Amalek" can refer to the descendants of Amalek, the grandson of Esau, or anyone who lived in their territories in Canaan. Islamic tradition considers Amalek to be an Arabian tribe in pre-Islamic Mecca and Medina or North African descendants of Ham, the son of Noah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esau</span> Older son of Isaac in the Hebrew Bible

Esau is the elder son of Isaac in the Hebrew Bible. He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis and by the prophets Obadiah and Malachi. The Christian New Testament alludes to him in the Epistle to the Romans and in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horites</span> People, mentioned in the Torah, who lived around Mount Seir

The Horites, were a people mentioned in the Torah inhabiting areas around Mount Seir in Canaan.

The Hivites were one group of descendants of Canaan, son of Ham, according to the Table of Nations in Genesis 10 (10:17). A variety of proposals have been made, but beyond the references in the Bible to Hivites in the land of Canaan, no consensus has been reached about their precise historical identity.

Basemath, in the Hebrew Bible, is the name of two different wives of Esau. See Wives of Esau.

Mahalath was, according to the Bible, the third wife of Esau, daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. Esau took Mahalath from the house of Ishmael to be his wife, after seeing that Canaanite wives displeased his father, Isaac.

The Hittites, also spelled Hethites, were a group of people mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Under the names בני-חת and חתי they are described several times as living in or near Canaan between the time of Abraham and the time of Ezra after the return of the Jews from the Babylonian exile. Their ancestor was Heth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dinah</span> Daughter of Jacob in Hebrew Bible

In the Book of Genesis, Dinah was the seventh child and only daughter of Leah and Jacob. The episode of her violation by Shalem, son of a Canaanite or Hivite prince, and the subsequent vengeance of her brothers Simeon and Levi, commonly referred to as the rape of Dinah, is told in Genesis 34.

Nebaioth or Nebajoth is mentioned at least five times in the Hebrew Bible, according to which he was the firstborn son of Ishmael, and the name appears as the name of one of the wilderness tribes mentioned in the Book of Genesis 25:13, and in the Book of Isaiah 60:7.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toledot</span> Sixth portion in the annual Jewish cycle of weekly Torah reading

Toledot, Toldot, Toldos, or Toldoth is the sixth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. The parashah tells of the conflict between Jacob and Esau, Isaac's passing off his wife Rebekah as his sister, and Isaac's blessing of his sons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vayeshev</span> Ninth portion in the annual Jewish cycle of weekly Torah reading

Vayeshev, Vayeishev, or Vayesheb is the ninth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. The parashah constitutes Genesis 37:1–40:23. The parashah tells the stories of how Jacob's other sons sold Joseph into captivity in Egypt, how Judah wronged his daughter-in-law Tamar who then tricked him into fulfilling his oath, and how Joseph served Potiphar and was imprisoned when falsely accused of assaulting Potiphar's wife.

Omar was the name of a man mentioned in the Bible, the ancestor of a Semitic Edomite and Canaanite clan, the son of Eliphaz. Omar's brothers were Teiman, Zepho, Ga'atam, Kenaz and Amalek.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devarim (parashah)</span> 44th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading

Devarim, Dvarim, or Debarim is the 44th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the first in the Book of Deuteronomy. It comprises Deuteronomy 1:1–3:22. The parashah recounts how Moses appointed chiefs, the episode of the Twelve Spies, encounters with the Edomites and Ammonites, the conquest of Sihon and Og, and the assignment of land for the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naamah (Genesis)</span> Biblical figure

Naamah is mentioned in the Bible, in Genesis 4:22, as a descendant of Cain. She was the only mentioned daughter of Lamech and Zillah and their youngest mentioned child; her brother was Tubal-cain, while Jabal and Jubal were her half-brothers, sons of Lamech's other wife Adah. She is often conflated with or connected to Naamah of the Zohar, one of the first women to seduce the grigori and give birth to nephilim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca</span> Biblical character

Rebecca appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical tradition, Rebecca's father was Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, also called Aram-Naharaim. Rebecca's brother was Laban the Aramean, and she was the granddaughter of Milcah and Nahor, the brother of Abraham. Rebecca and Isaac were one of the four couples that some believe are buried in the Cave of the Patriarchs, the other three being Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, and Jacob and Leah. Most scholars have considered Rebecca's historicity uncertain.

Korah or Kórach, son of Esau, is an individual who is described in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible.

References

  1. ↑ Phillips, J. Exploring Genesis: an expository commentary, (ISBN, ISBN), 2001, p. 284
  2. ↑ Genesis 26:34–35
  3. ↑ Mandel. Ultimate Who's Who, p. 176
  4. ↑ Phillips. Exploring Genesis, p. 284
  5. ↑ Jamieson-Fausset-Brown. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
  6. ↑ "Caleb" . Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "Amalekites" . Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  8. ↑ Klein, Reuven Chaim (2014). "the Wives of Esau" (PDF). Jewish Bible Quarterly. 42 (4): 211–220.
  9. ↑ "Esau, Wives of: Midrash and Aggadah". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2024-06-26.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.