Basemath (,

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

: بسمة; "Sweet-smile"), in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Esau Esau ''Ēsaû''; la, Hesau, Esau; ar, عِيسَوْ ''‘Īsaw''; meaning "hairy"Easton, M. ''Illustrated Bible Dictionary'', (, , 2006, p. 236 or "rough".Mandel, D. ''The Ultimate Who's Who in the Bible'', (.), 2007, p. 175 is the elder son o ...

. In , Basemath is the name of the first wife of

Esau Esau ''Ēsaû''; la, Hesau, Esau; ar, عِيسَوْ ''‘Īsaw''; meaning "hairy"Easton, M. ''Illustrated Bible Dictionary'', (, , 2006, p. 236 or "rough".Mandel, D. ''The Ultimate Who's Who in the Bible'', (.), 2007, p. 175 is the elder son o ...

. She was the daughter of Elon the Hittite (). Because Basemath was a Canaanite, Esau’s marriage to Basemath (as well as to his second wife, Judith) ignored

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

's wishes that Abraham’s descendants keep themselves separate from the Canaanites in marriage. Esau’s marriage to Basemath, therefore, brought bitterness to

Isaac Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was ...

and

Rebekah Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblic ...

. Esau is then said to have taken as his third wife a daughter of his uncle

Ishmael Ishmael ''Ismaḗl''; Classical/Qur'anic Arabic: إِسْمَٰعِيْل; Modern Standard Arabic: إِسْمَاعِيْل ''ʾIsmāʿīl''; la, Ismael was the first son of Abraham, the common patriarch of the Abrahamic religions; and is cons ...

Mahalath 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 (as was the case of his first two wives, Base ...

. In , on the other hand, Esau's three wives are differently named; his family is mentioned as composed of two Canaanite wives, Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and

Aholibamah Aholibamah (Hebrew: ''ʾĀhŏlīḇāmā''; "My tabernacle of/is height/exaltation" or "Tent of the High Place"Phillips, J. ''Exploring Genesis: an expository commentary'', (, ), 2001, p. 284), is an eight-time referenced matriarch in the biblical ...

, and a third: ''Bashemath'', Ishmael's daughter. Some scholars equate the three wives mentioned in Genesis 26 and 28 with those in Genesis 36, the following way: * Basemath () = Adah (), the daughter of Elon the Hittite; * Judith () =

(), also a Canaanite; *

() = ''Bashemath'' (), Esau's cousin and third wife, daughter of Ishmael.

References

Edomite people Book of Genesis people Esau Women in the Hebrew Bible {{Tanakh-stub

See also

References