Basemath (,

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: بسمة; "Sweet-smile"), in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Esau Esau is the elder son of Isaac in the Hebrew Bible. He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis and by the minor prophet, prophets Obadiah and Malachi. The story of Jacob and Esau reflects the historical relationship between Israel and Edom, aiming ...

. See Wives of Esau. In , Basemath is the name of the first wife of

Esau Esau is the elder son of Isaac in the Hebrew Bible. He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis and by the minor prophet, prophets Obadiah and Malachi. The story of Jacob and Esau reflects the historical relationship between Israel and Edom, aiming ...

. 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 belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

'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 ( ; ; ; ; ; ) is one of the three patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith. Isaac first appears in the Torah, in wh ...

and

Rebekah 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 t ...

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

Ishmael In the Bible, biblical Book of Genesis, Ishmael (; ; ; ) is the first son of Abraham. His mother was Hagar, the handmaiden of Abraham's wife Sarah. He died at the age of 137. Traditionally, he is seen as the ancestor of the Arabs. Within Isla ...

, Mahalath. 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, 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 () = Aholibamah (), also a Canaanite; * Mahalath () = ''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