Mahalath was, according to the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

, the third 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 ...

, daughter of

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 ...

and sister of Nebaioth. Esau took Mahalath from the house of Ishmael to be his wife, after seeing that his

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

ite wives ( Basemath and Judith) displeased his father,

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 ...

(). Esau sought this union with a non-Canaanite, in an effort to reconcile his relationship with his parents,Easton, M. ''Illustrated Bible Dictionary'', (, ), 2006, p.236Phillips, J. ''Exploring Genesis: an expository commentary'', (, ), 2001, p. 284 namely with his father

whose blessing he sought (). However, there is no record of his parents' approval for the union of Esau and Mahalath. She bore a son, Reuel, to Esau. () In , on the other hand, Esau's three wives are differently named; his family is mentioned as consisting 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 mentioned in Genesis 36, in the following way:Phillips, J. ''Exploring Genesis: an expository commentary'', (, ), 2001, p. 284 * Basemath () = Adah (), the daughter of Elon the Hittite; * Judith () = Aholibamah (), also a Canaanite; * Mahalath () = Bashemath (), Esau's cousin and third wife, daughter of Ishmael Nonetheless, other scholars dispute these connections. See Wives of Esau.

References

{{Authority control Book of Genesis people Women in the Hebrew Bible