Aholibamah (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: ''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 record. Aholibamah was the daughter of

Anah Anah or Ana (, ), formerly also known as Anna, is an Iraqi town on the Euphrates approximately midway between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Persian Gulf. Anah lies from west to east on the right bank along a bend of the river just before it tu ...

and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite, son of Seir the

Horite The Horites ( ''Ḥōrīm''), were a people mentioned in the Torah (, ) inhabiting areas around Mount Seir in Canaan (). Name According to Archibald Sayce (1915), the Horites have been identified with references in Egyptian inscriptions to ''Kh ...

. She was one of two Canaanite women who married

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 ...

, the son of

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 ...

, when he was in his forties. Isaac and his wife

Rebecca 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 (Bi ...

, however, were greatly opposed to this union. So, according to some Biblical scholars, Esau changed her name to the

name "Judith", as to pacify his parents. See

Wives of Esau In Book of Genesis we see two different lists of Esau's wives. Basemath's name is mentioned twice. According to Bible, first two wives were Canaanites and so not good to God. To make the story clear, some Biblical scholars believed that Esau chang ...

. Biblical scholars have thus conciliated the two different name accounts given in Genesis for the three wives of Esau: *

Basemath Basemath (, Arabic: بسمة; "Sweet-smile"), in the Hebrew Bible, is the name of two different wives of Esau. See Wives of Esau. In , Basemath is the name of the first wife of Esau. She was the daughter of Elon the Hittite (). Because Basemath ...

(Genesis 26:34–35) = Adah (Genesis 36:2,3), the daughter of Elon the Hittite; * Judith (Genesis 26:34–35) = Aholibamah (Genesis 36:2,3), also a Canaanite; *

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 his Canaanite wives ( Basemath and Judith) displeased his fat ...

(Genesis 28:9) = Bashemath (Genesis 36:2,3), Esau's cousin and third wife, daughter of Ishmael. The name Aholibamah appears again later among the listed clans of

Edom Edom (; Edomite language, Edomite: ; , lit.: "red"; Akkadian language, Akkadian: , ; Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom that stretched across areas in the south of present-day Jordan and Israel. Edom and the Edomi ...

, suggesting that a descendant of Esau had the same (female) name and became a chief.

References

Book of Genesis people Esau Biblical matriarchs {{Tanakh-stub