Ajinoam ( ''ʾăḥīnōʿam'') is a
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 ...
name literally meaning ''brother of pleasantness'', or ''my brother is pleasant'', thus meaning ''pleasant''.
There are two references in 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 ...
to people; who bear that name;
*A daughter of Ahimaaz; who became a wife of
Saul
Saul (; , ; , ; ) was a monarch of ancient Israel and Judah and, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, the first king of the United Monarchy, a polity of uncertain historicity. His reign, traditionally placed in the late eleventh c ...
and the mother of his five sons and two daughters, one of whom is
Michal
Michal (; ; ) was, according to the first Book of Samuel, a princess of the United Kingdom of Israel; the younger daughter of King Saul, she was the first wife of David (), who later became king, first of Judah, then of all Israel, maki ...
, David's first wife.
*A woman from
Jezreel, who became
David
David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament.
The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...
's second wife, after he fled from Saul, leaving
Michal
Michal (; ; ) was, according to the first Book of Samuel, a princess of the United Kingdom of Israel; the younger daughter of King Saul, she was the first wife of David (), who later became king, first of Judah, then of all Israel, maki ...
, his first wife, behind, and the mother of
Amnon
Amnon ( ''’Amnōn'', "faithful") was, in the Hebrew Bible, the oldest son of King David and his second wife, Ahinoam of Jezreel. He was born in Hebron during his father's reign in Judah. He was the heir apparent to the throne of Israel until ...
, David's first-born.
Context
Some scholars suggest that the two may be, in fact, one person. In
2 Samuel
The Book of Samuel () is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings) that constitute a theological ...
12:8, God tells David through the prophet
Nathan
Nathan or Natan may refer to:
People and biblical figures
*Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name
* Nathan (surname)
*Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible
*Nathan (son of David), a biblical figu ...
, "I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms."
Jon Levenson
Jon Douglas Levenson is an American Hebrew Bible scholar who is the Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at the Harvard Divinity School.
Education
*A.B. ''summa cum laude'' in English, Harvard College, 1971.
*A.M. Department of Near Eastern ...
suggests that this implies David took Ahinoam from Saul. However, Diana V. Edelman disagrees, "Such a presumption would require David to have run off with the queen mother while Saul was still on the throne, which seems unlikely. In view of the possession of the royal harem as a claim to royal legitimacy, Nathan's comment can be related to David's eventual possession of Saul's wives after he ascended the throne in the wake of Eshbaal's death..."
Levenson goes on to note that Ahinoam is always mentioned before
Abigail
Abigail () was an Israelite woman in the Hebrew Bible married to Nabal; she married the future King David after Nabal's death (1 Samuel ). Abigail was David's third wife, after Ahinoam and Saul's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later married to ...
and that she bears David a son before Abigail does, and concludes from this that "she was already married to David when the conflict with
Nabal erupted." When David had fled from Saul and dwelt with Achish, king of Gath, he had his two wives Ahinoam and Abigail with him as per 1 Samuel 27:3.
Adherents of
source criticism
Source criticism (or information evaluation) is the process of evaluating an information source, i.e.: a document, a person, a speech, a fingerprint, a photo, an observation, or anything used in order to obtain knowledge. In relation to a given p ...
suggest that references to a woman called ''Ahinoam'' being Saul's wife belong to the account of the ''
republican source'' of the Books of Samuel,
[''Jewish Encyclopedia'', ''Books of Samuel''] while in the passages ascribed to the ''
monarchial source'',
the only mention of a woman called ''Ahinoam'' is the description of her as a wife of David.
Since Ahinoam's name usually precedes that of Abigail, it has been suggested that David married Ahinoam before he married Abigail. However, if her son Amnon was David's firstborn son, then the order of their names might indicate Ahinoam's status as the crown prince's mother.
[Schearing, Linda. "Ahinoam: Bible." Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 1 March 2009. Jewish Women's Archive]
/ref> Ahinoam is with David during his stay with King Achish of Gath, and is taken captive when Amalekites raid Ziklag, David's Philistine base, but was recovered by David.
/ref> She is among those who go with David to Hebron when he becomes king over Judah (2 Sam 2:2).
Additionally, Leviticus 20:14 forbids men from marrying their mothers-in-law, and Ahinoam, wife of Saul, was the mother of David's first wife Michal, whom David considered to legally be his wife even after fleeing, and David was never indicted by any prophets for his marriage to Ahinoam.
References
{{EBD, title=Ahinoam
11th-century BC women
10th-century BC women
Wives of David
Jewish royalty
Women in the Hebrew Bible
Family of Saul