Genesis 36:2 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 36:2
Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan; Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite;
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 36:25 And the children of Anah were these; Dishon, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah.
Genesis 9:25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
Genesis 27:46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as th…
Genesis 28:9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to…
Genesis 26:34-35 And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 36:1-8
Observe here, 1. Concerning Esau himself, Gen 36:1. He is called Edom (and again, Gen 36:8), that name by which was perpetuated the remembrance of the foolish bargain he made, when he sold his birthright for that red, that red pottage. The very mention of that name is enough to intimate the reason why his family is turned off with such a short account. Note, If men do a wrong thing they must thank themselves, when it is, long afterwards, remembered against them to their reproach. 2. Concerning his wives, and the children they bore him in the land of Canaan. He had three wives, and, by them all, but five sons: many a one has more by one wife. God in his providence often disappoints those who…
Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan--There were three, mentioned under different names; for it is evident that Bashemath is the same as Mahalath (Gen 28:9), since they both stand in the relation of daughter to Ishmael and sister to Nebajoth; and hence it may be inferred that Adah is the same as Judith, Aholibamah as Bathsemath (Gen 26:34). It was not unusual for women, in that early age, to have two names, as Sarai was also Iscah [Gen 11:29]; and this is the more probable in the case of Esau's wives, who of course would have to take new names when they went from Canaan to settle in mount Seir.
Adam Clarke on Genesis 36:2
His wives - It appears that Esau's wives went by very different names. Aholibamah is named Judith, Gen 26:34; Adah is called Bashemath in the same place; and she who is here called Bashemath is called Mahalath, Gen 28:9. These are variations which cannot be easily accounted for; and they are not of sufficient importance to engross much time. It is well known that the same persons in Scripture are often called by different names.
Anah the daughter of Zibeon - But this same Anah is said to be the son of Zibeon, Gen 36:24, though in this and Gen 36:14 he is said to be the daughter of Zibeon. But the Samaritan, the Septuagint, (and the Syriac, in Gen 36:2), read son instead of daughter, which Ho…
Adah — Ornament. (1.) The first of Lamech’s two wives, and the mother of Jabal and Jubal (Gen. 4:19, 20, 23). (2.) The first of Esau’s three wives, the daughter of Elon the Hittite (Gen. 36:2, 4), called…
Aholibamah — Tent of the height, the name given to Judith, the daughter of Beeri = Anah (Gen. 26:34; 36:2), when she became the wife of Esau. A district among the mountains of Edom, probably near Mount Hor, was…
Aholibamah Or Abolibamah — (my tabernacle is exulted), One of the three wives of Esau. (B.C. 1797.) She was the daughter of Anah. (Genesis 36:2,26) In the earlier narrative, (Genesis 26:34) Aholi-bamah is called Judith, which…
Anah — Speech. (1.) One of the sons of Seir, and head of an Idumean tribe, called a Horite, as in course of time all the branches of this tribe were called from their dwelling in caves in Mount Seir (Gen.…
Bashemath — Sweet-smelling. (1.) The daughter of Ishmael, the last of Esau’s three wives (Gen. 36:3, 4, 13), from whose son Reuel four tribes of the Edomites sprung. She is also called Mahalath (Gen. 28:9). It…
Beeri — Illustrious, or the well-man. (1.) The father of Judith, one of the wives of Esau (Gen. 26:34), the same as Adah (Gen. 36:2). (2.) The father of the prophet Hosea (1:1).
Edom — (1.) The name of Esau (q.v.), Gen. 25:30, “Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage [Heb. haadom, haadom, i.e., ‘the red pottage, the red pottage’] ...Therefore was his name called Edom”,…
Elon — Oak. (1.) A city of Dan (Josh. 19:43). (2.) A Hittite, father of Bashemath, Esau’s wife (Gen. 26:34). (3.) One of the sons of Zebulun (Gen. 46:14). (4.) The eleventh of the Hebrew judges. He held…
Governor — (1.) Heb. nagid, a prominent, conspicuous person, whatever his capacity: as, chief of the royal palace (2 Chr. 28:7; comp. 1 Kings 4:6), chief of the temple (1 Chr. 9:11; Jer. 20:1), the leader of…
Zibeon — Robber; or dyed. (1.) A Hivite (Gen. 36:2). (2.) A Horite, and son of Seir (Gen. 36:20).
John Gill on Genesis 36:2
And Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan,.... Of the Canaanites, the posterity of cursed Canaan, most of them were of them, though not all, the two following were, and so those, if different from them in Genesis 26:34, one of his wives was of the family of Ishmael, as after related:
Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite; according to Jarchi and Aben Ezra, this is the same with Bashemath, Genesis 26:34; and that she had two names:
and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite; the daughter of the one, and the granddaughter of the other, it being usual in Scripture to call grandchildren children, for Zibeon and Anah were father and son, Genesis 36:24; and t…
Now these are the generations of Esau. Though Esau was an alien from the Church in the sight of God; yet since he also, as a son of Isaac, was favored with a temporal blessing, Moses celebrates his race, and inscribes a sufficiently lengthened catalogue of the people born from him. This commemoration, however, resembles an honorable sepulture. For although Esau, with his posterity, took the precedence; yet this dignity was like a bubble, which is comprised under the figure of the world, and which quickly perishes. As, therefore, it has been before said of other profane nations, so now Esau is exalted as on a lofty theater. But since there is no permanent condition out of the kingdom of God,…
Esau's Wives and Children. His Settlement in the Mountains of Seir. - In the heading (Gen 36:1) the surname Edom is added to the name Esau, which he received at his birth, because the former became the national designation of his descendants. - Gen 36:2, Gen 36:3. The names of Esau's three wives differ from those given in the previous accounts (Gen 26:34 and Gen 28:9), and in one instance the father's name as well. The daughter of Elon the Hittite is called Adah (the ornament), and in Gen 26:34 Basmath (the fragrant); the second is called Aholibamah (probably tent-height), the daughter of Anah, daughter, i.e., grand-daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, and in Gen 26:34, Jehudith (the praised or pr…
Esau’s three wives—Adah, Oholibamah, and Basemath—are listed. Two of these wives’ names are different from those listed earlier (26:34; 28:9). Perhaps the others died, or Esau favored these three among a total of six, or these were just different names for the same three. There is not enough information to decide.
36:2 Oholibamah was a great-granddaughter of Seir the Horite, whose descendants lived in Edom when Esau went to live there (36:20, 25).
Rashi on Genesis 36:2
עדה בת אילון ADAH THE DAUGHTER OF ELON — She is identical with Basemath daughter of Elon (cf. 26:34) and she was called Basemath because she offered spices (בשמים) as incense to idols.
אהליבמה OHOLIBAMAH is identical with Judith. He (Esau) changed her name to Judith (Jewess), suggesting that she had abandoned idol-worship, so that he might deceive his father.
בת ענה בת צבעון THE DAUGHTER OF ANAH THE DAUGHTER OF ZIBEON — If she was the daughter of Anah she could not have been the daughter of Zibeon, for Anah was the son of Zibeon as it is said (v. 24) “And these are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah”! Scripture thus tells us that Zibeon took his daughter-in-law, Anah’s wife, and of them twa…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
