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;

Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan. The difference in the names of Esau's wives has given rise to various theories of explanation. Some suppose that the list in this chapter refers to wives quite different from those mentioned in Genesis 26:34; Genesis 28:9. Ewald and others maintain that there were more than three; because the name of Judith, who seems to have been the first that Esau married, is omitted in this register of his progeny, probably because she was childless; while that of Aholibamah is added as a fourth; and the suggestion has been also made that Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael, having died, Esau married her sister Bashemath.

The account given of the parentage of these wives has seemed to many equally obscure and perplexing as that of their names. But all these difficulties admit of an easy and satisfactory solution. Thus, with regard to the number of Esau's wives, although it is not expressly said that he had three wives, the several passages in which they are enumerated comprise only three: and these, as shall be presently shown, the same three throughout.

As to the names of the wives, it has been remarked, that while these, in Eastern countries, as elsewhere, are sometimes changed on account of some memorable circumstances in the course of life, women assume new names more frequently than men-they do so particularly on their marriage; and as in this genealogical record all the wives of Esau are distinguished by different names from those which they formerly bore, the change is to be traced partly to their entrance into the matrimonial relation, and partly to their settlement in a foreign land, where Esau himself assumed the permanent designation of Edom (Genesis 36:1-8). The import of their names was founded probably on some conspicuous attribute of character or feature of personal appearance or habit, as Judith or Jehudith (the praised one) was changed into Aholibamah (tent-height - i:e., tall, stately); Bashemath, Hebrew, Basemath (fragrance, the perfumed one) into Adah (ornament, beauty, the adorned one); Mahalath (harp, the musical one), into Basemath (fragrance, perfume, the perfumed one). If Esau obtained the name of Edom from his red hair, or the red pottage, his wives might as well have derived their new appellatives from such trivial circumstances as peculiarity of appearance and dress, or a love of strong-scented unguents. With regard to the names of their respective fathers, Elon the Hittite, and Ishmael stand in both lists; while Anah is not the mother and Beeri the father of Aholibamah, as is supposed by Ranke and others; but, as has been demonstrated with great ingenuity by Hengstenberg, is identical with Beeri. Ahab, being the proper name of the individual, is given in this genealogical record (Genesis 36:2; Genesis 36:14; Genesis 36:24); while Beeri (man of springs), a surname popularly applied to him by his contemporaries (see Genesis 36:24), was naturally preferred in the general narrative (Genesis 26:34).

There is another difficulty connected with the name of Anah. He is called (Genesis 26:34) a Hittite, here (Genesis 36:2) a Hivite, and (Genesis 36:20) a Horite. But there is nothing contradictory in these statements. For in the historical relation he is called, in a wide sense, a Hittite-a term which is frequently used as synonymous with Canaanite (Joshua 1:4; 1 Kings 10:29; 2 Kings 7:6); while in his tribal connection he was a Hivite, just as a man may be described in a general history as a native of Great Britain, while specifically he is a Scotchman. The word Horite does not imply either a geographical or national distinction, but simply a dweller in caves; Zibeon, on emigrating to Mount Seir, having become a Troglodyte. These difficulties, then, which encompass the domestic history of Esau having been removed, a clear view of the names and parentage of Esau's wives may be exhibited in the following table: Some MSS. have х been (H1121)] son of Zibeon, but they are not of any authority. In this table 'the daughter of Zibeon' is taken in connection, not with Anah (a man's name), but with Aholibamah; and consequently we must interpret х bat (H1323)] daughter in the wider sense it sometimes bears of granddaughter. It may be interesting to add, that Dr. Wilson ('Lands of the Bible,' vol. 1:, p. 33) found that these names are still common in Idumea and among the Arabs. When conversing with the Fellahin, of Wady Musa, he says, 'It is worthy of notice that the first name of a man which they mentioned to us as current among them was that of Esau; and that Matshabah, one of their female names, seems, by a bold anagram, not unusual in the formation of Arabic words from the Hebrew, to resemble Bashemath, wife of Esau. Aidah, too, one of the female names, is like that of Adah, another of Esau's wives.'