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 changed names of two wives to the Hebrew to pacify his parents:
- Basemath, Canaanite = Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite;
- Judith a Hittite, also a Canaanite;
- Aholibamah, also written Oholibamah, a Hivite, also a Canaanite;
- Mahalath = Bashemath, Esau's cousin and third wife, daughter of Ishmael.
Reuven Chaim Klein summarizes how the various Medieval Jewish commentators broadly provide four interpretations to address the inconsistency between the accounts of Esau's wives in Genesis 26 and Genesis 36:
- Rashi suggests that the three women listed are all the same individuals, but referred to by different names.
- Sefer ha-Yashar and several other commentators largely agree with Rashi, but assert that Esau had four wives, as they do not equate Judith with Aholibamah.
- Nahmanides generally concurs, adding that Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite, were sisters, not the same person, thus proposing that Esau had five wives.
- Abraham Maimuni, however, completely rejects the idea of the Bible using different names for the same individuals. He posits that the three wives mentioned in Genesis 26 and the three in Genesis 36 are entirely different people, concluding that Esau had six wives in total.