Adah

A´dah (Adornment, comeliness)

1. one of the wives of Lamech (Gen 4:19);

2. one of the wives of Esau, daughter of Elon the Hittite (Gen 36:4). She is called Judith in Gen 26:34.

A’dah. (ornament, beauty).

1. The first of the two wives of Lamech, by whom were borne to him Jabal and Jubal. Gen 4:19. (B.C. 3600).

2. A Hittitess, one of the three wives of Esau, mother of Eliphaz. Gen 36:2; Gen 36:10; Gen 36:12; Gen 36:16. In Gen 26:34, she is called Bashemath. (B.C. 1797).

("adornment, beauty".).

1. One of Lamech’s (See LAMECH; see ZILLAH) wives (Gen 4:19).

2. Daughter of Elon the Hittite; one of Esau’s three wives; mother of his firstborn, Eliphaz; ancestress of six of the Edomite tribes (Gen 36:2-4; (Gen 36:15-16); called Bashemath (Gen 26:34), ("the fragrant"). Esau’s third wife, daughter of Ishmael, also is called Bashemath, but Mahalath in Gen 28:9. Moses drew the genealogy from documents of Esau’s tribe, without altering them. Eastern and especially Arabian custom gives surnames (founded on some memorable event in one’s life), which gradually supersede the other name; for instance, Edom, Gen 25:30. Women received new names when married; so both might be called Bashemath.

(Heb. Adah’, עָדָה, ornament; Sept. Α᾿δά), the name of two women.

1. The first named of the two wives of the Cainite Lamech, and mother of Jabal and Jubal (Gen 4:19-20; Gen 4:23). B.C. cir. 3600. 2. The first of the three wives of Esau, being the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and the mother of Eliphaz (Gen 36:2; Gen 36:4; Gen 36:10; Gen 36:12; Gen 36:16). B.C. 1964. She is elsewhere confounded with BASHEMATH SEE BASHEMATH (Gen 26:34). SEE ESAU.

[A’dah]

1. One of the two wives of Lamech, and the mother of Jabal and Jubal. Gen 4:19-20; Gen 4:23.

2. One of the wives of Esau, daughter of Elon the Hittite and thus ’a daughter of Canaan:’ she bare to Esau his first-born son Eliphaz, who became the father of seven of the dukes of Edom. Gen 36:2; Gen 36:4; Gen 36:15-16. See BASHEMATH.

By: George A. Barton

Wife of Esau (Gen. xxxvi. 2-16), thought by modern writers to be added by the final redactor (R) of the Pentateuch. Adah is said (verse 2) to be the daughter of Elon the Hittite. The priestly narrator (P) (Gen. xxvi. 34) has Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, as the corresponding wife. Dillmann is no doubt right in the opinion that the redactor had before him another source in which the names of Esau's wives differed from those given in the source employed by the priestly writer, and that his modification (Gen. xxxvi.) is due to this. The Kenites and Edomites were contiguous clans, and this Adah and that of the Kenite Lamech may have a common origin (compare Halévy, "Recherches Bibliques," in "Rev. Ét. Juives," ix. 219).

ADAH.—1. One of the two wives of Lamech, and mother of Jabal and Jubal (Gen 4:19-20). The name possibly means ‘brightness’ (cf. Arab. [Note: Arabic.] ghadât), Lamech’s other wife being named ‘Zillah’ = ‘shadow,’ ‘darkness’ 2. Daughter of Elon, a Hittite, and one of the wives of Esau (Gen 36:2). In Gen 26:34 (P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ) the daughter of Elon the Hittite, whom Esau takes to wife, is named Basemath (wh. see).

ā´da (עדה, ‛ādhāh, “adornment”):

(1) One of the two wives of Lamech the descendant of Cain (Gen 4:19, Gen 4:20, Gen 4:23). The narrative in Gen assigns to her two sons, Jabal the “father” of tent-dwelling people, and Jubal the “father” of all such as handle the harp and pipe.” Josephus says that Lamech had 77 sons by Ada and Zillah (Ant., I, ii, 2).

(2) According to Gen 36:2, Gen 36:4, Gen 36:10, Gen 36:12, Gen 36:16, the Hittite wife of Esau, daughter of Elon, and mother of Eliphaz. In this chapter Esau’s other wives are Oholibamah, a Hivite, and Basemath the daughter of Ishmael. The names are differently given elsewhere (Gen 26:34; Gen 28:9). Basemath is said to be the daughter of Elon. The daughter of Ishmael is called Mahalath. In place of Oholibamah the Hivite we find Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite. Data are lacking for the solution of the problem.