Basemath

Basemath (Hebrew: בָּשְׂמַת‎, Modern: Basmat, Tiberian: Bāsəmaṯ, "Sweet-smelling", Arabic: بسمة; "Sweet-smile"), in the Hebrew Bible, is one of the wives of Esau.

In Genesis 26:34–35, Basemath is the name of the first wife of Esau. She was the daughter of Elon the Hittite (Genesis 26:34–35). Because Basemath was a Canaanite, Esau’s marriage to Basemath (as well as to his second wife, Judith) ignored God's wishes that Abraham’s descendants keep themselves separate from the Canaanites in marriage. Esau’s marriage to Basemath, therefore, brought bitterness to Isaac and Rebekah.[1] Esau is then said to have taken as his third wife a daughter of his uncle Ishmael, Mahalath.

In Genesis 36:2,3, on the other hand, Esau's three wives are differently named; his family is mentioned as composed of two Canaanite wives, Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah, and a third: Bashemath, Ishmael's daughter. Some scholars equate the three wives mentioned in Genesis 26 and 28 with those in Genesis 36, the following way:

• Basemath (Genesis 26:34–35) = Adah (Genesis 36:2,3), the daughter of Elon the Hittite;
• Judith (Genesis 26:34–35) = Aholibamah (Genesis 36:2,3), also a Canaanite;
• Mahalath (Genesis 28:9) = Bashemath (Genesis 36:2,3), Esau's cousin and third wife, daughter of Ishmael.