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Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary
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), Lamechs 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).
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
("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.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
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).
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
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.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
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.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.
Adah
(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.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.