Ahinoam

Person Or Being In Fiction

14

Who is Ahinoam?

Ahinoam is a Hebrew name literally meaning brother of pleasantness, thus meaning pleasant.

There are two references in the Bible to people who bear that name:

⁕A daughter of Ahimaaz, who became a wife of Saul and the mother of his four sons and two daughters, one of whom is Michal, David's first wife.

⁕A woman from Jezreel, who became David's first wife, after he fled from Saul, leaving Michal, his first-ever wife, behind, and the mother of Amnon, David's first-born.

Some scholars suggest that the two may be, in fact, one person. In 2 Samuel 12:8, God tells David through the prophet Nathan, "I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms." Jon Levenson suggests that this implies David took Ahinoam from Saul.

Levenson goes on to note that Ahinoam is always mentioned before Abigail and that she bears David a son before Abigail does, and concludes from this that "she was already married to David when the conflict with Nabal erupted." However, with Jonathan about the same age as, if not older than, David, Ahinoam, the wife of Saul, would be too old to give birth to David's first-born son, Amnon. Another objection is that the marriage of Ahinoam and David occurred during The Civil War between the House of David and the House of Saul.

We need you!

Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!

Parents
Spouses
Children

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

Citation

Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"Ahinoam." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/ahinoam>.

Discuss this Ahinoam biography with the community:

0 Comments

    Browse Biographies.net