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[1] and the mother of his four sons and two daughters.
- A woman from Jezreel, who was captured by David while he was at war with Saul, and became David's wife[2][3], and the mother of Amnon[4].
It is possible that both of these women named Ahinoam to be different accounts of the same woman, as the references to a woman called Ahinoam being Saul's wife are all ascribed by textual scholars to the account of the republican source of the Books of Samuel[5], while in the passages ascribed to the monarchial source[5], the only mention of a woman called Ahinoam is the description of her as a wife of David.
References[]
- ↑ 1 Samuel 14:50
- ↑ 1 Samuel 25:43
- ↑ 1 Samuel 27:3
- ↑ 2 Samuel 3:2
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Jewish Encyclopedia, Books of Samuel
This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897. sw:Ahinoamu pt:Ainoã