Ahinoam

Ahinoam(Hebrew:אֲחִינֹעַם‎ʾăḥīnōʿam) is aHebrewname literally meaningbrother of pleasantness,ormy brother is pleasant,thus meaningpleasant.

There are two references in theBibleto people; who bear that name;

• A daughter of Ahimaaz; who became a wife ofSauland the mother of his four sons and two daughters, one of whom isMichal,David's first wife.
• A woman fromJezreel,who becameDavid's second wife, after he fled from Saul, leavingMichal,his first wife, behind,and the mother ofAmnon,David's first-born.

Context

Some scholars suggest that the two may be, in fact, one person. In2 Samuel12:8, God tells David through the prophetNathan,"I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms."Jon Levensonsuggests that this implies David took Ahinoam from Saul. However, Diana V. Edelman disagrees, "Such a presumption would require David to have run off with the queen mother while Saul was still on the throne, which seems unlikely. In view of the possession of the royal harem as a claim to royal legitimacy, Nathan's comment can be related to David's eventual possession of Saul's wives after he ascended the throne in the wake of Eshbaal's death..."

Levenson goes on to note that Ahinoam is always mentioned beforeAbigailand that she bears David a son before Abigail does, and concludes from this that "she was already married to David when the conflict withNabalerupted. "When David had fled from Saul and dwelt with Achish, king of Gath, he had his two wives Ahinoam and Abigail with him as per 1 Samuel 27:3.

Adherents ofsource criticismsuggest that references to a woman calledAhinoambeing Saul's wife belong to the account of therepublican sourceof the Books of Samuel,while in the passages ascribed to themonarchial source,the only mention of a woman calledAhinoamis the description of her as a wife of David.

Since Ahinoam's name usually precedes that of Abigail, it has been suggested that David married Ahinoam before he married Abigail. However, if her son Amnon was David's firstborn son, then the order of their names might indicate Ahinoam's status as the crown prince's mother.Ahinoam is with David during his stay with King Achish of Gath, and is taken captive when Amalekites raid Ziklag, David's Philistine base, but was recovered by David.She is among those who go with David to Hebron when he becomes king over Judah (2 Sam 2:2).

Additionally, Leviticus 20:14 forbids men from marrying their mothers-in-law, and Ahinoam, wife of Saul, was the mother of David's first wife Michal, whom David considered to legally be his wife even after fleeing, and David was never indicted by any prophets for his marriage to Ahinoam.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Easton, Matthew George(1897). "Ahinoam".Easton's Bible Dictionary(New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.