Edomite living at the time of the Patriarchs
Elon the Hittite was the father of Basemath, one of Esau's wives.
🗺 Places mentioned alongside Elon on the map →
Elon the Hittite is mentioned in Genesis as the father of Basemath, one of Esau's wives. Esau, the son of Isaac and Rebekah, married two Hittite women, Judith and Basemath, causing grief to his parents (Gen.26.34). Basemath is specifically identified as the daughter of Elon the Hittite. The Hittites were a people group living in Canaan during the time of the patriarchs. Esau's marriage to Hittite women was seen as a departure from the custom of marrying within the family or tribe, as his parents had desired. In Gen.36.2, Basemath is again mentioned as one of Esau's wives, reaffirming her identity as the daughter of Elon the Hittite. No further information is provided about Elon's life, occupation, or role in the Hittite community. His mention in the text serves primarily to identify the background of one of Esau's wives and to highlight the cultural and familial tensions surrounding Esau's marriages.
More background: search Wikipedia ↗
2 verses in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H0356
When Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.
Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite,
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.