Naamah (wife of Solomon)

Depiction by Giovanni Battista Venanzi of King Solomon being led astray into idolatry in his old age by his wives, 1668.

Naamah (Hebrew: נַעֲמָה, romanized: Naʿămā, lit. 'pleasant; lovely') was one of the 700 wives and 300 concubines of King Solomon and mother of his heir, Rehoboam, according to both 1 Kings 14:21–31, and 2 Chronicles 12:13 in the Hebrew Bible.[1] She was an Ammonite, and, as such, one of only two of all the Queen Mothers of Israel or Judah who was a foreigner (the other being Jezebel).[2] She was also the only one of Solomon's wives to be mentioned, within the Hebrew Bible, as having borne a child.

Naamah is mentioned in Bava Kamma 38b wherein it states that Moses had previously been warned by God not to make war upon the Ammonites, Molech worshippers, for Naamah was to descend from them.[3]

She was said to be the daughter of Hanun, king of the Ammonites in Greek biblical texts and rabbinical literature.[4]

  1. ^ 1 Kings 14:21 and 2 Chronicles 12:13
  2. ^ Berlyn, P. J. (1996). "The Great Ladies". Jewish Bible Quarterly. 24 (1): 28.
  3. ^ "The Jewish Encyclopedia". Retrieved 2007-08-05.
  4. ^ "The Jewish Encyclopedia". Retrieved 2007-08-05.