Samlah

שמלה


Genesis 36:36 and 1 Chronicles 1:47 name Samlah from Masreykah (משרקה) as a king of Edom, preceded by Hadad ben Bedad (הֲדַד בֶּן-בְּדַד) and succeeded by Sha'ul of Rechovot ha-Nahar (שָׁאוּל מֵרְחֹבוֹת הַנָּהָר).

The name means "a garment", usually "a large outer cloak like a dressing-gown" according to one dictionary which I shall not shame by naming it - thawb, thobe, dishdasha, kandura, bisht and khamis (not jalabiyyah, that's only for for women); it goes by many names across the Arab world, may be of wool or cotton, may be black or white, and has been the traditional clothing of men for many thousands of years.
Cf Genesis 9:23; Deuteronomy 10:18; 1 Samuel 21:10; Isaiah 3:6.

Why would a person have this for a name? Or more specifically a royal title - Pope Cloak III or King Gown of Bavaria wouldn't sound right, would it? Richard the Grey-Suited? The name has to be symbolic - but of what? Shamans and their later variants the magicians and wizards were famous for the cloaks they wore - does it describe an aspect of the sacred kingship, the fact that this king had a particularly magnificent cloak for when he took part in the cultic ceremonies. The Hyksos kings wore "amazing technicolor dream-coats" of the Yoseph kind, as we know from Egyptian hieroglyphs; and Yoseph was brought to Egypt by the Beney Yishma-El, who were an Edomite clan - is this the reason? Pure speculation.

One other possibility exists, hinted at by Gesenius, that Samlah (שמלה) is a transposition of Salmah (שלמה), and that in fact we have here yet another of that long line of Salm kings, sun-kings whose empire had its apex in Yeru-Shala'im. Given the number of scribal errors in the Tanach, this has to be counted as plausible.

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