Canaanite woman

Shaul's mother was a Canaanite woman, according to the genealogies of Simeon.

The Canaanite woman mentioned in Gen 46:10 and Exo 6:15 is the mother of Shaul, who was a son of Simeon. In the genealogies of Simeon, one of the twelve sons of Israel (or 'Jacob'), Shaul is distinguished from his brothers by the fact that his mother was a Canaanite woman. This detail suggests that Simeon married a woman from the Canaanite people, who were the inhabitants of the land of Canaan before the Israelites. The mention of Shaul's mother's Canaanite origin is significant because it shows that intermarriage between the Israelites and the Canaanites did occur, despite the general prohibition against such unions (Deut. Exo 7:3). The inclusion of this information in the genealogies also highlights the importance of maternal lineage in the biblical record.