Interesting Facts

• Uzith is also identified as Maka.
• She was the younger daughter of Amuram.
• She became the wife of Gad, one of the sons of Jacob.
• Uzith bore seven sons: Zephion, Chagi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Arali.
• Her marriage to Gad took place in Haran.

Genealogy

• Uzith’s father was Amuram, who was the son of Uz, the son of Nahor.
• Her husband was Gad, one of the sons of Jacob.
• Her sister was Merimah, who married Naphtali, Gad’s brother.
• Her sons were Zephion, Chagi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Arali.

Historical Context

Uzith’s story is situated within the period when Jacob’s sons were establishing their own families. Her origin in Haran, a city in Mesopotamia, places her within a cultural and geographical sphere distinct from Canaan, where Jacob and his family resided. The act of Gad traveling to Haran, along with his brother Naphtali, to take Uzith and her sister Merimah as wives highlights the practice of seeking spouses from outside the immediate family and from regions with established, albeit distant, kinship ties. This intermarriage between Jacob’s lineage and the people of Mesopotamia reflects the broader migratory and relational patterns of the ancient Near East, where familial alliances could extend across considerable distances. The context does not provide specific details about the political or social conditions in Haran at this time, but the journey itself suggests a level of interaction and connection between these communities.

Narrative

Uzith’s role in the narrative, as presented in the sources, is primarily that of a wife to Gad and a mother to his seven sons. The text recounts that Gad, along with his brother Naphtali, journeyed to Haran and there took Uzith, the daughter of Amuram, as his wife. Following their marriage, Uzith accompanied Gad back to the land of Canaan, joining her husband in his father’s household. Her central contribution to the unfolding story lies in her progeny, as she bore Gad a significant number of sons, who would become part of the expanding family of Jacob and contribute to the eventual tribal structure of Israel. While the sources do not offer any direct discourse or actions of Uzith herself, her inclusion in the genealogical record underscores the importance of women in ancient narratives as the bearers of future generations and the foundational figures in the lineage of patriarchs. Her story, though brief in its explicit details, is crucial in tracing the familial connections and the growth of Jacob’s descendants.