Husham of Temani is the fourth of the eight pre-Israelite kings of Edom listed in Genesis 36:31–39, reigning after Jobab of Bozrah and before Hadad of Avith. The name Husham likely derives from a Semitic root related to swiftness or haste. The gentilic Temani connects him to the town of Teman in Edom (modern southern Jordan), a location famed in biblical tradition for wisdom (Jeremiah 49:7, Obadiah 1:8–9).

Position on the Tree of Life

In the schema of Liber 777, Husham of Temani occupies the position of Geburah (Severity), the fifth sephirah on the Tree of Life. This aligns with the martial, judgmental character of Edomite kingship as interpreted in Kabbalistic myth: the Kings of Edom represent the primordial, unbalanced forces of Din (strict judgment) that collapsed before the creation of the sephirotic order. Husham thus stands as a specific vessel of divine severity in an unfinished cosmos.

Astrological and Planetary Correspondence

As a Geburah figure, Husham corresponds to Mars in both its zodiacal form (Scorpio) and its planetary martial essence. The swiftness implied by his name resonates with Mars' furious, accelerating nature. No specific star or constellation is assigned to Husham alone; the martial correspondence is general to the sephirah.

Historical Context

The list of Edomite kings in Genesis 36 is one of the oldest preserved royal genealogies in the Hebrew Bible, predating the Israelite monarchy: 'And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel' (Genesis 36:31). Husham appears in verse 34: 'And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of Teman reigned in his stead.' The Chronicler repeats the same list in 1 Chronicles 1:45, confirming the tradition.

Teman was an Edomite clan and a district; Eliphaz the Temanite is one of Job's three friends (Job 2:11). The prophetic literature associates Teman with wisdom and also with divine judgment: Amos 1:12 threatens fire upon Teman for its violence against Israel. The Midrashic tradition (e.g., Bereishit Rabbah 83) interprets the Edomite kings as prototypes of earthly dominion, but the Kabbalistic reading—closer to the spirit of Liber 777—sees them as sparks of unrectified judgment that had to break in order for the cosmic vessels to be remade for stability.

In Liber 777

In the table row corresponding to the Kings of Edom, Husham of Temani appears as the entry for Geburah (scale step 5). His name occupies that cell in the column also titled 'The Kings of Edom,' linking the severest sephirah with a king whose very name means 'haste'—a fitting attribute for the unbalanced, destructive power that the Edomite regnal sequence symbolizes in Kabbalistic cosmology.