Samlah of Masrekah is the fifth named king of Edom in the genealogical list of Genesis 36:36–37, reigning after Husham of the land of the Temanites. His name likely derives from a Semitic root seml, often interpreted as “garment” or “image,” while Masrekah (Masrekah) may mean “vineyard” or “whistling,” or refer to a specific site in Edomite territory. He is one of the eight kings who ruled Edom “before any king reigned over the Israelites,” a formula that distinguishes this archaic Edomite dynasty from the later Israelite monarchy.

Position on the Tree of Life

Samlah appears in the seventh position on the Tree of Life (Netzach, sphere of Victory) in the column of the Kings of Edom. This placement corresponds to the lowest and most unbalanced manifestation of the Sephirah, representing the sefirah as fragmented into an independent, unintegrated rulership. In the Edomite king progression, Samlah stands as the middle figure of the seven “dead kings” of pre-cosmic chaos, embodying the king-form of Netzach prior to divine rectification.

Historical context

The list of Edomite kings in Genesis 36 forms a distinct literary unit, possibly derived from an ancient Edomite king list or tribal tradition. These eight regnal names differ from the later line of Edomite dukes and reflect an era when kingship was not hereditary but elected or regionally designated. Samlah is said to come from Masrekah, a location otherwise unknown in biblical or extra-biblical sources. The name occurs only in this genealogical passage and its parallel in 1 Chronicles 1:47–48.

The Edomite king-list has attracted interest from kabbalistic commentators, who in the Zoharic tradition reinterpreted these kings as the “kings of Edom” who “died” in the primordial cataclysm of the sefirot—symbols of unbalanced divine forces that shattered before the present harmonious order. In this reading, Samlah of Masrekah is one of the seven kings of Edom (corresponding to the seven lower sefirot without the restraint of Gevurah), whose deaths represent the unrectified structures of judgment. This Zoharic exegesis forms the underpinning of the 777 table.

In table 777, Samlah of Masrekah occupies cell 7 of row CIX (The Kings of Edom), the Netzach position, aligning him with the sphere of victory and endurance in their broken, pre-rectified aspect.