Difference between revisions of "Anah"

<p> '''''ā´na''''' ( ענה , <i> ''''''anah''''' </i> , meaning uncertain; a Horite clan-name (Gen 36)): </p> <p> (1) Mother of Aholibamah, one of the wives of Esau and daughter of Zibeon (compare Genesis 36:2 , Genesis 36:14 , Genesis 36:18 , Genesis 36:25 ). The Septuagint, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Peshitta read "son," identifying this Anah with number 3 (see below); Genesis 36:2 , read ( החרי , <i> '''''ha''''' </i> - <i> '''''ḥōrı̄''''' </i> ), for ( החוּי , <i> '''''ha''''' </i> - <i> '''''ḥiwwı̄''''' </i> ). </p> <p> (2) Son of Seir, the Horite, and brother of Zibeon; one of the chiefs of the land of Edom (compare Genesis 36:20 , Genesis 36:21 = 1 Chronicles 1:38 ). Seir is elsewhere the name of the land (compare Genesis 14:6; Isaiah 21:11 ); but here the country is personified and becomes the mythical ancestor of the tribes inhabiting it. </p> <p> (3) Son of Zibeon, "This is Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness" (compare Genesis 36:24 = 1 Chronicles 1:40 , 1 Chronicles 1:41 ) The word היּמים , <i> '''''ha''''' </i> - <i> '''''yēmı̄m''''' </i> , occurs only in this passage and is probably corrupt. Ball ( <i> Sacred Books of the Old Testament </i> , Genesis, critical note 93) suggests that it is a corruption of והימם , <i> '''''we''''' </i> - <i> '''''hēmām''''' </i> (compare Genesis 36:22 ) in an earlier verse. Jerome, in his commentary on Genesis 36:24 , assembles the following definitions of the word gathered from Jewish sources. (1) "seas" as though ימּים , <i> '''''yammı̄m''''' </i> ; (2) "hot springs" as though חמּים , <i> '''''ḥammı̄m''''' </i> ; (3) a species of ass, ימין , <i> '''''yemı̄n''''' </i> ; (4) "mules." This last explanation was the one most frequently met with in Jewish lit; the tradition ran that Anah was the first to breed the mule, thus bringing into existence an unnatural species. As a punishment, God created the deadly water-snake, through the union of the common viper with the Libyan lizard (compare Gen Rabbah 82 15, Yer. Ber 1 12b; Babylonian Pes 54a, Ginzberg, <i> Monatschrift </i> , Xlii , 538-39). </p> <p> The descent of Anah is thus represented in the three ways pointed out above as the text stands. If, however, we accept the reading בּן , <i> '''''ben''''' </i> , for בּת , <i> '''''bath''''' </i> , in the first case, Aholibamah will then be an unnamed daughter of the Anah of Genesis 36:24 , not the Aholibamah, daughter of Anah of Genesis 36:25 (for the Anah of this verse is evidently the one of Genesis 36:20 , not the Anah of Genesis 36:24 ). Another view is that the words, "the daughter of Zibeon," are a gloss, inserted by one who mistakenly identified the Anah of Genesis 36:25 with the Anah of Genesis 36:24; in this event, Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah, will be the one mentioned in Genesis 36:25 . </p> <p> The difference between (2) and (3) is to be explained on the basis of a twofold tradition. Anah was originally a sub-clan of the clan known as Zibeon, and both were "sons of Seir" - i.e. Horites. </p>

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