Anah

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The father of Aholibamah, one of Esau's wives. While feeding his father's asses in the desert, he is said to have found the "mules" Genesis 36:24 . But the Hebrew word is suppose to mean rather "warm springs;" and such springs are found on the eastern coast of the Dead sea, which was not far from the dwellings of the Seirites, to whom Anah belonged. In this region was a place afterwards celebrated among the Greeks and Romans for its warm springs, and called by them Callirrhoe.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

One of the two sons of Zibeon the Horite, and father of Esau's wife Aholibamah (Genesis 36:18,24 ).

Copyright StatementThese dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography InformationEaston, Matthew George. Entry for 'Anah'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/a/anah.html. 1897.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Son of Zibeon, son of Seir the Horite; father of Aholibamah, Esau's wife (Genesis 36:2; Genesis 36:14; Genesis 36:20; Genesis 36:25). (See AHOLIBAMAH.) "Aholibamah, daughter of Ahab, daughter of Zibeon," is tantamount to granddaughter, i.e. descendant from Zibeon; not that Anah was "daughter of Zibeon," for Genesis 36:20 calls him" son (i.e. grandson) of Seir." Those descendants alone of Seir are enumerated who, being heads of tribes, were connected with Edom; so Anah is mentioned because he was head of a tribe, independently of his father.

As sprung from Seir, he is called a "Horite," i.e. a dweller in caves or troglodyte; also a "Hivite," a branch of the Canaanites; also he is named "Beeri the Hittite," the "Hittites" being the general name for "Canaanites" (Genesis 26:34). "Hirite" is thought by some a transcriber's error for "Horite." instead of "mules" (Genesis 36:24) translate yemin "water springs"; not as Luther, "he invented mules" (Leviticus 19:19), but "discovered hotsprings" (so Vulgate and Syriac vers.) of which there are several S.E. of the Dead Sea, e.g. Callirrhoe in the wady Zerka Maein; another in wady el Ahsa, and in wady Hamad; whence he got the surname Beeri, or "the spring man." Judith is the same as Aholibamah.

Holman Bible Dictionary

Genesis 36:2Genesis 36:14Genesis 36:24 Genesis 36:2Genesis 36:29 Genesis 36:20

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

ANAH . 1 . A daughter of Zibeon, and mother of Oholibamah, one of Esau’s wives ( Genesis 36:2; Genesis 36:14; Genesis 36:18; Genesis 36:26 (R [Note: Redactor.] )). Some ancient authorities (including LXX [Note: Septuagint.] . Sam. Pesh.) read son instead of daughter , which would identify this Anah with 2 . A son of Zibeon ( Genesis 36:24 (R [Note: Redactor.] ), 1 Chronicles 1:40-41 ). 3 . A Horite ‘duke,’ brother of Zibeon ( Genesis 36:20; Genesis 36:29 (R [Note: Redactor.] ), 1 Chronicles 1:38 ). If we take Anah as an eponym rather than a personal name, and think of relationships between clans rather than individuals, it is quite possible to reduce the above three references to one. In regard to No. 2 the note is appended, ‘This is Anah who found the hot springs (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] wrongly ‘the mules’) in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father’ ( Genesis 36:24 ).

Morrish Bible Dictionary

1. Daughter of Zibeon, a Hivite. Genesis 36:2,14,18 .

2. Son of Seir the Horite. Genesis 36 :20,25,29; 1 Chronicles 1:38,41 .

3. Son of Zibeon, son of Seir. Genesis 36:24; 1 Chronicles 1:40 .

Smith's Bible Dictionary

A'nah. (one who answers). The son of Zibeon and father of Aholibamah, one of Esau's wives. Genesis 36:2; Genesis 36:14; Genesis 36:25. He is supposed to have discovered the "hot springs" (not "mules," as in the Authorized Version) in the desert as he fed the asses of Zibeon, his father. (B.C. 1797).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ā´na ( ענה , 'anah , meaning uncertain; a Horite clan-name (Gen 36)):

(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 , ha - ḥōrı̄ ), for (החוּי , ha - ḥiwwı̄ ).

(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.

(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 , ha - yēmı̄m , occurs only in this passage and is probably corrupt. Ball ( Sacred Books of the Old Testament , Genesis, critical note 93) suggests that it is a corruption of והימם , we - hēmām (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 , yammı̄m  ; (2) "hot springs" as though חמּים , ḥammı̄m  ; (3) a species of ass, ימין , yemı̄n  ; (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, Monatschrift , Xlii , 538-39).

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 , ben , for בּת , bath , 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 .

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.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

A´nah (responder), son of Zibeon the Hivite, and father of Esau's wife Aholibamah (Genesis 36:24). While feeding asses in the desert he discovered 'warm springs,' as the original is rendered by Jerome. Gesenius and most modern critics think this interpretation correct, supported as it is by the fact that warm springs are still found in the region east of the Dead Sea.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb., Anah', עֲנָה , speech or affliction; Sept. Ἀνά ), the name of one or two Horites.

1. The fourth mentioned of the sons of Seir, and head of an Idumaean tribe preceding the arrival of Esau (Genesis 36:20; Genesis 36:29; 1 Chronicles 1:38), B.C. much ante 1964. It seems most natural to suppose him to be also the one referred to in Genesis 36:25, as otherwise his children are not at all enumerated, as are those of all his brothers (Hengstenberg, Genuineness of the Pentateuch, 2, 229), although from Genesis 36:2 some have inferred that another person of the same name is there meant. (See Dishon); (See Aholibamah).

2. The second named of the two sons of Zibeon the Hivite, and father of Esau's wife Aholibamah (Genesis 36:18; Genesis 36:24). B.C. ante 1964. While feeding asses in the desert he discovered "warm springs" (aquca calide), as the original, יְמַים, yemim', is rendered by Jerome, who states that the word had still this signification in the Punic language. Gesenius and most modern critics think this interpretation correct, supported as it is by the fact that warm springs are still found in the region east of the Dead Sea. The Syriac has simply "waters," which Dr. Lee seems to prefer. Most of the Greek translators retain the original as a proper name, Ι᾿αμείμ , probably not venturing to translate. The Samaritan text, followed by the Targums, has "Emims," giants. Our version of "mules" is now generally abandoned, but is supported by the Arabic and Veneto-Greek versions. (See Mule).

In Genesis 36:2; Genesis 36:14, of the above chap. Anah is called the daughter of Zibeon, evidently by an error of transcription, as the Samaritan and Sept. have son; or (with Winer, Hengstenberg, Tuch, Knobel, and many others) we may here understand it to mean grand-daughter, still referring to Aholibamah (Turner's Compan. to Genesis p. 331). (See Zibeon). He had but one son, Dishon (Genesis 36:25; 1 Chronicles 1:40-41), who appears to be named because of his affinity with Esau (q.v.) through his sister's marriage. We may further conclude, with Hengstenberg (Pent. 2, 280; Engl. transl. 2, 229), that the Anah mentioned among the sons of Seir in 5,20 in connection with Zibeon is the same person as is here referred to, and is therefore the grandson of Seir. The intention of the genealogy plainly is not so much to give the lineal descent of the Seirites as to enumerate those descendants who, being heads of tribes, came into connection with the Edomites. It would thus appear that Anah, from whom Esau's wife sprang, was the head of a tribe independent of his father, and ranking on an equality with that tribe. Several difficulties occur in regard to the race and name of Anah. By his descent from Seir he is a Horite (Genesis 36:20), while in Genesis 36:2 he is called a Hivite, and again in the narrative (Genesis 26:34) he is called Beeri the Hittite. Hengstenberg's explanation of the first of these difficulties, by supposing that one of the descendants of Seir received the specific epithet Hori (i.e. Troglodyte, or dweller in a cave) as a definite proper name (Pent. 2, 228), is hardly adequate, for others of the same family are similarly named; it is more probable that the word Hivite (הִחַוּי ) is a mistake of transcribers for Horite (הִחֹרַי ), or rather that all the branches of the Hivites were, in course of time, more particularly called Horites, from their style of habitation in the caves of Matthew Seir. See: HORITE. As the name Beeri signifiesfontanus, i.e. "man of the fountain" (בְּאֵר ), this has been thought. to be his designation with reference to the above noticed "warm springs" of Callirrhoe discovered 1ly him; whereas in the genealogy proper he is fitly called by his original name Anah. (See Beer).