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Anah
ANAH ā’ nə (עֲנָ֔ה). 1. Either the father or the mother of Oholibamah, one of Esau’s wives, and either the son (RSV) or the daughter (KJV, ASV) of Zibeon (
2. A Horite chief, brother of Zibeon (
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
(`anah, meaning uncertain; a Horite clan-name (
(1) Mother of Aholibamah, one of the wives of Esau and daughter of Zibeon (compare
(2) Son of Seir, the Horite, and brother of Zibeon; one of the chiefs of the land of Edom (compare
(3) Son of Zibeon, "This is Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness" (compare
The word ha-yemim, 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 we-hemam (compare
(1) "seas" as though yammim;
(2) "hot springs" as though hammim;
(3) a species of ass, yemim;
(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 Ge 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 ben, for bath, in the first case, Aholibamah will then be an unnamed daughter of the Anah of