Ahiman

Two men bear the name Ahiman in UPDV: a son of Anak in Hebron and a Levitical gatekeeper after the exile.

A Son of Anak in Hebron

When the twelve scouts went up from the wilderness, they reached the southern hill country and entered Hebron, where the Anakim were settled: "And they went up by the South, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the sons of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)" (Nu 13:22). Ahiman is one of three named giants encountered there, and the sight of them shaped the report that turned the people back.

A generation later Caleb finished the unfinished work. Hebron had been promised him for his faithfulness as a scout, and he took it: "And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak: Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak" (Jos 15:14). The same three names recur — the Hebron Caleb saw at forty he conquered at eighty-five.

A Gatekeeper after the Return

A second Ahiman appears in the post-exilic registers of Jerusalem, among the porters of the rebuilt house: "And the porters: Shallum, and Akkub, and Talmon, and Ahiman, and their brothers (Shallum was the chief)" (1Ch 9:17). He is grouped with the Levitical gatekeepers — a different man, a different era, the same name.