Anah

Anah is a name attached to the Edomite genealogies of Genesis 36 and the parallel list in 1 Chronicles 1. UPDV uses the name of two — possibly three — different figures in the line of Seir the Horite, and the verses themselves do not always make the relationships consistent. The material is sparse: a chief, a hot-springs anecdote, and a chain of in-laws to Esau.

Anah Among the Sons of Seir

The Horite roster opens with Anah listed as a son of Seir: "These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan and Shobal and Zibeon and Anah" (Gen 36:20). The same seven names recur in the Chronicler's compressed genealogy: "And the sons of Seir: Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah, and Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan" (1Ch 1:38). When Genesis 36 turns to Edomite chiefs, Anah appears again with chiefly rank: "These are the chiefs who came of the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah" (Gen 36:29).

Anah Son of Zibeon and the Hot Springs

A second Anah appears one generation down. "And these are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; this is Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he fed the donkeys of Zibeon his father" (Gen 36:24). UPDV preserves the unusual aside — the only narrative detail attached to any Anah in the chapter — without explanation. The verse is also the closest the text comes to disambiguating: it singles out this Anah as son of Zibeon, distinct from Anah son of Seir.

Anah and Esau's Wife Oholibamah

Anah is named twice as the parent of Esau's wife Oholibamah. "Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite" (Gen 36:2). The line is repeated in the list of Esau's offspring: "And these were the sons of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife: and she bore to Esau Jeush, and Jalam, and Korah" (Gen 36:14).

UPDV reads Anah as "the daughter of Zibeon" in both verses, even though the parallel material in Gen 36:24 names Anah as a son of Zibeon. The feminine form has been treated as a copyist's slip for "son"; the UPDV text itself does not resolve it.

Identification with Beeri

Esau's earlier marriage notice gives a different name for the father-in-law: "And when Esau was forty years old he took as wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite" (Gen 26:34). This Beeri has been equated with Anah. The identification is harmonizing — the UPDV text does not state it — and the wives' names differ as well (Judith and Basemath here, Adah and Oholibamah in Gen 36:2). Readers should treat the link as a proposal rather than a statement of the text.