User:Rektroth/sandbox/BiblicalFamilyTree

Horite Clans and Beeri/Anah
The genealogy of Edom's (or Esau's) second wife, Oholibamah (or Judith), as a descendent of a character named "Anah" is the greatest point of contention in this tree as the descriptors provided by Moses of this "Anah" character in Genesis appear to be contradictory. These issues likely arose from transcription errors during early propagation of the Torah. These issues, and my best faith attempts at explaining them, are as follows. I am also concluding that the character identified as "Beeri" in Genesis 26:34 is the same "Anah" character named in Genesis 36, but I will be exclusively using the name "Anah" for simplicity.


 * 1) In some translations, including the KJV, Genesis 36:2 says that Judith is "daughter of Anah daughter of Zibeon" while Genesis 36:20 says Anah is one of the " sons of Seir" and Genesis 36:24 says Anah is one of the " sons of Zibeon." (I will explain why Anah is listed as a son of both momentarily.)
 * 2) * Since both 36:20 and 36:24 refer to Anah clearly as a man, 36:2 is today mostly understood to be result of a mistranslation and that Anah should be understood to be the son of Zibeon.
 * 3) Genesis 36:20 says Anah is one of the "sons of Seir " while Genesis 36:24 says Anah is one of the "sons of Zibeon ".
 * 4) * The Hebrew language does not have an equivalent word for "grandson," and so distant descendents are often refered to as simply "children." Genesis 36:20 can be understood to simply be declaring Anah as one of Seir's descendents rather than a literal son.
 * 5) * The verse 36:24 continues on to provide a description of who Anah is, "he is the Anah who found the springs in the wilderness as he pastured the donkeys of his father Zibeon." Some have argued that Moses' including of this scripture is his trying to make a point that the "Anah" character named in Genesis 36:24 is different from the one named in Genesis 36:2, 36:20, and 36:25. I however contend that Moses is making a point of Anah's importance, as he represents a clan of the Horites in the land of Seir in his own right despite being a grandson of Seir rather than a son.
 * 6) Genesis 26:34 says that Anah is a "Hittite" while Genesis 36:2 describes him as a "Hivite" and 36:20 and 36:30 make clear that he is a "Horite."
 * 7) * The word "Horite" is likely not a descriptor of heritage but rather a descriptor of lifestyle (as the children of Seir were mountain-dwellers).
 * 8) * Scholars are in general agreement that the word "Hivite" was a mistranscription of the Hebrew word for "Horite" which is lexicographically very similar.
 * 9) * From this combined information, we can understand Anah to be an ancestral Hittite.