Genesis 36:20-30

SONS OF SEIR THE HORITE, Genesis 36:20-30.

The Horites were the original occupants of Mount Seir, (Genesis 14:6,) but it appears from Deuteronomy 2:12; Deuteronomy 2:22, that they were subdued by the sons of Esau, and in all probability the remnants of their tribes intermarried with the Edomites, and became so identified with them as to be thus included in this genealogy . The seven sons of Seir the Horite are all mentioned again in Genesis 36:29-30 as the dukes of the Horites, corresponding with the sons and dukes of Esau already given . On the identification of some of these names there are differences of opinion . Timna, in Genesis 36:22, is generally allowed to be the same as the concubine of Eliphaz, Genesis 36:12. It is natural to suppose Aholibamah the daughter of Anah (Genesis 36:25) to be the same as the wife of Esau, (Genesis 36:2,) but Keil very positively denies their identity. Anah (Genesis 36:24) is said to be a son of Zibeon the Horite; but the Anah of Genesis 36:2 is the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite. Anah is distinguished for having found the mules in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father. There is no good authority for rendering the word ימם , mules; it means rather, warm springs . While he pastured the asses of Zibeon he discovered certain hot springs, probably those of Callirhoe, on the east of the Dead Sea, in the wady Zerka-Main, which are famous for their medicinal qualities and various temperature, ranging from tepid to a degree of heat that cannot be endured in bathing . Hengstenberg suggests that the discovery of these springs gave Anah the surname Beeri, (xxvi, 34,) “the fountain man,” or “ well-finder,” and thus constructs an argument to prove the identity of Anah with the father of Esau’s wife. His argument, if not conclusive, should suffice to show how many possible circumstances, now unknown to us, might have occasioned the differences of names which puzzle us in old genealogical tables.