Anah Found Hayemim in the Wilderness: A Hidden Critique of Jacob’s Family

Editor’s note: For a discussion of this list, see Zev Farber, “Edomite Kings List: Is It Post-Mosaic?” TheTorah (2019).

In the MS Vatican 171, these are the only two examples, although all printings and all other MSS (available on the Friedberg Project website) include Reuben picking mandrakes for his mother during wheat harvesting season (Gen 30:14) as a third example.

Similarly, when Moses Maimonides, in his eighth principle of faith (introduction to chapter Chelek in Mishnah Sanhedrin), wishes to make the point that all verses are of equal value, he chooses one of the ostensibly “valueless” verses is also from Genesis 36:

ואין הבדל בין "ובני חם כוש ומצרים ופוט וכנען" "ושם אשתו מה[ת]טבאל בת מטרד" או "אנכי ה'" ו"שמע ישראל ה' אל־הינו ה' אחד"—הכל מפי הגבורה, הכל תורת ה' תמימה, טהורה, קדושה, אמת.

There is no difference between (Gen 10:6) “and the sons of Ham were Kush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan” (Gen 36:39) “and his [=Hadar, king of Edom’s] wife’s name was Mahetbael daughter of Matred” or (Exod 20:2; Deut 5:6) “I am the LORD” and (Deut 6:4) “Hear Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD alone”—all is from the mouth of the divine, all is (Ps 19:8) “the perfect Torah of the LORD,” pure, sacred, true.

Editor’s note: For a discussion of these dogmatic claims about biblical verses, see Isaac S.D. Sassoon, “Source Criticism Enhances Our Acceptance of the Torah,” TheTorah (2018).

For more on the Esau=Rome=Christianity development, see Malka Simkovich, “Esau the Ancestor of Rome,” TheTorah (2018); Barry Dov Walfish, “The Denigration of Esau,” TheTorah (2020).

The medieval peshat commentators resist this approach and debate whether this list says anything at all about Esau and his extended family, or whether it is simply a collection of genealogies included because of Esau’s closeness to the core Israelite family. For a discussion of the peshat vs. midrash approaches to this chapter, see Martin I. Lockshin, “Peshat or Polemics: The Case of Genesis 36,” in New Perspectives in Jewish-Christian Relations in Honor of David Berger, ed., Elisheva Carlebach and Jacob J. Schacter (Brill: Leiden, 2012), 437-453

Heh and ḥet are often interchanged accidentally for both graphological and phonological reasons. See Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd revised and expanded ed. (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2012), 231, 233–234.

The correction here, suggested in Zechariah Frankel’s commentary on Yerushalmi Berakhot (1874) ad loc., is based on Genesis Rabbah 82, which has this reading.

The next verse in Deuteronomy describes who it was that lived in Seir before Esau came:

^{דברים ב:יב} וּבְשֵׂעִיר יָשְׁבוּ הַחֹרִים לְפָנִים וּבְנֵי עֵשָׂו יִירָשׁוּם וַיַּשְׁמִידוּם מִפְּנֵיהֶם וַיֵּשְׁבוּ תַּחְתָּם...

^{Deut 2:12} Similarly, Seir was formerly inhabited by the Hurrians; but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them, wiping them out and settling in their place…

In this verse, the encounter between Esau and Seir is presented as more confrontational than what is implied in Genesis 36. This same geographic sequence is implied in Genesis as well:

^{בראשית יד:ה} וּבְאַרְבַּע עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה בָּא כְדָרְלָעֹמֶר וְהַמְּלָכִים אֲשֶׁר אִתּוֹ וַיַּכּוּ אֶת רְפָאִים בְּעַשְׁתְּרֹת קַרְנַיִם וְאֶת הַזּוּזִים בְּהָם וְאֵת הָאֵימִים בְּשָׁוֵה קִרְיָתָיִם. ו וְאֶת הַחֹרִי בְּהַרְרָם שֵׂעִיר עַד אֵיל פָּארָן אֲשֶׁר עַל הַמִּדְבָּר.

^{Gen 14:5} In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim at Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim at Ham, the Eimim at Shaveh-kiriathaim, ^14:6 and the Hurrians in their hill country of Seir as far as El-paran, which is by the wilderness.

According to this, the Eimim are north of Seir, perhaps in the area of Moab, while the Hurrians live in Seir.

Naphtali Herz Tur-Sinai פשוטו של מקרא [The Simple Meaning of the Bible] (Jerusalem: Kiryat Sefer, 1967) 62–64.

In the simple reading of the text Anah would be his first cousin, but Tur-Sinai, like the Sages, sees the two Anah’s as one person, though instead of suggesting incest like the rabbis, he has an alternative reconstruction of the original text. The issue of one or two Anah’s is not important for our purposes.

^{תהלים קז:ד} תָּעוּ בַמִּדְבָּר בִּישִׁימוֹן דָּרֶךְ עִיר מוֹשָׁב לֹא מָצָאוּ. ^קז:ה רְעֵבִים גַּם צְמֵאִים נַפְשָׁם בָּהֶם תִּתְעַטָּף. ^קז:ו וַיִּצְעֲקוּ אֶל יְהוָה בַּצַּר לָהֶם מִמְּצוּקוֹתֵיהֶם יַצִּילֵם. ^קז:ז וַיַּדְרִיכֵם בְּדֶרֶךְ יְשָׁרָה לָלֶכֶת אֶל עִיר מוֹשָׁב.

^{Ps 107:4} They lost their way in the wilderness, in the wasteland; they found no settled place. ^107:5 Hungry and thirsty, their spirit failed. ^107:6 In their adversity they cried to YHWH, and He rescued them from their troubles. ^107:7 He showed them a direct way to reach a settled place.

See 13:8 and 14:14.

He died very young but his thoughts are often preserved in Shadal’s commentary (a draft of which Pardo himself wrote on his teacher’s behalf).

This comment does not appear in the standard edition, as it was edited out by Shadal and Pardo’s younger brother, but it is included in the Bassi edition (Jerusalem: Carmel, 2015), 1.309–310.

In Deuteronomy (2:4–6, 23:8), God will warn Jacob’s descendants not to mistreat those of Esau. Moreover, Jeremiah uses Jacob as a symbol of brotherly treachery and betrayal

^{ירמיה ט:ג} אִישׁ מֵרֵעֵהוּ הִשָּׁמֵרוּ וְעַל כָּל אָח אַל תִּבְטָחוּ כִּי כָל אָח עָקוֹב יַעְקֹב וְכָל רֵעַ רָכִיל יַהֲלֹךְ.

^{Jer 9:3} Beware every man of his friend; trust not any brother. For every brother will supersede and usurp (akov yaakov)!”

The comment is found in the Tosafot commentary on b. Baba Batra 115b, s.v. מלמד.

This led Pardo to suggest the interpretation noted above in the main text, that the second Anah was a product of Zibeon’s levirate marriage after the death of his brother of that name.

Editor’s note: For a discussion of this phrase and its importance to the law at hand, see Sara J. Milstein, “The Levirate Law: A Marriage Contract Clause That Became Legislation,” TheTorah (2021).

I thank TheTorah.com’s editors for their many suggestions which helped improve the piece.