For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Who was Anah?
Here are the answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:
Anah was the daughter of Zibeon
“Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite;” (Genesis 36:2)
“And these were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the granddaughter of Zibeon: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.” (Genesis 36:14)
“And these are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, and chief Korah. These are the chiefs descended from Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.” (Genesis 36:18)
“And these are the children of Anah: Dishon, and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.” (Genesis 36:25)
Anah was the son of Seir and the brother of Zibeon.
“These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,” (Genesis 36:20)
“And these are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah—he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness when he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon.” (Genesis 36:24)
“The sons of Seir were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan.” (1 Chronicles 1:38)
And Anah was also the son of Zibeon.
“The sons of Shobal were Alian, Manahath, Ebal, Shephi, and Onam. And the sons of Zibeon were Aiah and Anah.” (1 Chronicles 10:14)
(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)
Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:
- When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction. A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time. To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
- One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible. See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions. Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do. But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
- One need to as if the skeptics cited the passages properly.
- Genesis 36:2, Genesis 36:14, Genesis 36:18, Genesis 36:25 were cited correctly to support the claim “Anah was the daughter of Zibeon.”
- Genesis 36:20, Genesis 36:24, 1 Chronicles 1:38 were cited correctly by the skeptic to establish the claim “Anah was the son of Seir and the brother of Zibeon.”
- 1 Chronicles 1:40 was cited correctly by the skeptic to establish the claim “Anah was also the son of Zibeon.”
- Yet I don’t believe there is a contradiction. These refer to different individuals that have the same names.
- Note how both Genesis 36:2 and Genesis 36:14 said”Anah, the granddaughter of Zibeon.” Obviously Anah is a woman in order to be a granddaughter of Zibeon.
- Yet with the last four passages of Genesis 36:20, Genesis 36:24, 1 Chronicles 1:38 and 1 Chronicles 1:40 Anah is masculine; that is, a male. Obviously a male and a female are different individuals.
- There are other instances in the Bible of different individuals with the same name so we shouldn’t be surprised that there are more than one Anah.
- For example according to Genesis 26:34 Basemath is wife of Esau, and daughter of Elon the Hittite. Yet there is also another Basemath who many centuries later is the daughter of Solomon and wife of Ahimaaz. according to 1Kings 4:15. See our post Who was Bashemath’s father?
- There is more than one individual name Dodo in the Bible. First one is a child of Issachar according to Judges 10:1 while another Dodo was one of David’s three mighty men according to 2 Samuel 23:9 and 1 Chronicles 11:12. Still there is another Dodo who was from Bethlehem, and father of Elhanan, who was one of David’s thirty heroes per 2 Samuel 23:24.
- There is also more than one Saul; there’s the first king of Israel and Saul who appear in the New Testament as a persecutor of Christians that later converted and was renamed Paul.
- There is no contradiction here. Seems the skeptic needs to learn of How to Handle Bible Contradictions.
- We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity. The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible. In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview. Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”
[…] Who was Anah? […]
This seems pretty straightforward. “I don’t believe there is a contradiction. These refer to different individuals that have the same names.”
Blessings.
Worldview is at play here as not to detect different individuals with the same name in the same Chapter. A blessed Friday!
Indeed worldviews are at play! To say someone who is a guy and a girl with the same name even though they have different reaction is a contradiction is rather a stretch! This shows the extreme bias of Steve Wells, to want to make problems in the Bible when it isn’t there. This moved me to pray for him at this moment. He needs to be saved and regenerate if he is going to understand the Bible amen?
Amen. Wells is on the fast track to learning how God’s Justice and Wrath are no contradiction nor exaggeration.
What does have to do with the article?
I’m scratching my head 🤔
Man oh man! Steve/Steven Wells is giving “cherry picking” a real bad name with this one. Thanks for breaking it down.
Love it: “ Steve/Steven Wells is giving “cherry picking” a real bad name with this one.” This one definitely is ridiculous in my book. Among his cherry picking…this one is the cherry on top 😆😂🤣😆. I know, that’s daddy humor. How is your shift going so far on your first day back at the job for this week?
Lol. Good one regarding “cherry on top.” Wells does stoop to childish lows.
RE: shift
Thanks! It was a decent Friday and today is mostly audits 😴 💤 . It’s nice to have a “normal” workload for a change. The workers at the Amazon warehouse are running full tilt every day.
Have a good prep day today!
RIght away when I saw one is a girl and the other references of Anah are male I knew it must be different names.
Wow, this is bad even for Wells. Worldviews truly are at play and the biblical worldview in NO way affirms gender confusion!
Yes this is bad and really really really low hanging fruit, and low blog from him, even for his own standards. I imagine he must be in his 80s now, and I’m praying him to be saved before its too late. He’s still updating new so called Bible contradictions once in a while…and the new ones are more and more worst quality IMO compared to some of his early ones. THis guy has Romans 1 written all over him. Shifting gears, I hope you are feeling better with GI stuff, been praying
Thank you for praying, I am doing a little better!
I would be afraid if he taught history of English and French royalties with all the same names 🤡🤡🤡
The skeptic would be all confused with all the Edwards, Louis, Charles and Johns
Simple and to the point, Brother Jim. When I read your articles and especially concerning the Skeptics, I get the image in my mind of a Bowman or Archer lining up and notching his arrow for the perfect hit. I love it brother! God Bless!
Aww thanks Roland! What an imagery! I do plan in the next few years finish refuting all the alleged Bible contradictions in the list for the Skeptic Annotated Bible. Thanks for this encouraging comment, I hope you are doing well with everything including your health brother Roland!
He never finds the truth. Context is the word.
Indeed he always misses it in these contradictions’ listings. I pray for his salvation as he is getting up there in age. Hope you are doing well Maw Mae, hope this will be a blessed weekend! Have you been able to see any grandkids lately?
Doing well. Yes, Grandaughter and Great Grand I saw yesterday. Would love to meet you and family. Our God is good,.
I had to read it a few times, one was a female and the other a male, so I was wondering where the supposed contradiction was 🤣 even before I read your conclusion.
This is one of the skeptics worse attempts …. I do pray God will open his eyes and saves him.
Agreed this is the skeptics worst attempt to attack the Bible…thank you for praying for the author of Skeptic Annotated Bible. I’m praying for his salvation too. Also what can I pray for you this weekend???
Thank you for asking what you can pray for me for, I am asking the Lord to give me the wisdom and strength to navigate through this darkness that has come upon us. Thank you pastor Jim.
The atheist is being ridiculous here. And the world’s rage against the Bible is rising and I see no quelling to this fire anytime soon.
Such technical criticisms! Thank you so much for doing all your work for this post. It’s always a joy and a blessing to read your work SlimJim!
Folks, arm yourselves w/ this powerful knowledge regarding the lies found in the hate site called Skeptic Annotated Bible
Excellent refutation Jim
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[…] For another example see our post “Who was Anah?“ […]
Amazing sad what hate produces: distortion of the truth of Scripture 🧐
[…] Who was Anah? […]
Atheist trying to pretend they know the Bible. Bishop Wilson they probably don’t have nothing on you pastor 😂😂😂