Making a Mark
Making a Mark
Genesis 36:24
These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father.
This chapter chronicles the genealogy of Esau and the names were difficult for me to wade through. Unless I recognize a word, unless one jumps off the page and connects some contextual clue, names tend to read like a foreign language. So I was relieved to come across this asterisk in the middle of verse 24. In terms of application, it helps me to know what my ancestors stood for and what they fought against, where they succeeded and where they failed, what they built and what they tore down, which is why I find this interruption to the genealogical record here inspiring. Anah’s contribution to his society may seem like a small feat to us, but it wasn’t to the author of Genesis. It wasn’t to all those who used and enjoyed the hot springs on a daily basis either. No—it was worthy of highest honor. A deed of biblical proportions, in fact.
Friend, don’t we hope to leave behind a little something that long outlives us? We can! As we, like Anah, faithfully tend our Father’s field.