Genesis 36:24 talks about a man who found mules in the wilderness as he fed his father’s asses. There is a controversy as to whether the mules there refer to warm and hot springs in the wilderness or to giants. But that’s not the focus of this article.
The first thing that captured my interest was that the Bible considered this young worthy of mention. I’m not talking about the genealogical run-down there, but that the life of this man was so important that Moses paused a little to highlight his fame. The language used by Moses shows that this man was well-known for that feat, at least in his day, and that the stories must have been told in Edom, Mount Seir, Canaan and surrounding cities.
The second thing was that the young man was the son of a duke, yet he was doing the simplest of jobs – feeding asses in the wilderness. I don’t know why I didn’t discover something while feeding my grandfather’s sheep in the village in Nigeria, but I have seen that in the scriptures people who were into this mean profession were counted worthy of leading others eventually. Saul became king, the same for David. Jesus often used the analogy of a good Shepherd. There is more to feeding livestock in the bush than meets the eye.
The next interesting fact is that this man became famous because he discovered those mules while he was simply doing his duty as the son of his father, Zibeon. Such discovery elevated him to the office of a duke. His elder brother, Ajah who should have become a duke, just as their father Zibeon, was not mentioned again. But the younger diligent child shared a table with the greats. Duke Anah later gave birth to a son who also became a duke. A young man through simple diligence enlisted his generations into royalty that was worthy of Biblical mention.
Should I bore you with the fact that Anah’s daughter was worthy of mention too? With few exceptions, Biblical genealogy is patriarchal, and Anah’s daughter entered as one of those exceptions. In fact, she got married to Esau, the son of Isaac. Her name was Aholibamah.
Now, to my main point: I don’t think Anah had any special preparation to find something in the wilderness; there was no idea that something like that existed, and he may not even have been praying to become famous. However, fame often comes to those who don’t seek it but are doing their simple work with joy and perseverance.
Those who become famous are not men who go in search of hollow popularity, but men who are diligent in little things. Doing one’s business, no matter how low, in a spectacular manner will soon make one a high spectacle.
When you do mean jobs in a great way, you automatically leave the company of mean men and get catapulted to the Hall of Fame. Italians call it, la Sala dei Giganti – the hall of the giants or great men. Focus on your toil; you will find giants and waters in the wilderness
