Anem
Anem is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Galilee in modern-day Israel. Known today as Khirbet Anim. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Anem appears in 1 Chronicles 6:73 as a Levitical city assigned to the clan of Gershom within the tribal territory of Issachar. It is the Chronicles parallel to the city of En-gannim listed in Joshua 21:29 in the same allotment. The Levitical cities were a system of forty-eight towns distributed throughout the tribes of Israel to ensure that the priests and Levites, who received no tribal land inheritance of their own, would have places of residence and provision across the land. Anem's location in Issachar placed it in the fertile Jezreel Valley area of northern Israel, a region of significant agricultural and strategic importance. While Anem itself does not feature in any individual biblical narrative, its designation as a Levitical city gives it a theologically important role: these cities were meant to distribute the ministry of the Levites throughout Israel so that the people in every region would have access to priestly instruction, worship leadership, and the ministry of the law. Anem thus represents the reach of covenantal worship into the northern territories.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Anem is tentatively identified with Khirbet Anim, located in the Jezreel Valley region of lower Galilee, southwest of the Sea of Galilee. The identification rests primarily on the association with En-gannim and the general geographical context of Issachar's territory. The site has not been the subject of major stratigraphic excavation. Surface surveys in the Jezreel Valley have confirmed extensive Iron Age occupation across the region, and several tells in the vicinity have yielded pottery from the relevant periods. The Jezreel Valley was one of the most densely settled agricultural zones in ancient Canaan, and Levitical cities in this region would have served substantial Israelite farming communities. The exact location of Anem remains uncertain pending further fieldwork.
Verse Appearances (1)
1Chr
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]