Land of Anach

Pronunciation: ann-ACK

The Meaning of the Name

“Now to the south and west of the land of Moladeth in the morning shadow of the mountain of the domain of Gabriel is a place that is called the land of Anach and it is called this because it is a land where those who dwell there find abundant provision from God and protection against the doings of the wicked” (Enoch, Seth 1:59).

The Lie of the Land

Down from the mountains toward the west is hill country, and beyond it, across a broad valley, “are the famous grasslands of Anach and there the grass grows dense and tall to exceed twice the height of a man” (Enoch, Seth 1:59). It is a low land. The people of Kodesh, who lived “in the high places of the earth,” worried about leaving their home “because the land of Anach was in the low lands” (Enoch, Bedal 12:25), and “the grasslands were the lowest place upon the land” (Grandmothers 7:22). From the hills where the first family of man dwelt, the valley of Simca lay to the north and east, and “to the south and west were the great grasslands of Anach” (Enoch, Seth 7:113). The mountain that overlooked “the plain of Anach” came to be called Mount Mahujah (Enoch, Seth 2:110).

In the north, where the valley of Simca spread out, lay “a broad fertile plain between the grasslands and the hills” with vast marsh fields (Enoch, Bedal 11:91–92), and “a great sea that was fed by two streams,” the waters of Senir (later the waters of Bedal) and the waters of Simca, which old Edra named the Aral Sea (Enoch, Bedal 12:16–17). Those “upper regions of Anach surrounding the Aral Sea” are “now called Maween” (Enoch, Bedal 12:76), and the Book of Moses speaks of “Anach in Ma’een” (Moses 2:120). No pathways came into the grasslands from the north or west (Grandmothers 5:82).

A Sea of Grass

The grass “is thick and heavy insomuch that it is very hard for any man to penetrate within it,” and the righteous went there “in times of violence or distress when they come under threat for them it was a place of safety and a retreat of peaceful solitude and the waters which run there have fish in abundance.” They made “many false trails and paths,” and “it was only the righteous who knew the way to their encampments which were a days journey or more into the sea of grass and the wicked were loath to venture forth into the grasslands of Anach as men were known to become lost there only to perish and thus I saw that the righteous were brought to safety by Rachatsel” (Enoch, Seth 1:59–60), the grass among the Eerkodeshoi.

The People of Anach

“The people of Anach were sedentary and they were satisfied to remain close to their encampments And they fished and grew plants to eat and hunted only close by in certain seasons for birds who frequented the waters And they gathered eseeb during the proper season … but they were content to tend their sheep in their quiet life” (Grandmothers 4:105). The people of Enoch who dwelt in Anach “wore clothing made from reeds and bark in the summer and wool and soft leather in winter” (Grandmothers 1:104). Many of them “considered Yaatsekawd and Cavah to be the founders of their religion” (Enoch, Seth 2:2).

In the land of Anach lived Baraka, wife of Jared and mother of Enoch, called “Baraka the worshipper” because she could be seen kneeling and blessing God. She established “stand to receive, kneel to give,” “and all the righteous in the land of Anach followed that which she established” (Enoch, Seth 1:62–63). As a young woman she had been sent back from Qatar “to Anach in Ma’een for her safety,” and Asael “was afraid to go to Anach” (Moses 2:120).

Enoch, the Outsider

Enoch descended from the people of Qatar “and he was an outsider to the people of the regions of Anach.” Because the people of Anach did not travel, “it would be necessary that a man arise” from a people who did (Grandmothers 3:85–86): “the Lord had brought Enoch to Anach from among this people And his accomplishments for the Lord were made possible because he was a traveler … And I think that for this reason Enoch was often looked upon as an outsider by the people of Anach” (Grandmothers 4:106). The Flood did not cover Anach, “for the sake of Enoch” (I Achee 1:42).

Cavah’s Journey to Protect Enoch

When Yaatsekawd stood between the oaks of the gate of Eden and cried out in grief over the wickedness of men, the Lord sent Cavah to the land of Anach, where Baraka was with child “and the son of darkness has laid his evil plans against the child.” The Lord said, “Deliver the child unto life for me and anoint him and prophesy concerning him to his mother.” Cavah and her daughter Azura departed in the night, wearing their coverings of willow bark, to an encampment deep in the grasslands where “nothing could be seen there except the stars of heaven for the tallness of the grass” (Enoch, Seth 1:87–93).

A Place of Refuge

As wickedness spread, “the righteous from every quarter found that they must remove from among the wicked and many had no place to go and the land of Anach began to be seen by many as a place of refuge,” and “the righteous people of the land of Anach prospered and they began to look to Enoch to guide them in the ways of God” (Enoch, Seth 3:128, 4:2). Even children of Kenneh and Awan “fled from the land of Heleah to join with the people of Anach” (Enoch, Bedal 8:4). The righteous withdrew from the borders of Towah “to the safety of the great grasslands of Anach” (Enoch, Bedal 10:163), and Amazyadad son of Enoch led a little band into Towah and Heleah to guide the righteous who escaped “in the way towards Anach” (Enoch, Bedal 11:74–75).

The wicked followed. At the village of Nagash on the river Bedal, “all around the dwellings are the great grasslands of Anach,” a spy from Towah named Kohath had sat as a listener at every gathering, and when a knife of Saycoo spilled from his container, he and his two protectors fled “into the safety of the great tall grasslands” (Melchizedek 6:21–25).

The Burning of the Grasslands

From the high place above the winter camp of Shelevah, where “all the far reaches of Anach could be seen,” Baraka saw a glow in the sky: “the wicked of the land of Towah were seeking vengeance against all those who had departed away from them to find safety and refuge in the land of Anach And they had set fire to the great grasslands” (Enoch, Bedal 8:73–75). Enoch hastened to the encampment of Annaway, stepped toward the fire, “cried out to Anokeesed and he is shouting to the wind to please come and have mercy upon the loved ones of the Lord,” and raised his staff; “a mighty wind that was cold and damp with the mists of heaven descended right down upon the regions of Annaway” and drove the fire back. The family he saved was “spared by the loving hand of the Eerkodeshoi and their Father Anokeesed,” and among them was the maiden Edni (Enoch, Bedal 8:86–93). Baraka found “the oasis of Annaway in a burnt sea of grass” (Enoch, Bedal 8:99).

The Gathering of Yawd

When Enoch returned with his face shining “with the light of Anokeesed,” encampments in the land of Anach sent listeners, “and after those days many emissaries were seen going to Anach to the camp of Annaway and Yawd began to be formed” (Enoch, Bedal 9:103–104). “The wicked were told that there was a great movement among all the people in the regions of Anach” (Enoch, Bedal 11:41). The people of Abiathar, about two hundred and forty souls, came down from the hill country to join “the people of Anach,” and they “taught the people of Anach many things that were known to the ancients” (Enoch, Bedal 11:48–53). With so many gathered, food ran short (Enoch, Bedal 11:81–82), and the whole company moved northeast “into the northern regions of the grasslands of Anach where the valley of Simca spread out into the land” (Enoch, Bedal 11:91). There weddings after the manner of Chathan “had become firmly established among all of the peoples of the lands of Anach” (Enoch, Bedal 12:65).

The Grass Rejoices

At the joy of the people of Yawd “the earth shook and the great grasslands of Anach swayed with gladness” (Enoch, Bedal 9:136). When Yaatsekawd and Cavah fulfilled the covenant of Gabriel, “the great grasslands of Anach shook and the grass swayed with gladness” (Enoch, Bedal 13:28).

Empty Before the Flood

On his way home, Lamech “went past the great grasslands of Anach And the land was empty And the marshland had no trails … And as they passed by they all beheld that indeed all the inhabitants of Maween had returned to Eden” (Grandmothers 12:29).

Remembered

After the Flood, Haylek grew up in Ur “and he became skilled at dwelling in the marshes there in the same manner as the people had known in Anach of old” (Moses 3:9), and Shayiree went to “the marshes much like those in which his ancient people of Anach were raised” (Grandmothers 12:23). Before the order of service of Abarah spread out for protection, its men “were mostly living in Nod and Anach” (Melchizedek 7:118).

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