According to the Hebrew Bible, the Kenites/Qenites (/ˈkiːnaɪt/ or /ˈkɛnaɪt/; Hebrew: קֵינִי‎ Qēinī) were a tribe in the ancient Levant.^[1] They settled in the towns and cities in the northeastern Negev in an area known as the "Negev of the Kenites" near Arad, and played an important role in the history of ancient Israel. One of the most recognized Kenites is Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, who was a shepherd and a priest in the land of Midian Judges 1:16^[2] Certain groups of Kenites settled among the Israelite population, including the descendants of Moses's brother-in-law,^[1] although the Kenites descended from Rechab maintained a distinct, nomadic lifestyle for some time.

Other well-known Kenites were: Heber, husband of Jael, the Biblical heroine who killed General Sisera; and Rechab, the ancestor of the Rechabites.^[1]

Etymology

The word קֵינִי (qênî / Kay-nee)^[3] was a patronymic derived from the word קַיִן (qayin).^[4] There are several competing interpretations of the meaning of the etymology.

Early modern critical biblical scholars supposed that the name was a rendition of Hebrew קֵינִי Qeyniy. According to the German orientalist Wilhelm Gesenius, the name is derived from the name Cain (קַיִן Qayin).,^[5] the same name as Cain the son of Adam and Eve. However this may simply be the ancient Hebrew transliteration or phonetization of the Kenites' name in their own language.

The word spelled קַיִן (qayin / Kah-yin).^[4] could also mean a spear or lance קַיִן (qayin / Kah-yin).^[6] derived from the word קוֹנֵן (qônēn / Koon)^[7] which meant to "strike" (The word would also be used to mean striking a note on a musical instrument, by the later books of the Bible this word became the noun for a type of lament, dirge, or sad chant. Later becoming a verb for chanting or wailing at a funeral)^[7]

Other scholars have linked the name to the term 'smith'. According to Archibald Henry Sayce, the name 'Kenite' or Qéní, is identical to an Aramaic word meaning a smith, which in its turn is a cognate of Hebrew Qayin, meaning 'a lance'.^[8] However, by the end of his life, Sayce was considered an amateur rather than a specialist and was criticized for his lack of intellectual penetration and outdated opposition to the work of continental orientalists.^[9]

Historical identity

The Kenites are a clan mentioned in the bible and referred to as having settled on the southern border of Judah. According to the bible, in the time of David, the Kenites then settled among the tribe of Judah.^{[10][better source needed]}

In Jeremiah 35:7-8 the Rechabites are described as tent-dwellers with an absolute prohibition against practicing agriculture; however, other Kenites are described elsewhere as city-dwellers (1 Samuel 30:29, 1 Chronicles 2:55).^{[citation needed]}

Hippolytus of Rome in his Chronicon (AD 234) appears to identify the Kinaidokolpitai of central Arabia with the biblical Kenites.^[11]

In modern sources the Kenites are often depicted as technologically advanced nomadic blacksmiths who spread their culture and religion to Canaan. The suggestion that the Kenites were wandering smiths was first made by B. D. Stade in Beiträge zur Pentateuchkritik: dasKainszeichen in 1894 and has since become widespread.^[12] This view of the Kenites originating in Germany the mid-1800s is not reflected in any ancient Hebrew, Greek, Latin, or Arabic sources. The Kenites seem to have had no particular dislike of cities, settling in cities and villages from a very early date.^{[citation needed]}

In the Bible

Age of the Patriarchs

The Bible mentions the Kenites as living in or around Canaan as early as the time of Abraham. (Genesis 15:18–21)

During the Exodus

Moses's father-in-law, Jethro, was a Kenite (Judges 1:16) and a resident in the land of Midian. At the Exodus, Jethro and his clan inhabited the vicinity of Mount Sinai and Horeb. (Exodus 3:1)

In Exodus 3:1 Jethro is said to have been a "priest in the land of Midian" and a resident of Midian (Numbers 10:29). This has led many scholars to believe that the terms "Kenite" and "Midianite" are intended (at least in parts of the Bible) to be used interchangeably, or that the Kenites formed a part of the Midianite tribal grouping.

The Kenites journeyed with the Israelites to Canaan (Judges 1:16); and their encampment, apart from the latter's, was noticed by Balaam.^[13]

The Kenites were closely allied with Moses, and are not mentioned to have participated in the first invasion of Canaan (Numbers 14:39–45, Deuteronomy 1:41–46) that was conducted against Moses's orders.

During the second invasion of Canaan (Numbers 21:1–4), the Kenites would have seen the area around the town of Arad, the region of Canaan that the next generation of Kenites would later choose as their place to settle after the conquest.

When the Israelites and Kenites were camped at the foot of Mount Peor, King Balak of Moab allied himself with the five Kings of Midian, but seeing that they did not have the strength to defeat the Israelites, the leaders of Moab and Midian gathered together and paid a large fee to Balaam to put a curse on the Israelite camp from the high place (a type of religious shrine) on Mount Peor ((Numbers 22:1–21). Balaam was unable to curse Israel, but prophesied about the Kenites, saying that they would endure, but foretold that someday they would be led away captive as slaves to Assur, ((Numbers 24:21–22), with the question of how long their future slavery would last being unanswered.

War between Israel and Midian

While the camp was still encamped on the west side of Mount Peor, the local Moabites attempted to include the Israelites in their worship of their god Baal of Peor. During the commotion and bloodshed, Moses's grandnephew Phinehas killed a Midianite princess, Cozbi, the daughter of King Zur, one of the five Kings of Midian (Numbers 25:14–18). Following this, Moses sent a strikeforce of 12,000 men (1000 from each Israelite tribe, the Kenites were not included) that succeed in killing the five kings Evi (אֱוִי),^[14] Rekem (רֶקֶם),^[15] Hur (חוּר),^[16] Reba (רֶבַע),^[17] and Zur (צַוָּר)^[18] the father of Cozbi, (Numbers 31:8, Joshua 13:21) and burned each of the Midianite cities and all of their encampments, taking their livestock (Numbers 31:1–12). The Kenites were not included in the invasion of Midian, it is unclear how the Kenites reacted to the fall of the Midianite kings that they had formerly been subject to.

During the Conquest of Canaan

After the death of Moses, Joshua led the Israelite invasion of Canaan; conquering a large portion of central Canaan. Upon Joshua's death, the Israelite tribes of Judah and Simeon took action to conquer southern Canaan, defeating the Canaanites and the Perizzites at the Battle of Bezek (now Ibziq) in Judges 1:5. After Judah's sieges of Jerusalem and Debir, Judges 1:16 says that Jethro's Kenite descendants "went up from the City of Palms, (which appears to be Zoar or Tamar in the upper Arabah^[19]), with the men of Judah to live among the people of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad."^[19]

After settling in Canaan

Following the conquest, the Israelites began to assimilate into the larger Canaanite culture and started converting to the Canaanite religion (Judges 2:11–13, Judges 3:1–7), only returning to their national religion when confronted by an 8-year invasion and occupation by the North Mesopotamians (from Aram-Naharaim) under King Cushan-Rishathaim. The Israelites rose up under the leadership of Othniel the son of Kenaz, (thus the nephew of Caleb, Judah's previous war-leader) who was a neighbor of the Kenites and lived in the same area (Judges 3:9–11). Although the text is brief, it is likely Othniel had reliable political support at-the-ready from his relatives the Calebites and Kenizzites, and probably from his Kenite neighbors as well, this likely gave him a large support base for the tribe of Judah to unite around.

Later, King Eglon of Moab allied with the Kingdom of Ammon and nation of Amalek, in order to invade the territory of Israel. (Judges 3:12–15) After defeating the Israelites, Moab and Amalek took the City of Palms (believed to be the later city of Zoar or Tamar^[19]), from the Kenites.

During the rise and fall of Hazor

At this point, around 180 or 190 years after Joshua's invasion, the Canaanites in northern Canaan under King Jabin ruling from Hazor re-asserted their dominance over Canaan (Judges 4:1–3). The Israelite leader Shamgar appears to have been battling with the Philistines in south Canaan at the time, and was either caught off-guard, or unable to prevent the rising Canaanite military, economic, and political power. (Non-biblical sources depict the King of Hazor affirming loyalty to the Egyptian pharaoh, and joining the cities of Qatna and Mari to create a trade route that linked Egypt to Ekallatum^[22])

During this period, Heber the Kenite and his wife Jael separated from their Kenite brethren in the south, and went to live in northern Canaan (Judges 4:11).

After two decades of North Canaanite dominance in the region, the prophetess Deborah, who was now leading Israel, commissioned Barak the son of Abinoam as her commander to lead the Israelites against the Canaanites. (Judges 4:4–10) King Jabin's general Sisera learned that Barak was massing troops on Mount Tabor, situated between Sisera's base at Harosheth Haggoyim (believed to now be Ahwat) and the Canaanite capital at Hazor, and set out northward to meet him with 900 chariots. The weather became unfavorable to Sisera's army, the sky became clouded (Judges 5:4–5), and the river that his chariots needed to cross was flooded. While Sisera attempted to ford his chariots through the torrential Kishon River at a river crossing close to the then-Canaanite city of Taanach (Now known as Ti'inik) near Megiddo (Judges 5:19–21), Barak's 10,000 men went down southwestward from Mount Tabor (Judges 4:14) to give battle on the plain and rivers. Sisera left his chariot behind and escaped the battle on foot, while Barak pursued the chariots that were fleeing back to the Canaanite base at Harosheth Haggoyim (Judges 4:15–16)

As Sisera fled on foot near Kedesh-Naphtali, he was passing by the tent of Heber the Kenite, and Jael offered to shelter him. Accepting her offer, he asked her to stand in the doorway of the tent, and to deny his presence to anyone who was chasing him. However, once he was asleep, Jael hammered a tent peg into Sisera's head, and he died. (Judges 4:17–22, Judges 5:24–30)

From that point onwards, Israel grew stronger and continued to press Hazor harder, until King Jabin's defeat. (Judges 4:23–24)

In the early Israelite Monarchy

In the time of King Saul there were Kenites living in Amalek territory. When King Saul of Israel went to war against Amalek, the kindness which the Kenites had shown to Israel in the wilderness was gratefully remembered. "Ye showed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt," said Saul to them (1 Samuel 15:6); and so not only were they spared by King Saul, but later in the war David also sent a share of the spoil that he took from the Amalekites to the civic elders of the cities of the Kenites.^[13] (1 Samuel 30:26–31)

While the Kenite territory in the Negev had earlier been seen as a separate territory from the parts of the Negev held by Judah and the Simeonites, as the Israelites grew in power, the Negev would be mentioned in the later histories as single region, and an integral part of the Kingdom of Judah.

In the northern Negev, the city of Arad served as a key administrative and military stronghold for the Kingdom of Judah. It protected the route from the Judaean Mountains to the Arabah and on to Moab and Edom. It underwent numerous renovations and extensions.^[23]

Archeology

The Kenites have been proposed as a reason for the appearance of Midianite pottery imported into the Negev of the Kenites during the 1200s and 1100s BC.^[24] Petrographic studies carried out on some of the Timna wares led to the conclusion that they originated in the Hejaz, most probably in the site of Qurayya in Saudi Arabia.^[25]

J. Gunneweg analyzed pottery samples with the help of The Hebrew University and the University of Bonn in 1991. The Midianite pottery found in the Negev was linked to a kiln discovered at Qurayya, Saudi Arabia, through Neutron Activation Analysis.^[24]

The upper and lower areas of Tel Arad were excavated during 18 seasons by Ruth Amiran and Yohanan Aharoni between 1962 and 1984.^[26][27] An additional 8 seasons were done on the Iron Age water system.^[28]

Critical scholarship

Kenite Hypothesis

According to the Kenite hypothesis proposed by the German writer Friedrich Wilhelm Ghillany, Yahweh was historically a Midian deity, and the association of Moses's father-in-law with Midian reflects the historical adoption of the Midianite cult by the Hebrews.^[29][30][31] Moses apparently identified Jethro's concept of a god, Yahweh, with the Israelites' god El Shaddai.^[29] The Kenite hypothesis supposes that the Hebrews adopted the cult of Yahweh from the Midianites via the Kenites. This view, first proposed by Friedrich Wilhelm Ghillany in 1862, afterward independently by the Dutch scholar of religion Cornelis Tiele in 1872 (Although his views on Buddhism, a current-day religion, have been discredited^[32][33]), and more fully by the German critical scholar Bernhard Stade, has been more completely worked out by the German theologian Karl Budde;^[34] it is accepted by the German Semitic scholar Hermann Guthe, Gerrit Wildeboer, H. P. Smith, and George Aaron Barton.^[35] Another theory is that a confederation of regional tribes were connected to monotheistic ritual at Sinai.^[36]

Links to the mythology of Cain

Some biblical scholars postulated that the Kenites were descendants of the mythical Cain.^[29] The German orientalist Wilhelm Gesenius asserted that the name is kabbalistically (mystically) derived from the name Cain (קַיִן Qayin).^[5]

The German orientalist Walter Beltz alternatively proposed that the story of Cain and Abel was not originally about the murder of a brother, but a myth about the murder of a god's child. In his reading of Genesis 4:1, Eve conceived Cain by Adam, and her second son Abel by another man, this being Yahweh.^[37] Eve is thus compared to the Sacred Queen of antiquity, the Mother goddess. Consequently, Yahweh pays heed to Abel's offerings, but not to Cain's. After Cain kills Abel, Yahweh condemns Cain, the murderer of his son, to the cruelest punishment imaginable among humans: banishment.

Beltz believed this to be the foundational myth of the Kenites, a clan settled on the southern border of Judah that eventually resettled among the tribes of Judah. It seemed clear to him that the purpose of this myth was to explain the difference between the nomadic and sedentary populations of Judah, with those living from their livestock (pastoralists, not raising crops) under the special protection of Yahweh.^[38]

Kenites as metalworkers

According to the critical interpretation of the Biblical data, the Kenites were a clan settled on the southern border of Judah, originally more advanced in arts than the Hebrews and from whom the latter learned much.^[13]

Archibald Sayce has implied that the Kenites were a tribe of smiths.^[8] However, by the end of his life, Sayce was considered an amateur rather than a specialist and was criticized for his lack of intellectual penetration and outdated opposition to the work of continental orientalists.^[9]

Based on the biblical references, proposed etymological linkage of the name 'Kenite' to blacksmithing and other evidence, various scholars have sought to associate the Kenites with coppersmithery and metalwork.^[39][40][41]