According to the Hebrew Bible, the Kenites/Qenites ( or ; ) were a tribe in the ancient Levant.For a summary of the question about identity of the Kenites (and other names by which they may have been known under in the Bible), see They settled in the towns and cities in the northeastern Negev in an area known as the "Negev of the Kenites" near Arad in modern day Israel, 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 (). Certain groups of Kenites settled among the Israelite population, including the descendants of Moses's brother-in-law,Butin, Romain. "Cinites." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 27 December 2018 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.
Etymology
The word qēni ()Strong's Concordance #7017 was a patronymic derived from qayin ().Strong's Concordance #7014 There are several competing etymologies.
According to the German Orientalist Wilhelm Gesenius, the name is derived from the name Cain, 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. It could be related to other names, such as Kenan or Cainan.
Other scholars have linked the name to the term "smith". According to Archibald Henry Sayce, the name Kenite is identical to an Aramaic word meaning a smith, which in its turn is a cognate of Hebrew qayin "lance".
Historical identity
The Kenites are a clan mentioned in the Bible as having settled on the southern border of the Kingdom of Judah. In 1 Samuel 30:29, in the time of David, the Kenites settled among the tribe of Judah.
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 (, ).
Hippolytus of Rome in his Chronicon of 234 appears to identify the Kinaidokolpitai of central Arabia with the biblical Kenites.H. Cuvigny and C. J. Robin, "Des Kinaidokolpites dans un ostracon grec du désert oriental (Égypte)", Topoi. Orient-Occident 6–2 (1996): 697–720, at 706–707.
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: Das Kainszeichen in 1894 and has since become widespread.Kalimi, Isaac. "Three Assumptions About the Kenites", vol. 100, no. 3, 1988, pp. 386-393. https://doi.org/10.1515/zatw.1988.100.3.386, bottom of page 1. This view of the Kenites originated in Germany in the mid-1800s, and it is not reflected in any ancient Hebrew, Greek, Latin, or Arabic sources.
In 1988, Meindert Dijkstra argued that an ancient inscription in a metal mine in the Sinai Peninsula contained a reference to "a chief of the Kenites" (rb bn qn).
In the Bible
Age of the Patriarchs Genesis 15:18-21 mentions the Kenites as living in or around Canaan as early as the time of Abraham.
During the Exodus According to some traditions, Moses's father-in-law, Hobab, was a Kenite (), although according to Exodus his father-in-law was instead a priest of Midian named Reuel (2:16-18) or Jethro (3:1). At the Exodus, Jethro and his clan inhabited the vicinity of Mount Sinai and Mount Horeb. ()
In Jethro is said to have been a "priest in the land of Midian" and in , Hobab is the son of Reuel, although the text is not clear which is Moses's father-in-law. In Judges 3:1, Hobab the Kenite is Moses' father-in-law. The confusion of these names 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 (); and their encampment, apart from the latter's, was noticed by Balaam.
The Kenites were closely allied with Moses, and are not mentioned to have participated in the first invasion of Canaan (, ) that was conducted against Moses's orders.
During the second invasion of Canaan (), 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 (). 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, (), 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 (). 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), Rekem (רֶקֶם), Hur (חוּר), Reba (רֶבַע), and Zur (צַוָּר) the father of Cozbi, (, ) and burned each of the Midianite cities and all of their encampments, taking their livestock (). 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 . After Judah's sieges of Jerusalem and Debir, says that Jethro's Kenite descendants "went up from the City of Palms, (which appears to be Zoar or Tamar in the upper ArabahYohanan Aharoni Kenite. In Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd Edition. Editor, S.D. Sperling. Gale Group, 2008), with the men of Judah to live among the people of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad."
After settling in Canaan Following the conquest, the Israelites began to assimilate into the larger Canaanite culture and started converting to the Canaanite religion (, ), 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. (Non-biblical sources show the diplomatic tension between Egypt and Naharin (Mitanni)Ermann & Grapow, 1926–1953, Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache 2, 287.1 first as military rivals, under Thutmose III and ShaushtatarNa’aman, Nadav. "1. The Hurrians and the End of the Middle Bronze Age in Palestine". Canaan in the Second Millennium B.C.E.: Collected Essays, volume 2, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, 2021, pp. 1-24 but after a long-negotiated marriage alliance under Thutmose IV and Artatama I they became close allies.Schulman, Alan R. “Diplomatic Marriage in the Egyptian New Kingdom.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 38, no. 3, 1979, pp. 177–93Munn-Rankin, J. M. “Diplomacy in Western Asia in the Early Second Millennium B.C.” Iraq, vol. 18, no. 1, 1956, pp. 68–110)
After 8 years the Israelites made war against Naharaim. 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 (). 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. () After defeating the Israelites, Moab and Amalek took the City of Palms (believed to be the later city of Zoar or Tamar), from the Kenites. [ 2 Chronicles 28:15 defines the City of Palms as Jericho.]
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 (). 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 EkallatumHorowitz, Wayne, and Nathan Wasserman. “An Old Babylonian Letter from Hazor with Mention of Mari and Ekallātum.” Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 50, no. 3/4, 2000, pp. 169–74)
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 ().
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. () 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 (), 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 (), Barak's 10,000 men went down southwestward from Mount Tabor () 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 ()
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. (, )
From that point onwards, Israel grew stronger and continued to press Hazor harder, until King Jabin's defeat. ()
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 (); 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. ()