Difference between revisions of "Kadesh-Barnea"

<p> The town of Kadesh-barnea (or Kadesh) was the main settlement in the far south of Palestine. It was an oasis town between the [[Wilderness]] of [[Zin]] to the north, the Wilderness of [[Paran]] to the south, the Wilderness of [[Shur]] to the west, and the [[Arabah]] to the east (&nbsp;Genesis 16:7; &nbsp;Genesis 16:14; &nbsp;Genesis 20:1; &nbsp;Numbers 13:26; &nbsp;Numbers 20:1; see [[Palestine]] ). </p>

<p> '''Ka'desh-bar'ne-a.''' ([[Kadesh]] means ''Holy;'' it is the same word as the Arabic name of Jerusalem, '''el-Khuds''' . ''Barnea'' means ''Desert Of Wandering'' ). This place, the scene of Miriam's death, was the farthest point which the [[Israelites]] reached in their direct road to Canaan; it was also that whence the spies were sent, and where, on their return, the people broke out into murmuring, upon which their strictly penal term of wandering began. &nbsp;Numbers 13:3; &nbsp;Numbers 13:26; &nbsp;Numbers 14:29-33; &nbsp;Numbers 20:1; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 2:14. </p> <p> It is probable that the term "Kadesh," though applied to signify a "city," yet had also a wider application to a region in which Kadesh-meribah certainly, and Kadesh-barnea probably, indicates a precise spot. In &nbsp;Genesis 14:7, Kadesh is identified with [[En-Mishpat]] , the ''"Fountain Of Judgment".'' It has been supposed, from &nbsp;Numbers 13:21; &nbsp;Numbers 13:26 and &nbsp;Numbers 20:1 that there were two places of the name of Kadesh, one in the wilderness of Paran and the other in that of Zin; but it is more probable that only one place is meant, and that Zin is but a part of the great desert of Paran. </p> <p> (There has been much doubt as to the exact site of Kadesh; but Rev. H. [[Clay]] Trumbull of Philadelphia, visiting the spot in 1881, succeeded in rendering almost certain that the site of Kadesh is ''Ain Kadis'' (spelled also ''Gadis'' and ''Quadis'' ); "the very same name, letter for letter in Arabic and Hebrew, with the scriptural fountain of Kadesh - the '''Holy Fountain','' as the name means - which gushed forth when Moses smote the rock." It lies 40 miles south of [[Beersheba]] and 165 northeast of Horeb, immediately below the southern border of Palestine. It was discovered in 1842 by the Rev. J. Rowlands of Queen's College, Cambridge, England, whose discovery was endorsed by the great German geographer Ritter, by E.S. [[Palmer]] in his "Desert of the Exodus," and by the "Imperial Bible Dictionary." </p> <p> Dr. Trumbull thus describes it: - "It is an extensive oasis, a series of wells, the water of which flows out from under such an overhanging cliff as is mentioned in the Bible story; and it opens into a vast plain or wadi large enough to have furnished a camping-ground for the whole host of Israel. Extensive primitive ruins are on the hills near it. The plain or wadi, also called Quadis, is shut in by surrounding hills so as to make it a most desirable position for such a people as the Israelites on the borders of hostile territory - such a position as leaders like Moses and Joshua would have been likely to select." </p> <p> ("It was carpeted with grass and flowers. [[Fig]] trees laden with fruit were against its limestone hillsides. Shrubs in richness and variety abounded. [[Standing]] out from the mountain range at the northward of the beautiful oasis amphitheater was the 'large single mass or small hill of solid rock' which Rowlands looked at as the cliff ('''sela''' ) smitten by Moses to cause it to 'give forth its water' when its flowing had ceased. From beneath this cliff came the abundant stream. A well, walled up with timeworn limestone blocks, was the first receptacle of the water. Not far from this was a second well similarly walled, supplied from the same source. Around both these wells were ancient watering-troughs of limestone. Several pools, not walled up, where also supplied from the stream. The water was clear and sweet and abundant. Two of the pools were ample for bathing." - Editor). </p>

&nbsp;Numbers 13:3-21&nbsp;13:26&nbsp;Numbers 13:3-21&nbsp;13:26&nbsp;Numbers 13:26&nbsp;Numbers 14:40-45&nbsp;Genesis 14:7&nbsp;Joshua 15:3 <p> The actual site of [[Kadesh-Barnea]] has been much debated, but the two most frequently mentioned sites are Ein-Qedeis and Ein el-Qudeirat. Both of these sites are in the northern part of the [[Sinai]] Peninsula, and both have a spring. Most scholars today accept Ein el-Qudeirat because of its abundance of water (the largest springs and oasis in northern Sinai). Ein el-Qudeirat is located on the crossroads of two major roads of antiquity—the road from [[Edom]] to Egypt and the road from the Red Sea to the Negev and southern Canaan, later southern Judah. The location on the road from Egypt to Edom would fit well the biblical context of Kadesh-Barnea as the oasis home for the Hebrews during the wilderness wandering period. Likewise, the location of Kadesh-Barnea along the north-south road may explain the rationale for attempting the invasion of [[Canaan]] at Arad, since [[Arad]] lay north of Kadesh-Barnea on that road. </p> <p> Excavations of Ein el-Qudeirat have shown major fortresses dating from the period of [[Solomon]] to the fall of the monarchy (tenth century B.C. to sixth century B.C.), but no remains from the period of the wilderness wandering have been found to date. This raises the question about the identity of the site of Kadesh-Barnea. The site has not been fully excavated, however, and as yet no better alternative site has come to light. </p> <p> Joel F. Drinkard </p>

<p> a station of the Israelites, to which they returned again after thirty-eight years, is said to be in the wilderness of Zin, &nbsp;Numbers 13:21; &nbsp;Numbers 20:1; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 32:51; but in the wilderness of Paran, &nbsp;Numbers 12:16 . In the [[Itinerary]] it is simply called Rithmah, "the wilderness." Dr. Hales observes, that Wells, Shaw, the authors of the "Universal History," &c, have greatly perplexed and obscured the geography of this Itinerary, by supporting that there were two places of this name distinct from each other. They consider the latter of them as situated on the western side of Mount Hor, toward the land of Canaan, and thus confound it with that Kadesh in the land of the Philistines, where [[Abraham]] sojourned, &nbsp;Genesis 16:13; &nbsp;Genesis 20:1 . But that it lay on the east side of Mount Hor, is evident; for why should Moses send messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, requesting permission to pass through his territories in the way to Canaan, if they were already at the verge of Palestine &nbsp;Numbers 20:14 ? This application, however, was necessary if his territories were situated between Canaan and the Israelites. The true situation of Kadesh is ascertained beyond a doubt, from its lying between Mount [[Hor]] and Ezion-Geber, on the Elanitic Gulf, &nbsp;Numbers 33:35-37 . </p>