Judges 1:16

And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16) The children of the Kenite, Moses’ father in law.—It is difficult to disentangle the names Jethro, Reuel, or Raguel, and Hobab (Judges 4:11); but in my article on Jethro in Kitto’s Bible Cyclopœdia I have shown that Jethro and Reuel are identical, the latter name (“friend of God”) being his local title as a priest of Midian; and that he was the father of Zipporah and Hobab. When Jethro refused to stay with the Israelites (Exodus 18:27), Hobab consented to accompany them as their hybeer or caravan-guide. He is well known in the Mohammedan legends as Schocib, but is confounded with Jethro.

The Kenites were the elder branch of the tribe of Midianites. They lived in the rocky district on the shores of the gulf of Akabah (Numbers 21:1; Numbers 24:21; 1Samuel 15:6). They seem to have been named from a chieftain Kain (Genesis 15:19; Numbers 24:22; Heb., where there is a play on Kenite and Kinneka, “thy rest”). They were originally a race of troglodytes or cave-dwellers. The Targum constantly reads Salmaa for Kenite, because the Kenites were identified with the Kinim of 1Chronicles 2:55. Jethro, they say. was a Kenite, who gave to Moses a house (Beth) and bread (lehem) (Exodus 2:20-21). They identify Jethro with Salmaa, because in 1Chronicles 2:5 Salma is the father of Bethlehem. They also identify Rechab, the ancestor of the Rechabites—who were a branch of the Kenites—with Rechabiah, the son of Moses.

Went up.—Probably, in the first instance, in a warlike expedition.

The city of palm trees.—Probably Jericho (see Judges 3:13; Deuteronomy 34:3; 2Chronicles 28:15). When Jericho was destroyed and laid under a curse, it would be quite in accordance with the Jewish feeling, which attached such “fatal force and fascination” to words, to avoid even the mention of the name. The Kenites would naturally attach less importance to the curse, or at any rate would not consider that they were braving it when they pitched their nomad tents among those beautiful groves of palms and balsams, which once made the soil “a divine country” (Jos. B. J. i. 6. §6; iv. 8, § 3; Antt. v. 1, § 22), though they have now entirely disappeared. Rabbinic tradition says that Jericho was assigned to Hobab. From the omission of the name Jericho, some have needlessly supposed that the reference is to Phaenico (a name which means “palm-grove”), an Arabian town mentioned by Diod Sic. iii. 41 (Le Clerc, Bertheau, Ewald); but there is no difficulty about the Kenites leaving Jericho when Judah left it.

The wilderness of Judah.—The Midbar—not a waste desert, but a plain with pasture—was a name applied to the lower Jordan valley and the southern hills of Judea (Genesis 21:14; Matthew 3:1; Matthew 4:1; Luke 15:4). The Kenites, like all Bedouins, hated the life of cities, and never lived in them except under absolute necessity (Jeremiah 35:6-7).

In the south of Arad.—Our E.V. has, in Numbers 21:1, King Arad; but more correctly, in Joshua 15:14, “the king of Arad.” It was a city twenty miles from Hebron, on the road to Petra, and the site is still called Tell-Arad (Wilton, Negeb, p. 198). They may have been attracted by the caves in the neighbourhood, and, although they left it at the bidding of Saul (1Samuel 15:6), they seem to have returned to it in the days of David (1Samuel 30:29).

Among the people.—It seems most natural to interpret this of the Israelites of the tribe of Judah; hut it may mean “the people to which he belonged,” i.e., the Amalekites (Numbers 21:21), and this accords with 1Samuel 15:21. For the only subsequent notices of this interesting people, see Judges 4:11; 1Samuel 15:6; 1Chronicles 2:55; Jeremiah 35. They formed a useful frontier-guard to the Holy Land.

Benson Commentary

Jdg 1:16. The children of the Kenite — Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, seems to have been called a Kenite from the people from whom he was descended, Numbers 24:21-22. His posterity, it appears, came into Canaan with the Israelites, and were settled there with them. Went up from the city of palm-trees — That is, from Jericho, so called, Deuteronomy 34:3; not indeed the city, which had been destroyed; but the territory belonging to it, where, it seems, they were seated in a most pleasant, fruitful, and safe place, according to the promise made by Moses to their father, Numbers 10:31-32; and whence they might remove either to avoid the neighbouring Canaanites, or out of love to the children of Judah. In the south of Arad — The southern part of the land of Canaan, where Arad was, Numbers 21:1. And dwelt among the people — Hebrew, that people; namely, those children of Judah that lived there.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:9-20 The Canaanites had iron chariots; but Israel had God on their side, whose chariots are thousands of angels, Ps 68:17. Yet they suffered their fears to prevail against their faith. About Caleb we read in Jos 15:16-19. The Kenites had settled in the land. Israel let them fix where they pleased, being a quiet, contented people. They that molested none, were molested by none. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The children of the Kenite - See Numbers 24:21 note.

The city of palm trees - Jericho (see the marginal reference). The rabbinical story is that Jericho, with 500 cubits square of land, was given to Hobab. The use of the phrase "city of palm trees" for "Jericho," is perhaps an indication of the influence of Joshua's curse Joshua 6:26. Tbe very name of Jericho was blotted out. There are no palm trees at Jericho now, but Josephus mentions them repeatedly, as well as the balsam trees.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. the children of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah—called "the Kenite," as probably descended from the people of that name (Nu 24:21, 22). If he might not himself, his posterity did accept the invitation of Moses (Nu 10:32) to accompany the Israelites to Canaan. Their first encampment was in the "city of palm trees"—not Jericho, of course, which was utterly destroyed, but the surrounding district, perhaps En-gedi, in early times called Hazezon-tamar (Ge 14:7), from the palm-grove which sheltered it. Thence they removed for some unknown cause, and associating themselves with Judah, joined in an expedition against Arad, in the southern part of Canaan (Nu 21:1). On the conquest of that district, some of this pastoral people pitched their tents there, while others migrated to the north (Jud 4:17).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Children of the Kenite, i.e. of Jethro, so called from the people from whom he descended, Numbers 24:21,22. And whatsoever he did, it is evident that his posterity came into Canaan with the Israelites, and were there seated with them. See Judges 4:11,17 5:24 1 Samuel 15:6 1 Chronicles 2:55.

Out of the city of palm trees, i.e. from Jericho, so called Deu 34:3; not the city, which was utterly destroyed; but the territory belonging to it, where it seems they were seated as in a most pleasant, and fruitful, and safe place, according to the promise made by Moses to their father, Numbers 10:31,32, and whence they might remove, either to avoid the society or molestation of the neighbouring Canaanites; or out of love to the children of Judah, whom they went to; or to avoid temptations to luxury, and exercise themselves in self-denial and contempt of the present evil world, and the lusts thereof; as may be thought from Jeremiah 35:6, &c.; or for some other cause unknown to us at this distance.

In the south of Arad; in the southern part of the land of Canaan, where Arad was, Numbers 21:1.

They went, i.e. some of them, for others of them dwelt in the contrary quarter, in the most northern part of the land.

Among the people, Heb. that people, to wit, those children of Judah that lived there.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father in law,.... The posterity of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses; for though Jethro returned to his own country, after he had paid a visit to Moses in the wilderness, yet Hobab his son, at the persuasion of Moses, travelled with him and Israel through the wilderness, and went with them into Canaan, at least some of his descendants, and settled there, some in one part of the land, and some in another, of whom we read in several places of Scripture; they continued to the days of Jeremiah, and then went by the name of Rechabites, so called from Rechab, a descendant of Jethro: these

went up out of the city of palm trees; from the city of Jericho, as the Targum, so called from the great number of palm trees which grew near it, see Deuteronomy 34:3. This is to be understood not of the city itself, that was utterly destroyed by Joshua, and the rebuilding of it was forbidden under a curse, but the country adjacent, the valley in which it stood, which was set with palm trees; here was a grove of palm trees (m), and the garden of balsam, which grew nowhere else, as Strabo (n) says; and who also observes, that here was a royal palace in his time; this belonged to Herod king of Judea in the times of Augustus Caesar, to whose palm tree groves there Horace (o) refers. Here the Kenites first settled when they came first over Jordan with Joshua, being a most pleasant and delightful place, and suitable to such persons who dwelt in tents, as they did, and answered to the promise of Moses to Hobab, Numbers 10:29; and here it seems they had remained to this time: and now they left it, and came

with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah; which was also a convenient place for the habitation of such persons, who loved a solitary life. Perhaps the Canaanites about Jericho might be troublesome to them, and therefore chose to stay no longer, there; or, having a peculiar affection for the tribe of Judah, they chose to be within their lot; and the rather, as they were a warlike and valiant tribe, they might expect the greater safety and protection among them:

which lieth, in the south of Arad; that is, which wilderness of Judah lay there, of which name there was a country or city, see Numbers 21:1; and here some of them dwelt to the times of Saul, the Amalekites then having got possession of the southern parts, which they infested and were troublesome to, see 1 Samuel 15:6,

and they went and dwelt among the people; of the tribe of Judah, near some of the cities which were in the wilderness; of which see Joshua 15:63.

(m) Justin. e Trogo, l. 36. c. 3.((n) Geograph. l. 16. p. 525. (o) Praeferat Herodis. Palmetis Pinguibus----De Arte Poet. ver. 184.

Geneva Study Bible

And the children of the {h} Kenite, Moses' father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people.

(h) This was one of the names of Moses father in law, read Nu 10:29.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16. The text of this verse has been badly preserved, and some details of the restoration must remain doubtful.

the children of the Kenite, Moses’ brother in law] Marg. father in law, as O.T. usage requires. A proper name and the article (inserted by RV.) have fallen out before Kenite; LXX. cod. B restores Jethro, cod. A Hobab. The traditions differ as to the name of Moses’ father in law; in J it is Hobab, Numbers 10:29, cf. ch. Jdg 4:11; in E it is Jethro, Exodus 3:1; Exodus 4:18; Exodus 18:1. As this chapter is related to J, the former is preferable: the children of Hobab the Kenite. The traditions differ again as to the tribe to which Moses’ father in law belonged; here and in Jdg 4:11 he is called a Kenite (see the note below), but in Exodus 2:15 ff; Exodus 3:1; Exodus 18:1, Numbers 10:29 he is a Midianite. Common to both traditions is Moses’ connexion by marriage with an Arab tribe. The verb went up in clause a is plur.; in clause b went and dwelt are sing., and may be corrected to the plur. (with RV., LXX. B they dwelt). But the sing, verbs in clause b perhaps imply that the text originally ran And Hobab the Kenite … went up (sing.) … and went and dwelt, omitting the children of.

the city of palm trees] i.e. Jericho, cf. Jdg 3:13 n. and Deuteronomy 34:3, 2 Chronicles 28:15. The order in which the stages of the invasion are mentioned, Jerusalem, Hebron, Debir, Arad, Zephath, seems to indicate a movement starting from the E. and advancing towards the S.; hence Jericho, in the neighbourhood of Gilgal (Jdg 2:1), may well have been the point of departure. On the theory that Judah came up from Kadesh in the southern desert, a ‘city of palm trees’ has been looked for in the S., and Tamar, i.e. ‘palm tree’ (Ezekiel 47:19; Ezekiel 48:28), in S.E. Palestine, is suggested as the place (Steuernagel, l.c. 75 ff.). The possibility that the Calebites and other clans which in time coalesced under the name of Judah, entered the land from the South has been noticed above, in Jdg 1:10.

the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad] in the Negeb of Arad. The wilderness, of Judah (Psalms 63 title, St Matthew 3:1, cf. Joshua 15:61) was the barren, rugged tract which descends from the Central Highlands eastwards to the Dead Sea. It is possible that the term may have included Arad = Tell ‘Arâd, 17 m. S.E. of Hebron (cf. on Jdg 1:9); yet the description of the ‘wilderness of Judah’ (properly in the E.) as within the Negeb (in the S.) is surprising. The text is certainly incorrect. The LXX. cod. A reads ‘into the desert of Judah, which is in the south, at the descent of Arad’; cod. B ‘into the desert which is in the south of Judah, which is at the descent of Arad.’ Both recensions of the LXX give the descent of Arad (cf. Joshua 7:5; Joshua 10:11 ‘the going down’) instead of the Negeb of Arad; in the neighbourhood of Tell ‘Arâd the Judaean hills descend to the Wadi Seyyal on the E. and the Wadi el-Milḥ on the W., and thence to the plains. Following the LXX. cod. B we might restore ‘into the desert which is in the Negeb of Judah in the descent of Arad,’ which would give excellent sense; but we cannot feel sure that the LXX represents the original text. Other emendations are: ‘the wilderness of Judah which is in the descent of Arad’ (Budde); ‘into the wilderness of Arad’ (Moore, omitting the rest as partly gloss and partly correction of the Hebr.); ‘the Kenites went up from the city of palm-trees which is in the Negeb with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Arad’ (Steuernagel). None of these is quite convincing.

with the people] gives no sense; read with the Amalekite, following a group of cursive MSS. of the LXX which have ‘with the people Amalek’; this agrees with 1 Samuel 15:6, Numbers 24:20-22. ‘While the main Judaean stock settled on the arable land and in cities, and intermarried with the Canaanites, the Kenites, true to their nomadic origin, turned into the wilderness of Judah, and dwelt with the Amalekites’ (G. A. Smith, Hist. Geogr., p. 277 f.). The Kenites, who were related to the Kenizzites (Genesis 15:19; Genesis 36:11; Genesis 36:15), seem to have been a branch of the Amalekites (Num. l. c.); they continued to dwell near Judah in the Negeb 1 Samuel 27:10, on friendly terms ib. 1 Samuel 30:29. In Jdg 4:11 we find a family of them settled in the N., in the territory of Naphtali.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - The children of the Kenite, etc. It appears from this verse that the invitation given by Moses to his "father-in-law," or rather "brother-in-law," Hobab, to accompany him and the Israelites to the land of promise, though at first rejected (Numbers 10:29, 30), was eventually accepted. Hobab and his tribe, a branch of the Midianites, called Kenites, from an unknown ancestor, Kain, at first settled in the city of palm trees, i.e. Jericho (Deuteronomy 34:3); but it seems that when Judah started on his expedition with Simeon to conquer the south laud, the Kenites went with him. A subsequent migration of a portion of this nomadic tribe is mentioned (Judges 4:11). Dwelt among the people, i.e. the people of Judah. For Arad see Numbers 21:1. Judges 1:16

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The notice respecting the Kenites, that they went up out of the palm-city with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah in the south of Arad, and dwelt there with the Judaeans, is introduced here into the account of the wars of the tribe of Judah, because this migration of the Kenites belonged to the time between the conquest of Debir (Judges 1:12.) and Zephath (Judges 1:17); and the notice itself was of importance, as forming the intermediate link between Numbers 10:29., and the later allusions to the Kenites in Judges 4:11; Judges 5:24; 1 Samuel 15:6; 1 Samuel 27:10; 1 Samuel 30:29. "The children of the Kenite," i.e., the descendants of Hobab, the brother-in-law of Moses (compare Judges 4:11, where the name is given, but קין occurs instead of קיני, with Numbers 10:29), were probably a branch of the Kenites mentioned in Genesis 15:19 along with the other tribes of Canaan, which had separated from the other members of its own tribe before the time of Moses and removed to the land of Midian, where Moses met with a hospitable reception from their chief Reguel on his flight from Egypt. These Kenites had accompanied the Israelites to Canaan at the request of Moses (Numbers 10:29.); and when the Israelites advanced into Canaan itself, they had probably remained as nomads in the neighbourhood of the Jordan near to Jericho, without taking any part in the wars of Joshua. But when the tribe of Judah had exterminated the Canaanites out of Hebron, Debir, and the neighbourhood, after the death of Joshua, they went into the desert of Judah with the Judaeans as they moved farther towards the south; and going to the south-western edge of this desert, to the district on the south of Arad (Tell Arad, see at Numbers 21:1), they settled there on the border of the steppes of the Negeb (Numbers 33:40). "The palm-city" was a name given to the city of Jericho, according to Judges 3:13; Deuteronomy 34:3; 2 Chronicles 28:15. There is no ground whatever for thinking of some other town of this name in the desert of Arabia, near the palm-forest, φοινικών, of Diod. Sic. (iii. 42) and Strabo (p. 776), as Clericus and Bertheau suppose, even if it could be proved that there was any such town in the neighbourhood. ויּלך, "then he went (the branch of the Kenites just referred to) and dwelt with the people" (of the children of Judah), that is to say, with the people of Israel in the desert of Judah. The subject to ויּלך is קיני, the Kenite, as a tribe.