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Jdg_1:16
[2 Jdg_1:16.— àֶú , with, near, the people, but still in settlements of their own, cf. Jdg_1:21. Dr. Cassel’s unter answers to the English among.—Tr.]
It is from this passage, and from Jdg_4:11, that we first learn that Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, belonged to one of the Kenite families. Moses, when a fugitive in the desert, found an asylum and a wife in the retirement of Jethro’s household. From that time, this family, without losing its independent and separate existence, was closely allied with all Israel. But it was only this family, and not the whole Kenite nation, that entered into this alliance. Else, how could the Kenite be named among enemies in the prophetic announcements of Genesis 15, and with Amalek in the vision of Balaam? Moreover, the text clearly intimates that the sons of the Kenite adhered to Israel, not as Kenites, but as descendants of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses. It is the constant aim of the historian of the conquest of Canaan by Israel, to show that every promise was fulfilled, and that no one who at any time showed kindness failed of his promised reward. Caleb’s constancy and courage found their long-promised inheritance in Hebron. A recompense had also been promised to the sons of the Kenite. When Israel was on its journey through the desert (Num_10:31), and Hobab (on the name, see below, on Jdg_4:11) desired to return to his old place of abode, Moses said: “Leave us not; thou knowest our places of encampment in the desert, and hast been to us instead of eyes. If thou go with us, every good thing with which God blesses us, we will share with thee.” The fulfillment of this promise now takes place. The Kenites enter with the tribe of Judah into the inheritance of the latter, as into a domain in which they had always been at home. They share in the blessing bestowed by God on Israel.
They went up from the City of Palms. No other place than the plain of Jericho is ever called the City of Palms in the Scriptures. Although the city was destroyed, the palm-groves still existed. How was it possible to suppose, in the face of Deu_34:3 and Jdg_3:13, that here suddenly, without any preparatory notice, another City of Palms is referred to! The statement here made, so far from occasioning difficulties, only testifies to the exactness of the narrator. Judah’s camp was in Gilgal, whence they marched through Bezek against the enemy, and then to Hebron. Gilgal lay in the vicinity of Jericho. When the tribe decamped, the Kenite was unwilling to remain behind. On the march through the desert, their position as guides had of course always been in the van, and, therefore, with the tribe of Judah. They desire to enjoy their reward also in connection with this tribe, and hence the palms of overthrown Jericho cannot detain them. The region in which they were, can therefore be no other place of palms than that from which Judah broke up, namely, Jericho. In fact, the statement that they came from Jericho, proves the correctness of the view given above, that Gilgal was the place from which Judah set out to enter his territory.
Into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad. But why is the narrative of the Kenite expedition here introduced? It is a peculiarity of Hebrew narrators, that they weave in episodes like this and that of Othniel and Achsah, whenever the progress of the history, coming into contact with the place or person with which they are associated, offers an occasion. Hence we already find events communicated in the 15th chapter of Joshua, which occurred at a later date, but of which the author was reminded while speaking of the division of the land. The history of the conquest of their territory by Judah is very brief. First, the mountain district of Hebron and the northeastern part of the territory was taken possession of. Then, according to the plan laid down Jdg_1:9, they turned to the south. Of this part of their undertaking no details are given; but as they were getting possession of the land in this direction, they came to Arad, where it pleased the Kenites to take up their abode, in close relations with Judah. A king formerly reigned at Arad, who attacked Israel when journeying in the desert (Num_21:1), and was defeated by Moses. A king of Arad was also conquered by Joshua (Jos_12:14). After its occupancy by the tribe of Judah, the Kenites resided there. The position of the place has been accurately determined by Robinson (Bib. Res. ii. 101, cf. Ritter, xiv. 121). Eusebius and Jerome had placed it twenty Roman miles, a camel’s journey of about eight hours, from Hebron. This accords well with the position of the present Tell ’Arâd, “a barren-looking eminence rising above the country around.” From this fragmentary notice of the place, we may perhaps infer what it was that specially attracted the Kenites. If these tribes were attached to the Troglodyte mode of life, the Arabs still told Robinson, of a “cavern” found there. The Kenites still held this region in the time of David; for from the vicinage of the places named in 1Sa_30:29 ff., especially Hormah, it appears that they are those to whom as friends he makes presents. It is true, that when the terrible war between Saul and Amalek raged in this region, Saul, lest he should strike friend with foe, caused them to remove (1Sa_15:6). After the victory, they must have returned again.
Footnotes:
[Jdg_1:16.—He, i. e., the Kenite. The subject of åַéֵּìֶêְ is ÷ֵéðִé , the Kenite, collective term for the tribe.—Tr.]
[Jdg_1:16.— àֶú , with, near, the people, but still in settlements of their own, cf. Jdg_1:21. Dr. Cassel’s unter answers to the English among.—Tr.]
Earlier scholars (Le Clerc, Lightfoot, Opera, ii. 581) were already struck by the Targum’s constant substitution of ùַׂìְîָàָä , Salmaah for Kenite. In this passage also it reads, “the sons of Salmaah.” Even Jewish authors were it a loss how to explain this. As it affords a specimen of the traditional exegesis of the Jews, already current in the Targum on this passage, I will here set down the explanation of this substitution: The Kenite of our passage is identified with the Kinim of 1Ch_2:55, who are there described as “the families of the Sopherim.” But how came the Kenites to hold this office, in after times so highly honored, and filled by men learned in the law (cf. Sanhedrin, p. 104 a and 106 a)? The father-in-law of Moses—(tradition makes him flee from the council of Pharaoh of which he was a member, Sota, 11 a)—is the Kenite who, when the latter wandered in the desert (Exo_2:20-21), gave him bread (lechem) and also, through his daughter, a house (beth). Now, the same chapter of 1Ch_1:51; 1Ch_1:54, names a certain Salma, and styles him the “father of Beth-lechem.” The father of this “Bread-house” is then identified with Jethro. Consequently, the sons of the Kenite are the sons of Salmaah, and thus their name itself indicates how they attained to the dignity accorded them. The Targum on Chronicles (ed. Wilna, 1836, p. 3, A) expresses it thus: “They were the sons of Zippora, who (in their capacity of Sopherim) enjoyed, together with the families of the Levites, the glory of having descended from Moses, the teacher of Israel.”
This view does away with all those questions of which, after earlier expositors, Bertheau treats on pp. 24, 25.
Into this error, Le Clerc has misled later expositors, and among them, Bertheau, p. 25. However, the wholly irrelevant passage of Diodorus (iii. 42), frequently cited to justify the assumption of another City of Palms, was already abandoned by Rosenmüller, p. 24.
Ishak Chelo, the author of Les chemins de Jérusalem, in the 14th century, found Arad sparsely inhabited, by poor Arabs and Jews, who lived of their flocks. The Rabbi tends his sheep, and at the same time gives instruction to his pupils. Cf. Carmoly, Itinéraires de la Terre Sainte (Bruxelles, 1847), pp. 244, 245.
Cf. 1Sa_27:10, where the same local position is assigned to the Kenites, and spoken of by David as the scene of his incursions, in order to make the suspicious Philistines believe that he injures the friends of Israel