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KADESH or KADESH-BARNEA was a place of note in olden time (Gen_14:7; Gen_16:14). This it could not have been without a supply of water. The Israelites may therefore have expected to find water here, and finding none—a peculiarly exasperating experience—were naturally embittered. The flow of the spring, by whatever means it had been obstructed, was restored by Moses, under Divine direction (Num_20:2 ff.), and for a long time it was the centre of the tribal encampments (Num_20:1, Deu_1:46). It was the scene of Korah’s rebellion (Num_16:1-50), and of Miriam’s death (Num_20:1). The spies were sent hence (Num_32:8, Deu_1:20 ff.,) and returned hither (Num_13:26). Before moving from here, the embassy was despatched to the king of Edom (Num_20:14 ff., Jdg_11:16).
Kadesh-barnea lay on the south boundary of the Amorite highlands (Deu_1:18), ‘in the uttermost border’ of Edom (Num_20:6). The conquest of Joshua reached thus far (Jos_10:41): It was therefore on the line, running from the Ascent of Akrabbim to the Brook of Egypt, which marked the southern frontier of Canaan (Num_34:4, Jos_15:3). In Gen_20:1 it is placed east of Gerar; and in Eze_47:19; Eze_48:28 between Tamar and the Brook of Egypt. All this points definitely to the place discovered by the Rev. J. Rowlands in 1842. The ancient name persists in the modern ‘Ain Qadîs, ‘holy spring.’ An abundant stream rises at the foot of a limestone cliff. Caught by the wells and pools made for its reception, it creates in its brief course, ere it is absorbed by the desert, a stretch of greenery and beauty amid the waste. From the high grazing grounds far and near, the flocks and herds come hither for the watering. The place was visited again by Dr. H. Clay Trumbull, whose book, Kadesh Barnea (1884), contains a full account of the spring and its surroundings. It lies in the territory of the ‘Azâzine Arabs, about 50 miles south of Beersheba, to the south-west of Naqb es-Safâh—a pass opening towards Palestine from Wâdy el-Fiqra, which may he the Ascent of Akrabbim—and east of Wâdy Jerûr. The name ‘En-mishpat, ‘Fountain of Judgment’ (Gen_14:7), was doubtless due to the custom of coming here for the authoritative settlement of disputes (Driver, Genesis, ad loc).
For Kadesh on the Orontes see Tahtim-hodshi.
W. Ewing.