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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadInternational Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Kadesh on the Orontes
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oÌ„Ì-ron´teÌ„z (in Massoretic Text of , under the corrupt form ×ªÖ¼×—×ªÖ¼×™× ×—×“×©××™, tahÌ£tı̄m hÌ£odhshı̄, which should be corrected from the Septuagint (Luc.) reading: εἰς τὴν γὴν Χεττιεὶμ ΚαδηÌÏ‚, eis teÌ„Ìn geÌ„Ì ChettieıÌm KadeÌ„Ìs, “to the land of the Hittites unto Kadesh,†into ×רץ קרש××” החתּיס, 'erec ha-hÌ£ittı̄m kÌ£aÌ„dheÌ„shaÌ„h. Ewald and others, fixing the northern ideal boundary of Israel at the sources of the Jordan, would read “Hermon†for hÌ£odhshı̄, but the conjectures of Thenius and Hitzig of a reference to the northern Kadesh are fully confirmed by the reading given): Kadesh was the southern capital of the Hittites, and was situated on the upper waters of the Orontes, 80 miles North of Damascus. It is now represented by a large mound 5 miles South of what, till the Middle Ages, was called the Lake of Kades, but now the Lake of Homs. Here Thothmes III of Egypt (flourished circa 1650 BC), after the battle of Megiddo, met and received hostages from the Assyrians, and here too Rameses II defeated Hatesar, king of the Hittites (circa 1320 BC), and concluded with him a treaty, which was formally inscribed on a disk of silver. The incidents of the battle are depicted on the walls of the Ramesseum, and an Egyptian epic records the heroic deeds of Rameses. Under the name Kadytis, it is mentioned as being taken by Pharaoh-necoh (Herodotus ii. 159) in 609 BC. In the only Bible reference (), it is named as the northern limit of the census made by David.