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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Etymology of "Qadesh Barnea"
  • Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 11:01:33 EDT


In his scholarly article, “Numbers 34: 2-12, The Boundaries of the Land of
Canaan”, Yigal Levin says that “Qadesh” means “Qadesh Barnea” (which he
spells
“Kadesh-barnea”), a desert oasis southwest of Judah, all three times the
name “Qadesh” appears in the Patriarchal narratives:

“The toponym qof-dalet-sin/shin – Qds, vocalized ‘Kadesh’, is mentioned a
total of 24 times in the Hebrew bible, all (perhaps with the exception of Ps.
29: 8) in connection with a site or sites in the southern wilderness….
Kadesh
is…mentioned three times in the patriarchal narratives (Gen 14: 7; 16: 14;
20: 1)….” At. p. 63

The first occurrence of the name “Qadesh” in the Patriarchal narratives is
at Genesis 14: 7, which is translated by JPS1917 as follows:

“And they turned back, and came to En-mishpat -- the same is Qadesh -- and
smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in
Hazazon-tamar.”

At Genesis 14: 7, does the name “Qadesh” mean “Qadesh Barnea”, a desert
oasis “in the southern wilderness”?

The reference to “Amorites” in Genesis 14: 7 would be out of place regarding
a desert oasis southwest of Judah. Since the Amorites in Genesis are
northern Canaanites, the presence of the word “Amorites” strongly suggests
northern
Canaan as the geographical locale that is being referenced here. Is there an
historical city named “Qadesh” that is attested by that very name in Upper
Galilee in northern Canaan, in the secular history of the Late Bronze Age?

“Qadesh”, which is usually transliterated as “Kedesh”, is spelled
qof-dalet-sin/shin/Q-D-S/Sh in Hebrew. Amarna Letter EA 177: 12 refers to a
“Guddasuna”
, with the location being uncertain (as discussed below) as between northern
Canaan or Lebanon. The N at the end may be an optional suffix meaning “place”
, as in Hebron, Shimron, etc. The vowel sounds in Hebrew are unknown and are
not certain in Akkadian cuneiform, so what we are really looking at here in
the Amarna letters is G-D-S. We know that K often becomes G, as many
scholars,
including Yigal Levin, view KRR in Egyptian as having become GLL/Galilee in
Biblical Hebrew. If the first letter here originally was a K, then we would
have K-D-S documented in the Amarna Letters, which is almost the same
pronunciation as Q-D-S for “Qadesh”/“Kedesh”. (There is only a very slight
difference
in pronouncing Q/qof vs. K/kaf.)

When we now look at item #4 on the Thutmosis III topographical list of
Canaanite cities, we see Ktsn, or KTSn. Scholars generally view this as
being the
city of “Guddasuna” in the Amarna Letters. As just noted, the N may be an
optional west Semitic suffix meaning “place”. A T in Egyptian often becomes
a
D/dalet in Hebrew (as in “Dothan” at item #9 on the Thutmosis III
topographical list of cities in Canaan). So KTS in Egyptian might easily
become Q-D-S in
Hebrew (since K and Q have almost the same sound). KTS-n could be
“Q-D-S-place
” or “Qadesh-place”, where the K is Q (almost the same sound), the T becomes
D/dalet (a commonplace occurrence in going from Egyptian to Biblical Hebrew),
S could be S or Sh, and the final N is an optional west Semitic suffix
meaning “place” or “town”.

Thus a city of Qadesh, by the historical name “Qadesh”, is well-attested in
the secular history of the Late Bronze Age.

As to this city’s location, Anson Rainey notes at p. 36 of “The Sacred Bridge
”: “The towns that surrendered to Thutmose III after the siege of Megiddo
are listed in his topographical list. When plotting them on the map, it
becomes obvious that all of them, except perhaps Qedesh on the Orontes, are
within
the borders of Canaan….” So even though Wm. Moran, in his comments on the
Amarna Letters, sees Guddasuna as perhaps being located in Lebanon, this city
--
Guddasuna/Qadesh/Kedesh -- may well have instead been located in
northernmost
Canaan, in Upper Galilee.

Qadesh/Kedesh in Upper Galilee was still well-known in the 1st millennium
BCE. Joshua 20: 7 and 21: 32 refer to this Qadesh in upper Galilee, Joshua
19:
37 refers to this Qadesh immediately after referring to Hazor, and II Kings
15:
29 also links this Qadesh/Kedesh with both Hazor and Galilee.

Hazor may well be referenced at Genesis 14: 7. Hazor is a famous city in
Upper Galilee, located just south of Qadesh of Upper Galilee. Hazor is
referenced in Amarna Letters EA 148, 227, 228 and 364. Since a nun/N or a
vav-nun/ON
ending is often an optional west Semitic suffix meaning “place” or “town”,
the name “Hazazon” at Genesis 14: 7 may mean “the town of Hazor”. The word “
tamar” in Hebrew means “palm tree”, and Hazor was famous for being one of the
most northerly cities that featured palm trees. So the phrase usually
translated as “Hazazon-tamar” could be alternatively understood as meaning:
“the t
own of Hazor[, famed for its] palm trees”.

The other word of significance at Genesis 14: 7 is “En-mishpat”. Is that
also an attested name of a Late Bronze Age city in Upper Galilee, that was
located close to Qadesh of Upper Galilee? The “En” in “En-mishpat” is a
common,
optional west Semitic prefix that means “fountain”. The key part of this
name is “Mispat”/mem-sin/shin-peh-tet/M-S/Sh-P-T. Amarna Letters EA 185: 17
and
186: 12 report a city near Guddasuna/Qadesh/Kedesh whose name is similar to “
Mispat”: “Mahzibtu”. S-type sounds can be spelled in many ways in the
various ancient languages, B and P are often interchangeable in going from
one
ancient language to another (such as habiru vs. hapiru, and Heba vs. Hepa),
and a
final U in the Akkadian cuneiform of the Amarna Letters never appears in a
Biblical Hebrew equivalent name. So Qadesh of Upper Galilee was located
close to
the Late Bronze Age city of Mahzibtu/Mispat/En-mishpat.

Now the reference at Genesis 14: 7 to “En-mishpat -- the same is Qadesh”
makes complete sense. These two Late Bronze Age cities were located close to
each other in Upper Galilee, as attested by the Amarna Letters, so a
reference to
one could be a reference to the other.

Thus all aspects of Genesis 14: 7 make perfect sense in the context of Upper
Galilee in the Late Bronze Age. “Qadesh” at Genesis 14: 7 means the
historical Late Bronze Age city of Qadesh of Upper Galilee.

There is no basis for viewing “Qadesh” at Genesis 14: 7 as meaning “Qadesh
Barnea”, a desert oasis “in the southern wilderness”. The name “Qadesh Barnea
” is not attested in the secular history of the ancient world. No attacking
rulers in chapter 14 of Genesis would take a fortress on the very doorstep of
Egypt, for fear of a devastating counter-attack by the Egyptian army on its
home turf. And there certainly was no loot to be had at the desert oasis of
Qadesh Barnea. Apart from the foregoing inherent logic of the situation, we
note
that the Amorites referenced at Genesis 14: 7 were in northern Canaan, not
southwest of Judah. “En-mishpat” and the town of Hazor/Hazazon, also
referenced at Genesis 14: 7, fit Upper Galilee in the Late Bronze Age
perfectly, while
having no counterpart in any “southern wilderness” south of Judah.

The Priestly author of Numbers 34: 4 is using a non-historical name, “Qadesh
Barnea”, and is referring to a desert oasis southwest of Judah. By sharp
contrast, the author of Genesis 14: 7 is using a well-attested historical
name, “
Qadesh”, for a well-attested historical city in Upper Galilee by that name in
the Late Bronze Age. All the other key words at Genesis 14: 7 fit historical
Qadesh of Upper Galilee perfectly, while not making sense in any “southern
wilderness” context.

“Qadesh” at Genesis 14: 7 does not mean the place referred to as “Qadesh
Barnea” by the Priestly author of Numbers 34: 4. The Patriarchal narratives
were
not composed or edited by any Priestly author or by JEPD. The single author
of the Patriarchal narratives lived in Late Bronze Age northern Canaan, and
delights in setting forth his encyclopedic knowledge of the secular history
of
Late Bronze Age northern Canaan. P knew little, and cared less, about the
secular history of Late Bronze Age northern Canaan. There is no P in the
Patriarchal narratives.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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