Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Etymology of “Qadesh Barnea”
 
What Is “Qadesh Barnea”?
 
No one knows more about the name “Qadesh Barnea” in the Bible than our very 
own Yigal Levin (who spells the name “Kadesh-barnea”).  His 
meticulously-researched scholarly article, “Numbers 34: 2-12, The Boundaries 
of the Land of 
Canaan”, about half of which is devoted to Qadesh Barnea, is available here:
 
_http://www.jtsa.edu/Documents/pagedocs/JANES/2006%2030/Levin30.pdf_ 
(http://www.jtsa.edu/Documents/pagedocs/JANES/2006%2030/Levin30.pdf) 
 
In that article, Yigal Levin largely demurs as to the etymology of “Qadesh 
Barnea”:
 
“While the name ‘Kadesh’ obviously refers to a sanctuary or holy spot, the 
meaning of the appellation ‘barnea’ is not clear.”  At p. 63. 
 
What does “Qadesh Barnea” mean?  Where is that peculiar name coming from?
 
“Qadesh Barnea”, usually transliterated as “Kadesh-barnea”, is spelled 
qof-dalet-sin/shin-bet-resh-nun-ayin/Q-D-S/Sh-B-R-N-e.  (There were no 
dashes, and 
probably no spaces, in the original texts.  I use a small e here to represent 
an ayin that may not be part of the root word, and later I will similarly use 
a small a to represent an aleph that may not be part of a root word.)   
 
Note that despite the ubiquitous English transliteration “Kadesh-barnea” 
with a K, the first letter of this name is nevertheless a qof/Q, not a kaf/K. 
 At 
p. 63, Yigal Levin states as to this issue:  “The toponym qof-dalet-sin/shin 
-- Qds [is] vocalized ‘Kadesh’….”  [Yigal Levin’s article presents the 
Hebrew letters in Hebrew, which unfortunately my computer does not allow me 
to do, 
so I have spelled out the names of the Hebrew letters in English in quoting 
this sentence of the article.]  
 
Perhaps I do not understand what that sentence is saying.  But the fact 
remains that both the name “Qadesh Barnea”, and the name “Qadesh” for the 
super-famous independent city-state on the Orontes River in northern Lebanon, 
start 
with the same written letter, qof/Q, not kaf/K.
 
But enough for now about “Qadesh”.  Let’s start by analyzing “Barnea”.
 
“Barnea” is bet-resh-nun-ayin/B-R-N-e.
 
The desert oasis of Qadesh Barnea featured a water well 
(bet-aleph-resh/B-a-R), and little else.  With that as a key clue, the 
bet-resh/B-R in this name 
here is logically a shortened form of bet-aleph-resh/B-a-R, meaning “water 
well”
.  B-R is short for B-a-R.  (There is a Hebrew word bet-resh/B-R, which means 
“grain”, but that makes no sense regarding a desert oasis like Qadesh 
Barnea.)   
 
A nun/N as a suffix routinely means “place”, signifying a geographical place 
name.  Hence Hebron, Shimron, etc.  Usually the suffix is vav-nun/O-N, but 
here it is nun/N, followed by an ayin. 
 
The nun/N here (in the form nun-ayin/N-e) probably simply means “place”.
 
The final ayin appears to have no meaning, but rather is a prosthetic ayin, 
allowing the nun/N to be more easily pronounced.  Thus for example the root 
of 
Arbe/a-R-B-e (Genesis 23: 2;  35: 27) is R-B, meaning “many”.  The ayin at 
the end is not part of the root, but rather is a mere suffix that is needed 
in 
order to be able to pronounce the bet/B properly.
 
So “Barnea”/B-R-N-e can be understood as meaning “the water well place”, 
where B-R means “water well”, N means “place”, and the final ayin is 
prosthetic, having no substantive meaning.
 
Thus the name “Qadesh Barnea” means “the Qadesh that is ‘the water well 
place’ in the desert, not the world-famous wealthy trading city-state Qadesh 
in 
northern Lebanon on the Orontes River”.  In other words, the “Barnea” in the 
name here is nicely explaining which Qadesh is being referenced.  The real 
Qadesh, namely the super-famous wealthy independent city-state in northern 
Lebanon, was called by the whole world “Qadesh’ (or Qidsu, etc.).  The 
authors of 
the Bible could not change that.  Rather, in order to call a desert oasis 
between the Negev and Sinai Deserts “Qadesh”, at times certain authors of the 
Bible 
explicitly distinguished this desert locale by adding “the water well place” 
at the end:  “Qadesh Barnea”, that is, “the Qadesh that is a water well 
place (not the real Qadesh on the Orontes)”.
 
To the best of my knowledge, there is no name “Qadesh Barnea” in the secular 
history of the ancient world.  In his detailed article, Yigal Levin does cite 
any ancient text that contains the name “Qadesh Barnea”, but rather simply 
states:
 
“Kadesh-barnea…is not known from either literary sources or from 
archaeological evidence in the Late Bronze or the Early Iron Ages….”  At p. 
66.
 
To that I would simply add that to the best of my knowledge, there is no name 
“Qadesh Barnea” in any time period of secular history whatsoever in the 
ancient world.
 
That then raises the following fascinating questions:
 
1.  Why is the Priestly author of Numbers 34: 4 using an apparently 
non-historical name, “Qadesh Barnea”?
 
2.  Does “Qadesh Barnea” at Numbers 34: 4 have the same meaning as:
 
(a)  “Qadesh” at Genesis 14: 17?
 
(b)  “Qadesh” at Genesis 16: 14?
 
(c)  “Qadesh” at Genesis 20: 1?
 
The name “Qadesh” is one of the best-attested names in the entirety of the 
ancient world.  Entry #1 on the famous Thutmosis III topographical list, to 
take one obvious example, is qid-su/Qadesh.  The Amarna Letters, to take 
another 
famous example, feature the name Qidsu/Qissa/Qinsa/Qadesh ten times.  In 
secular history, “Qadesh” meant the world-famous wealthy independent 
city-state of 
Qadesh on the Orontes River in northern Lebanon.
 
But there is no “Qadesh Barnea” anywhere in the secular history of the 
ancient world, as far as I know.  Not one single reference in any ancient 
document. 
 Nothing.
 
For all 12 out of the 12 cities in Canaan near which the Patriarchs are 
portrayed as sojourning in the Patriarchal narratives, the names of those 12 
cities 
are attested in the secular history of Late Bronze Age northern Canaan.  Why 
would we expect “Qadesh” to be different?  If every other name of a city (as 
opposed to names of trees, wells and campsites, which are referred to in the 
text by Patriarchal nicknames not known to secular history) is an historical 
name of a city whose name is attested in the Late Bronze Age, why would we 
then 
expect “Qadesh” in the Patriarchal narratives to be a fictional name of a 
city, with such name being unknown to secular history in any time period?  
(Note 
that the name “Qadesh Barnea” does not appear in the Patriarchal narratives, 
a text which I myself view as having great historical accuracy in a Late 
Bronze Age northern Canaan context.)
 
3.  Which then brings us right back to question #1.  Why does the Priestly 
author use a non-historical name, “Qadesh Barnea”, at Numbers 34: 4?
 
Until and unless we understand where the names “Qadesh” and “Qadesh Barnea” 
are coming from as geographical place names in the Bible, we will not 
understand the historical foundation of Judaism.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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