Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

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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