Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Etymology of ‘Qadesh Barnea’:  Ugarit Explains All
 
1.  A text from Ugarit refers to the upper Jordan River Valley as GR.

 
“[A Ugaritic] text contains several other clear references to the Jordan 
valley, which it designates as the ‘Ghor’ (gr) -- a word meaning ‘cleft’, 
ravine’
.  In the Ugaritic texts…it is used absolutely, as the Arabic ghor still is, 
to name the ravine par excellence.”
 
George A. Barton, “Danel, a Pre-Israelite Hero of Galilee”, in “Journal of 
Biblical Literature”, Vol. 60, No. 3 (Sept., 1941), at p. 216.
 
Thus GR originally meant the upper Jordan River Valley, very broadly 
construed.  Hence “Garu” in the Amarna Letters, and GRR/“Gerar” at Genesis 
20: 1.
 
2.  In a Ugaritic text, a well-known city in GR, that is, in the upper Jordan 
River Valley, near the Lake of Huleh north of the Sea of Galilee, is Qadesh 
of Upper Galilee.  “Qadesh” is spelled qds in Ugaritic.
 
“El set up to his son, Danel, a ‘pillar’…in Qadesh [QDS].  …Danel’s pillar 
was a definite pillar in a definite locality, and that locality was Qadesh.  
It could not have been Qadesh in the wilderness of Zin [i.e., Qadesh Barnea], 
for no southern localities are mentioned in the poem.  …Qadesh in Naphtali 
[i.e., Qadesh of Upper Galilee] is the Qadesh referred to as is shown by 
other 
local references soon to be discussed.  …[I]n a passage which describes how 
Danel destroyed the augury of his enemy Aqahat by destroying his birds, the 
eagles 
and vultures, we read:  ‘He buried them in the fishing-place in Kinnereth.’  
…As is well known, the name [Kinnereth] applied to the valley which runs 
northwestward from the Sea of Galilee….  This links the Danel stories 
definitely 
with Galilee.  The fishing-place was doubtless the Sea of Galilee.”
 
Barton, at pp. 216-218
 
3.  Qadesh Barnea, a desert oasis with a name not attested in secular 
history, located far southwest of Jerusalem, has nothing to do with GR.
 
But Qadesh of Upper Galilee goes with GR like hand and glove:
 
“Qadesh was situated on a hill not far from the edge of the western wall of 
the Ghor [GR].  From it one overlooked the Huleh (the waters of Merom) to the 
southeast.  …Danel was a semi-mythical hero of Galilee….”
 
Barton at p. 225
 
4.  One cannot think about Qadesh of Upper Galilee without thinking about GR, 
Ghor, the upper Jordan River Valley, and GLL/GLYL/Galilee.  In the beginning, 
that is in the 15th and 14th centuries BCE, GR/GRR/Ghor/Galilee/the upper 
Jordan River Valley all had approximately the same meaning.  They all 
referred to 
the land on both sides of the Sea of Galilee, the upper Jordan River Valley, 
very broadly construed.  Later, the concept of the Jordan River Valley did 
not 
extend as far east or west, and “Galilee” eventually became limited to the 
area west of the upper Jordan River, while continuing to extend all the way 
west to the Mediterranean Sea.  But in the beginning, the concept of the 
upper 
Jordan River Valley and Galilee were essentially indistinguishable.  GR in 
Ugaritic meant both.  GRR/“Gerar” in Biblical Hebrew meant both.  GR/GaRu/GaR 
in 
the Amarna Letters meant both.  These three examples of GR or GRR eventually 
came out as GLL, which in final form was GLYL:  “Galilee”.  The Egyptian 
forerunner of all these names is KRR as item #80 on the Thutmosis III 
topographical 
list of cities in Canaan (a majority of which cities are located in Galilee). 
 
The archaeological remains of Qadesh of Upper Galilee go back to the Late 
Bronze Age.  K.A. Kitchen “On the Reliability of the Old Testament” (2003), 
at 
p. 186.
 
When one sees QDS and GR, or QDS and GRR, in an ancient Semitic text, the 
meaning should be clear.  That’s Qadesh (QDS) of Upper Galilee, in 
Galilee/the 
upper Jordan River Valley (GR or GRR).  That’s what those letters meant in 
the 
Late Bronze Age.  Yes, QDS out of context could mean any number of places, 
and 
often had important meanings not related to geography.  But when QDS is 
paired 
with either GR or GRR, the ambiguity vanishes instantly.  QDS of GR, and QDS 
of GRR, refer to only one place:  Qadesh of Upper Galilee, in the upper 
Jordan 
River Valley.
 
QDS and GR, or QDS and GRR, cannot possibly be referencing the fictional name 
of “Qadesh Barnea”, as the locale of a desert oasis far southwest of 
Jerusalem.
 
No, QDS of GR, and QDS of GRR, unequivocally reference historical Qadesh of 
Upper Galilee, no other Qadesh.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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