Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

James:

In Genesis we find two different places named Kadesh: one from its context
along the Kings Highway (Genesis 14:7) and one not far from Philistine
territories (Genesis 16:14, 20:1). Both in the South.

Numbers mentions Kadesh in Paran, from where the spies were sent (chapter
13) and in the Wilderness of Zin (chapter 20) apparently along the Kings
Highway. The first one has no mention of Edom, in fact could go directly
from there to the Promised Land, the second in context with the desire to go
through Edom on their way north.

How large was the Wilderness of Zin?

Every mention of Kadesh in Joshua is of Kadesh Barnea to the west of the
Rift Valley.

2 Samuel 24:6 mentions still another Kadesh, that of Kadesh in the land of
the Hittites, in context in the north.

As far as the modern identities of these places, that is outside a strict
linguistic analysis of the text.

Karl W. Randolph.


> Considering these things it would seem logical to me for there to either be
> a different Kadesh or that the identification of Kadesh-Barnea to be in
> error. Looking at Num 34:3-5 concluding that modern day Kadesh-Barnea is a
> good identification would seem to depend on you identification of the Zin
> desert, the ascent of Akrabbim, Hazar-addar, Azmon and the torrent valley
> of
> Egypt. With which modern places do you identify these boundary points?
>
> James Christian
>
>