Judges 1:16

‘ And the children of the Kenite, Moses' brother-in-law (or ‘father-in-law'), went up from the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad, and they went and dwelt with the people.'

“The children of the Kenite, Moses” brother-in-law' (the word can indicate brother-in-law or father-in-law depending on how it is pointed. Ancient Hebrew had few vowels. The vowels were added later by a system known as ‘pointing'). We may reasonably see these as the family of Hobab (Numbers 10:29), as Judges 4:11 confirms. They went up from the city of palm trees (see on Judges 3:13). On the basis of Judges 3:13 this would be Jericho. The Targum also calls it the city of palm trees because of the many palm trees that grew near it. An alternative would be Zoar at the southern end of the Dead Sea which was called the city of palm trees in the Talmud.

In the latter case it would be possible that Hobab's family had remained around Zoar once he had fulfilled his function of acting as Israel's eyes in the wilderness, especially if he had married a Kenite wife. Then he would here be reconnected with Israel. But in view of Judges 3:13 it is much more likely that they were living in the area around Jericho and went with Judah from the area of Jericho where they had been living. After all, if they were in Zoar, why should they leave a place they had been in for thirty eight years, an area where the Kenites were until much later (1 Samuel 15:6; 1 Samuel 27:10), to live with Judah? Whereas the area around Jericho may have been seen as vulnerable to outside attack (Judges 3:13).

Excursus. The Kenites.

We should note that Reuel and Jethro (Exodus 2:18; Exodus 3:1; Exodus 18:1), are actually never said to be Kenites. They were priests of Midian. It is Hobab, Moses' brother-in-law, who is said to be a Kenite here (compare Judges 4:11) but not previously. His connection with the Kenites may thus have been through his wife. Moses had in fact pressed Hobab his brother-in-law to leave the Midianites and join them in their venture to Canaan (Numbers 10:29). The impression is that Hobab did so as an experienced wilderness dweller in order to act as their eyes. Once he had fulfilled his responsibility and they had arrived in Kenite territory in the land of the south, he may well have married a Kenite wife and linked up with the Kenites who were tent dwellers like himself.

But having been converted to the worship of Yahweh during his time with Israel, he was ready when the time came to throw in his lot, along with his family, with Judah. Some, of course, consider the Kenites to have been original Yahweh worshippers on the basis of Exodus 18, but this raises more difficulties than it solves. It is noteworthy that Jethro offered sacrifices to ‘God' not to Yahweh, and was never called a Kenite.

Even if they were right, and it must be considered very doubtful, the name is not really relevant. What is relevant are the teachings and customs connected with the name. The Kenites would have had to turn their own ideas (which would not have been based on the Exodus experience) upside down to submit to the tribal covenant and have subjected their own time honoured customs to the new ideas of the confederacy. For a proud tribe this would be unlikely. And yet here they seem to happily combine with Judah in the covenant by choice. Thus it is more likely that this only refers to the family connection of Hobab.

The name of the Kenites probably connects them with ‘smiths' and thus metalworkers. They were resident in Canaan in the time of Abraham (Genesis 15:19), and Saul, who connects them indirectly with the Amalekites but as separate from them, saw them as having been favourable to Israel when they came out of Egypt (1 Samuel 15:6). He also clearly saw them as a separate tribe not connected with Judah at that time, and that is acknowledged by David who associates them with the Jerahmeelites. These Kenites thus resided on the southern borders of Canaan (1 Samuel 27:10; 1 Samuel 30:29), and had not as a group combined with Judah. That was reserved for the household of Hobab. That at least some more of them eventually merged with Judah is probable from 1 Chronicles 2:9; 1 Chronicles 2:26; 1 Chronicles 2:55, probably in the time of David's reign. There is no reason, apart from their possible connection with Jethro, through Hobab, to connect them with the Midianites.

(End of Excursus.)