Kadesh

“ It is foreshadowed by the injunction to avoid the direct way into Palestine (see Ex. xiii. 17-19) , since on reaching Kadesh the Israelites would be within reach of hostile tribes, and the conflicts which it was proposed to avoid actually ensued. [5] The forty years of wandering in the wilderness is characteristic of the Deuteronomic and post-exilic narratives; in the earlier sources the fruitful oasis of Kadesh is the centre, and even after the tradition of a détour to Sinai-Horeb was developed, only a brief period is spent at the holy mountain. ”

“ The spring of Kadesh is still a favorite resort of Arab tribes, but its waters are not sufficient to support permanently even a small Bedouin clan. It is only as the tribes wander from place to place, ever seeking new pastures for their flocks, that the inhabitants of this southern wilderness are able to subsist. If the Israelites remained in this region for a generation, as the later traditions state, they must have reverted to that nomadic life which still survives in the desert. ”

“ From Aila the conquerors turned round, and marched (not through the Arabah, but on the desert plateau which they ascended from Aila) to En-mishpat ( well of judgment) , the older name of Kadesh, the situation of which, indeed, cannot be proved with certainty, but which is most probably to be sought for in the neighbourhood of the spring Ain Kades, discovered by Rowland, to the south of Bir Seba and Khalasa ( Elusa) , twelve miles E.S.E. of Moyle, the halting-place for caravans, near Hagar's well (Gen 16:14) , on the heights of Jebel Halal (see Ritter, Erdkunde, and Num 13) . ”

“ By the “angel” who led Israel out of Egypt we are naturally to understand not the pillar of cloud and fire (Knobel) , but the angel of the Lord, the visible revealer of the invisible God, whom the messengers describe indefinitely as “an angel,” when addressing the Edomites. Kadesh is represented in Num 20:16 as a city on the border of the Edomitish territory. ”

“ Their journey from Horeb to Kadesh is thus described by Moses, [149] : And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which you saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us; and, we came to Kadesh-barnea. And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give unto us. Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee; go up and possess it. But the people proposed to Moses to send spies, to bring them an account of the land, and of its inhabitants, [150] . ”

“ It takes all the lights and gathers them to itself.
So we have learned that the Holy One, blessed be He puts on Tefilin which means He takes all the supernal crowns. What are they? They are the secret of the supernal Abba and supernal Imma; they are the Mochin of Chochmah and Binah, the secret of the two passages, "Kadesh (sanctify to me) " (Devarim 11:13) and "Vehayah Ki Yeviacha (and it shall be when Hashem shall bring you) " (Shmot 13:11-16) . Kadesh is the Mochin of the supernal Abba, which is Chochmah. Vehayah Ki Yeviacha is the Mochin of the Supernal Imma, Binah. ”

“ If certain clans moved direct from Kadesh into Judah, it is improbable that others made the lengthy détour from Kadesh by the Gulf of Akabah, but this may well be an attempt to fuse the traditions of two distinct migrations. Among the Joseph-tribes (Ephraim and Manasseh) , the most important of Israelite divisions, the traditions of an ancestor who had lived and died in Egypt would be a cherished possession, but although most writers agree that not all the tribes were in Egypt, it is impossible to determine their number with any certainty. ”

“ The death of Miriam took place during the time when the people were collected at Kadesh-barnea in the desert of Zin (Num 20:21) . But when the whole nation assembled together in this desert there was a deficiency of water, which caused the people to murmur against Moses, until God relieved the want by a miracle (Num 20:2-13) . It was from Kadesh that messengers were sent to the king of Edom (Num 20:14.) ; but instead of waiting at Kadesh till the messengers returned, Moses appears to have proceeded with the people in the meantime into the Arabah. ”

“ The place where the people murmured upon the return of the spies was Kadesh-Barnea, [738] ; [739] ; [740] . This place was called Rithmah before, ( [741] , compared with [742] , and [743] ) , and was so called probably from the juniper trees that grew there; but is now named Kadesh, because the Lord was there sanctified upon the people, as [744] ; and Barnea, or the wandering son, because here was the decree made of their long wandering in the wilderness. They continued a good space at Kadesh before they removed; for so said Moses, Ye abode in Kadesh many days ”

“ Num. xxxiv. 4) , may have marked its limits from Jebel Mādera north-west towards the southern extremity of the Dead Sea. Kadesh (ʽAin Ḳadis) , however, lies about 50 m. south of Beersheba (the southern end of Israel as opposed to Dan in the north) , and the precise borders must always have been determined by political conditions: by the relations between Edom and its neighbours, Judah, the Philistine states, Moab, and the restless desert tribes with which Edom was always very closely allied. ”

“ Elsewhere, in the records of the Exodus, there are traces of specific traditions associated with Kadesh, Kenites, Caleb and Jerahmeel, and with a movement into Judah, all originally independent of their present context. Like the prominence of the traditions of Hebron and its hero Abraham, these features cannot be merely casual. [35]
The fact that one is not dealing with literal history complicates the question of the nomadic or semi-nomadic life of the Israelite ancestors. ”

“ You know all the hardship that has found us, 15 how our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we stayed in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians mistreated us ourselves and our ancestors. 16 We cried out to Yahweh, and he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and brought us out of Egypt, and here we are: at Kadesh, a city at the edge of your territory. ”

“ The names point generally to an affinity with south Palestine and north Arabia (Edom, Midian, &c.; see especially the lists in Gen. xxxvi.) , and suggest that certain members of a closely related collection of groups had separated from the main body and were ultimately enrolled as Israelites. It is also recognized by many scholars that in the present account of the exodus there are indications of the original prominence of traditions of Kadesh, and also of a journey northwards in which Caleb, Kenites and others took part (§ 5) . ”

“ The reason for their being compelled to remain in the desert for forty years was to be found exclusively in their resistance to the commandments of God. The discontent of the people with the guidance of God was manifested at the very first places of encampment in the desert (Num 11 and 12) ; but Moses passed over this, and simply reminded them of the rebellion at Kadesh (Num 13 and 14) , because it was this which was followed by the condemnation of the rebellious generation to die out in the wilderness. ”

“ Before the campaign was ended the Egyptian army had penetrated far to the north and captured Inuam, south of Damascus, as well as Anugas or Nukhasse, and Harankal, to the north of the land of the Amorites. All these places seem to have belonged to the king of Kadesh, as his property was carried away out of them. When Thothmes {99} returned to Thebes the quantity of spoil be brought back with him was immense. ”

“ From Tamar - in Kadesh - The former was on the south of the Dead Sea; and the latter, or Kadesh-Barnea, was still farther south, and at the extremity of the portion of Gad, which was the most southern tribe, as Dan was the most northern. ”

“ From Kadesh or Rithmah to Rimmon Parez, to Libnah, to Rissah, to Kehelathah, to Mount Shapher, to Haradah, to Makheloth, to Tahath, to Tarah, to Mithcah, to Hashmonah, to Moseroth, to Benejaaken, to Horhagidgad, to Jotbathah, to Ebronah, to Ezion-Gaber, to Kadesh again, in the fortieth year. And though it was only eleven days' journey from Horeb, by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-Barnea, ( [748] ) , they made it above thrice eleven years' journey! ”

“ In earlier times we hear of them, so far as I am aware, only in the 'Poem of Pentaur,' a work which celebrates the battle fought at Kadesh early in the thirteenth century, between Rameses II and the Hittites. It is there stated that the "chief of Kheta had come, having gathered together all countries from the ends of the sea to the land of Kheta, which came entire [378] ." In addition to a number of Syrian names which occur in the accounts of earlier wars the poem contains a group of new names of peoples, consisting of Pidasa, Dardenui, Masa, Kalakisha and Luka, with two others [379] . ”

“ On leaving Kadesh the Israelites marched eastwards towards the borders of Edom, and encamped at the base of Mount Hor, while awaiting the reply of the King of Edom to the request of Moses for permission to pass through his country on the way towards the Land of Promise. ”

“ Assuming the transgressions of which the history informs us and the punishments that followed them, we must believe that the tribes were on much the same moral plane. In the natural course of things there would have been a considerable increase in the numbers of men. The hardships and judgments of the desert and the defection of some by the way are general causes of diminution. We have also seen reason to believe that a proportion, not perhaps very great, remained at Kadesh, and did not take the journey round Edom. ”

“ These hindrances left behind as the soul, still confiding and hopeful, is urged on towards the goal, a great trial like that of Kadesh follows. We are not far from the frontier of promise; and anticipations are formed of many delights for heart and life. Is not obedience to bring felicity, an easy salvation from doubt and fear? But it becomes plain that there are enemies to faith and peace beyond the border as well as in the region already crossed. Complete conformity to the Divine will has not been achieved. ”

“ After the long residence in the region of Kadesh the Israelites took up their march to Canaan. The generation now existing had been almost altogether born in the desert, and had been raised under the tutelage of Moses and his brother Aaron. Miriam, the sister, had undoubtedly added much to the influence which her brothers exerted by her nearer relation to the female population. The discipline had had its full effect during this long period, and there had grown up a vigorous and well-ordered race, totally different from the race that had left Egypt forty years before. ”

“ After reaching Kadesh-barnea, the Israelites in their wanderings had come into contact with various Bedawin tribes—Kenites, Jerahmelites, Edomites, and Midianites, with whom they had in turn fought or allied themselves, according to the exigencies of their pastoral life. Continual skirmishes had taught them the art of war, their numbers had rapidly increased, and with this increase came a consciousness of their own strength, so that, after a lapse of two or three generations, they may be said to have constituted a considerable nation. ”

“ At the same time, by addressing the existing members of the nation, as if they themselves had spoken so, whereas the whole congregation that rebelled at Kadesh had fallen in the desert, and a fresh generation was now gathered round him, Moses points to the fact, that the sinful corruption which broke out at that time, and bore such bitter fruit, had not died out with the older generation, but was germinating still in the existing Israel, and even though it might be deeply hidden in their hearts, would be sure to break forth again. ”

“ The male prostitutes were called Kadesh the holy, the women being Kadeshah, and doubtless gave themselves up to great excesses. Eusebius (De bit. Const. iii. c. 55) describes a school of impurity at Aphac, where women and “men who were not men” practised all manner of abominations in honour of the Demon (Venus) . Here the Phrygian symbolism of Kybele and Attis (Atys) had become the Syrian Ba’al Tammuz and Astarte, and the Grecian Dionæa and Adonis, the anthropomorphic forms of the two greater lights. ”

“ The name “Waters of Merı̂bah,” which properly is borne only by Merı̂bath Kadesh, the place of the giving of water in the fortieth year (Num 20:13; Num 27:14; Deu 32:51; Deu 33:8) , is here transferred to the place of the giving of water in the first year, which was named Massah u - Merı̂bah (Exo 17:7) , as the remembrances of these two miracles, which took place under similar circumstances, in general blend together (vid., on Psa 95:8.) . It is not now said that Israel did not act in response to the expectation of God, who had son wondrously verified Himself ”

“ His elder sister Miriam died at Kadesh, and Aaron died somewhat later at Mount Hor, which is supposed to lie about as far to the east of Kadesh as Hormah is to the west, but there are circumstances about the death of Aaron which point to Moses as having had more to do with it than of having been a mere passive spectator thereof.
The whole congregation is represented as having “journeyed from Kadesh and come unto Mount Hor ... by the coast of the land of Edom,” and there the “Lord” spoke unto Moses and Aaron, and explained that Aaron was to be “gathered unto his people, ... ”

“ They would find advantage, not injury, in the visit of those who bring new enthusiasms and ideas to bear on existence. They would learn of other aims than occupy them, a better hope than they possess. Their sympathy would be enlisted in heavenly or humane endeavours, and new alliances would quicken as well as broaden their life. But they will not listen; they continue selfish to the end. Against all such Christianity has to urge the law of brotherhood and of sacrifice.
We have assumed that Kadesh was on the western side of the Arabah, and it is necessary to take ver. ”