ka'-desh-bar'-ne-a (qadhesh barnea`; Kades): Mentioned 10 times; called also "Kadesh" simply. The name perhaps means "the holy place of the desert of wandering." There are references to Kadesh in early history. At En-mishpat ("the same is Kadesh") Chedorlaomer and his allies smote the Amalekite and Amorite. Abraham dwelt near Kadesh, and it was at Beer-lahai-roi between Kadesh and Bered that the Angel of Yahweh appeared to Hagar (Genesis 14:7; 16:14; 20:1). It was an important camp of the Israelites during their wanderings, and seems to have been their headquarters for 38 years (Deuteronomy 1:2; 2:14; Judith 5:14). There the returning spies found the camp (Numbers 13:26); there Miriam died and was buried (Numbers 20:1); from thence messengers were sent to the king of Edom (Numbers 20:14; Judges 11:16 ff). There the people rebelled because of the want of water, and Moses brought water from the rock (Numbers 20:2 ff); it was called therefore Meribath--or Meriboth-Kadesh (Numbers 27:14; Ezekiel 47:19; 48:28). It was situated in the wilderness of Zin (Numbers 20:1; 33:36-37) in the hill country of the Amorites (Deuteronomy 1:19), 11 days' journey from Horeb, by the way of Mt. Seir (Deuteronomy 1:2), "in the uttermost" of the border of Edom (Numbers 20:16), and on the southern border, probably the Southeast corner, of Judah (Ezekiel 47:19; compare Judith 19). See Cobern, Homiletic Review, April and May, 1914.

S. F. Hunter

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

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