Kadesh or Qadesh or Cades (in classical Hebrew he, קָדֵשׁ, from the root "holy") is a place-name that occurs several times in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Canaan and the

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah ( he, , ''Yəhūdā''; akk, 𒅀𒌑𒁕𒀀𒀀 ''Ya'údâ'' 'ia-ú-da-a-a'' arc, 𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤃𐤅𐤃 ''Bēyt Dāwīḏ'', " House of David") was an Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. C ...

in the kingdom of Israel. Many modern academics hold that it was a single site, located at the modern Tel el-Qudeirat, while some academics and rabbinical authorities hold that there were two locations named Kadesh. A related term, either synonymous with Kadesh or referring to one of the two sites, is Kadesh (or Qadesh) Barnea. Various etymologies for ''Barnea'' have been proposed, including 'desert of wanderings,' but none have produced widespread agreement. The Bible mentions Kadesh and/or Kadesh Barnea in a number of episodes, making it an important site (or sites) in narratives concerning Israelite origins. Kadesh was the chief site of encampment for the Israelites during their wandering in the Zin Desert ( Deuteronomy 1:46), as well as the place from which the Israelite

spies Spies most commonly refers to people who engage in spying, espionage or clandestine operations. Spies or The Spies may also refer to: * Spies (surname), a German surname * Spies (band), a jazz fusion band * Spies (song), "Spies" (song), a song by ...

were sent to Canaan (

Numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

13:1-26). The first failed attempt to capture Canaan was made from Kadesh (). Moses struck a rock that brought forth water at Kadesh (). Miriam () and Aaron () both died and were buried near a place named Kadesh. Moses sent envoys to the King of

Edom Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east.N ...

from Kadesh (), asking for permission to let the Israelites use the King's Highway passing through his territory, which the Edomite king denied. Kadesh Barnea is a key feature in the common biblical formula delineating the southern border of the Land of Israel (cf. , , etc.) and thus its identification is key to understanding both the ideal and geopolitically realised borders of ancient Israel. Petra-5

Biblical references

* "And they turned back, and came to En-mishpat--the same is Kadesh--and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazazon-tamar." * "Wherefore the well was called 'Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered." * "And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the land of the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar." * "And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land." * "And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there." * -16 "And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom: 'Thus saith thy brother Israel: Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us; how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians dealt ill with us, and our fathers; and when we cried unto the LORD, He heard our voice, and sent a messenger, and brought us forth out of Egypt; and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border." * "And they journeyed from Kadesh; and the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came unto mount Hor." * -14 "And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered; because ye rebelled against My commandment in the wilderness of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify Me at the waters before their eyes.'--These are the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin." * -37 "And they journeyed from Ezion-geber, and pitched in the wilderness of Zin--the same is Kadesh. And they journeyed from Kadesh, and pitched in mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom." * "So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there." * "Because ye trespassed against Me in the midst of the children of Israel at the waters of Meribath-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified Me not in the midst of the children of Israel." * -17 "But when they came up from Egypt, and Israel walked through the wilderness unto the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh; then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying: Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land; but the king of Edom hearkened not. And in like manner he sent unto the king of Moab; but he would not; and Israel abode in Kadesh." * "The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh." * "And the south side southward shall be from Tamar as far as the waters of Meriboth-kadesh, to the Brook, unto the Great Sea. This is the south side southward." * "And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar unto the waters of Meribath-kadesh, to the Brook, unto the Great Sea."

Location

The most common identification of Kadesh or Kadesh Barnea in modern scholarship is with the present-day

Tell el-Qudeirat Tell el-Qudeirat is an archaeological site in the Sinai, about east of the Egyptian village of Quseima. It is widely considered to be the location of the biblical Kadesh Barnea.Drinkard (1990), p. 485. Recently, some authors have referred to it ...

, with most contemporary scholars seeing the biblical references to Kadesh as referring to a single site.Yigal Levin, Numbers 34:2-12,
The boundaries of the land of Canaan, and the empire of Necho
" ''

Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society The ''Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society'' (JANES) is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal. It was established in 1968 as ''The Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society of Columbia University'', and since 1980 it has been housed a ...

'' 30 2006, 65. The Bible locates Kadesh, or Kadesh Barnea, as an oasis south of Canaan, west of the Aravah and east of the Brook of Egypt. It is 11 days' march by way of

Mount Seir Mount Seir ( he, הַר-שֵׂעִיר, ''Har Sēʿīr'') is the ancient and biblical name for a mountainous region stretching between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba in the northwestern region of Edom and southeast of the Kingdom of Judah. I ...

from Horeb (Deuteronomy 1:2). By the late nineteenth century, as many as eighteen sites had been proposed for biblical Kadesh. One source of confusion has been the fact that Kadesh is sometimes mentioned in connection with the

Desert of Paran The Desert of Paran or Wilderness of Paran (also sometimes spelled Pharan or Faran; he, מִדְבַּר פָּארָן, ''Midbar Pa'ran''), is a location mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. It is one of the places where the Israelites spent part of th ...

(Numbers 13:26) and at other times with the Zin Desert (Numbers 20:1). This discrepancy has been noted by commentators as early as the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. Some (''e.g.'', Hezekiah ben Manoah) sought a reconciliatory model, while others ( Abraham ibn Ezra and

Nahmanides Moses ben Nachman ( he, מֹשֶׁה בֶּן־נָחְמָן ''Mōše ben-Nāḥmān'', "Moses son of Nachman"; 1194–1270), commonly known as Nachmanides (; el, Ναχμανίδης ''Nakhmanídēs''), and also referred to by the acronym Ra ...

) proposed two separate sites named Kadesh. A minority of recent scholars have continued to maintain a two-site theory, with a western Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, and an eastern Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran, the latter often associated with

Petra, Jordan Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Jab ...

. The two-site theory also appears to have been held by

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

and Eusebius of Caesarea. Josephus identifies Miriam's burial site (which the Bible identifies as Kadesh) with Petra, which he called ''Rekem''. After a period in which researchers identified Kadesh with the similarly named Ein Qedeis, since 1905 modern Ain-el-Qudeirat in Wadi el-Ain of northern Sinai has been widely accepted as the location of Kadesh Barnea. Several

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

fortresses have been excavated there. The oldest, a small elliptical structure, dates to the tenth century BCE, and was abandoned for some time after its first destruction. A second fort, constructed during the eighth century BCE (probably during the reign of Uzziah) was destroyed during the seventh century BCE, most likely during

Manasseh of Judah Manasseh (; Hebrew: ''Mənaššé'', "Forgetter"; akk, 𒈨𒈾𒋛𒄿 ''Menasî'' 'me-na-si-i'' grc-gre, Μανασσῆς ''Manasses''; la, Manasses) was the fourteenth king of the Kingdom of Judah. He was the oldest of the sons of Hezekia ...

's reign. Two

ostraca An ostracon ( Greek: ''ostrakon'', plural ''ostraka'') is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeological or epigraphical context, ''ostraca'' refer to sherds or even small pieces of ...

engraved in Hebrew, dated to the 8th or 7th century BCE, have been recovered there, suggesting Israelite occupation.

Archaeological excavations

Excavations at Ain el-Qudeirat conducted by Dr. Rudolph Cohen, former head of the Israeli Antiquities Authority during the Israeli occupation of Sinai following the 1967 war uncovered copious remains of the Middle Bronze Age I period (MBA I or MBI, sometimes known as the Intermediate Bronze Age), which were also found at numerous other sites in the Negev. On the other hand, Late Bronze Age, the conventional time of the Exodus, was unattested in the Negev, although more recent reevaluations of the archaeological findings indicate that the site was probably occupied from at least the 12th century BCE. In an article in ''

Biblical Archaeology Review ''Biblical Archaeology Review'' is a magazine appearing every three months and sometimes referred to as ''BAR'' that seeks to connect the academic study of archaeology to a broad general audience seeking to understand the world of the Bible, the ...

'' of July, 1983, Cohen put forward the suggestion that the Exodus took place at the start of MBI and that the MBI people were, in fact, the Israelites. The idea has not been widely adopted.

References

{{Coord, 30, 38, 33, N, 34, 24, 49, E, region:SA_type:city_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Torah cities

Biblical references

Location

Archaeological excavations

See also

References