Kedesh

From BibleEncyclopedia.Net

Sanctuary.

(1.) A place in the extreme south of Judah (Jos_15:23). Probably the same as Kadesh-barnea (q.v.).

(2.) A city of Issachar (1Ch_6:72). Possibly Tell Abu Kadeis, near Lejjun.

(3.) A “fenced city” of Naphtali, one of the cities of refuge (Jos_19:37; Jdg_4:6). It was assigned to the Gershonite Levites (Jos_21:32). It was originally a Canaanite royal city (Jos_12:22), and was the residence of Barak (Jdg_4:6); and here he and Deborah assembled the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali before the commencement of the conflict with Sisera in the plain of Esdraelon, “for Jehovah among the mighty” (Jdg_4:9, Jdg_4:10). In the reign of Pekah it was taken by Tiglath-Pileser (2Ki_15:29). It was situated near the “plain” (rather “the oak”) of Zaanaim, and has been identified with the modern Kedes, on the hills fully four miles north-west of Lake El Huleh.

It has been supposed by some that the Kedesh of the narrative, where Barak assembled his troops, was not the place in Upper Galilee so named, which was 30 miles distant from the plain of Esdraelon, but Kedish, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, 12 miles from Tabor.

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Kedesh (1)

kē´desh (קדשׁ, ḳedhesh; Κάδης, Kádēs):

(1) One of the “uttermost cities” of Judah “toward the border of Edom in the South” (Jos_15:23). Possibly it is to be identified with Kadesh-Barnea (which see); otherwise it is strange that this latter should be omitted from the list. Dillmann would identify it with Kādūs, to the South of Hebron, mentioned by Muqaddasi.

(2) A town in the territory of Issachar, given to the Gershonite Levites (1Ch_6:72). In the list of Joshua (Jos_21:28) its place is taken by Kishion (which see). Conder suggests identification with Tell Abu Ḳadēs, near Megiddo.

(3) Kedesh-Naphtali, the famous city of refuge in the uplands of Naphtali. It is called “Kedesh,” simply, in Jos_12:22, etc.; Kedesh-Naphtali in Jdg_4:6; Tobit 1:2; Kedesh in Galilee in Jos_20:7, etc. It was assigned to the Gershonite Levites (1Ch_6:76). From the name “holy,” we gather that it was a sanctuary from old time. It was therefore a place of asylum, and only preserved its ancient character in this respect when chosen as one of the cities of refuge. It was the home of Barak, and here his host assembled. When the Assyrians invaded the land under Tiglath-pileser, it was among the first cities to be captured, and its inhabitants were deported (2Ki_15:29). Near Kedesh was fought the great battle between Jonathan the Maccabee and Demetrius (1 Macc 11:63 ff). Josephus says that in his time it belonged to the Tyrians, lying between their land and that of Galilee (Ant., XIII, v, 6; BJ, II, xviii, 1; IV, ii, 3, etc.). Eusebius, Onomasticon places it 20 miles from Tyre, near to Paneas. It is represented by the modern village of Ḳedes, which lies on the plateau to the West of el-Ḥūleh. It crowns a tell which runs out in a low ridge into the little plain to the West. Near the fountain, which rises under the ridge to the North, are the most interesting of the ancient remains. There are many fine sarcophagi, some of them being used as watering-troughs. From its lofty situation, Kedesh commanded a spacious view over a richly varied landscape, with smiling cornfields, and hills clothed with oak and terebinth.

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