Ken'ezite (Numb, xxxii, 12; Josh. xiv,0, 14"^. See Kexizzite,
Ken'ite [some Ke'nite'] {^i^p,, Keijni', prob. from "jlp, to worh in iron, Gen. xv, 19 ; Numb. xxi,v, 21 ; Judg. i, 16; iv, 11, 17; v, 24; 1 Sam. xv, 6; xxx, 29; written also "'3|!!, Kent', 1 Sam. xxvii, 10; and plural, £"'2^1?', Kinim', 1 Chron. ii, 55 ; Sept. Kf7'«(0(, Gen. xv, 19; Kf ?'a7oc, Numb, xxiv, 21; Judg. iv, 11, 17; V.ivaloi, 1 Chron. ii, 55 ; Ku'rtToc, Judg. i, 16 ; v, 24 ; 1 Sam. xv, 6 ; Kfi'i V. r. Kfi'fi^i, 1 Sam. xxvii, 10; xxx, 29; Vulg. Ci- ncei. Gen. xv, 19 ; 1 Chron. ii, 55 ; Cinaus, Numb, xxiv, 21 ; Judg, i, 16 ; iv, 11, 17 ; v, 24 ; 1 Sam. xv, 6 ; Ceni, 1 Sam. xxvii, 10; xxx, 29; Auth.Vers. "Kenitcs," Gen. XV, 19; Numb, xxiv, 21; Judg. iv, 11; 1 Sam. xv, 6 ; xxvii, 10; xxx, 29; 1 Chron. ii, 55; '" Kcnite," Judg. i, 16; iv,17; v,24; sometimes written "^|?,A''rt'?/H/, Numb, xxiv, 22, Septuag. voacia iravovf)^ iac ,\ v\s;. Cin, Auth. Vers. "Kenite; Judg. iv. 11, last clause, Sept. K.tva, Vulg. Cina'i, Auth.Vers. " Kenites"), a collective name for a tribe of peojile who originally inhabited the rocky and desert region lying between St)uthern Palestine and the mountains of Sinai adjoining— and even partly inter- mingling with — the Amalekites (Numb, xxiv, 21; 1 Sam. XV, 0). In the time of Abraham they possessed a part of that country which the Lord promised to him (Gen. XV, 19), and which extended from Egypt to the Euphrates (verse 18). At the Exodus the Kenites pas- tured their flocks round Singi and Horel). Jethro, Mo- ses's father-in-law, was a Kenite (Judg. i, 16); and it was when Moses kept his flocks on the heights of Ho- rel) that the Lord appeared to him in tlie bi:rning bush (Exod. iii, 1, 2). Now Jethro is said to have been '■priest of J/m//««" (ver. 1), and a "Midianitc" (Numb. X, 29) ; hence we conclude that the jMidianifes and Ke- nites were identical. It seems, however, that there were two distinct tribes of IMidianites, one descended from Abraham's son by Keturah (Gen. xxv, 2), and the other an older Arabian tribe. See JIidiaxite. If this
KEXITE
40
KENIZZITE
1)6 SO, then the Kcnites were the older tribe. They were nomads, and roamed over the country on the north- ern border of the Sinai peninsula, and along the eastern shores of the Gidf of Akabah. This r^y^ion agrees well with the prophetic description of Balaam: "'And he looked on the Keuites, and said, Strong is thy dwelling- jilace, and thou puttest thy nest {'p_, ken, alluding to their name) in a rock" (Xunib. xxiv, 21 J. The wild and riH-ky mountains along the west side of the valley of Arabah, and on both shores of the Gidf of Akabah, were the home of the Kenites. The connection of j\Io- ses with the Kenites, and the friendship shown by that tribe to the Israelites in their-journey through the wil- derness, had an important influence npon their after his- tory. Mosos invited .Tethro to accompany him to Pal- estine; he declined (Numb, x, 29-32), Init a portion of the tribe afterwards joined the Israelites, and Lad as- signed to them a region ou the southern border of Ju- dah, such as fitted a nomad people (Judg. i, IG). There they had the Israelites on the one side, and the Amalek- ites on the other, occupying a position similar to that of the Tartar tribes in Persia at the present day. One family of them, separating themselves from their breth- ren in the south, migrated away to Northern Palestine, and pitched their tents beneath the oak-trees on the iqiland grassy plains of Kedesh-Naphtali (Judg. iv, 11, where we should translate : "And Hcber the Kcnite had severed himself from Kain of the children of Ilobab, the father-in-law of ■Moses, and pitched," etc.). It was here that Jael, the wife of Heber, their chief, slew Sisera, who had sought refuge in her tent (verse 17-21). It would appear from the narrative that while the Kenites preserved their old friendlv intercourse with the Israel- ites, they were also at peace with the enemies of Israel — with the Canaanites in the north and the Amalekites in the south. When Saul marched against the Ama- lekites, he warned the Kenites to separate themselves from tlicm, for, he said, '"Ye showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt" (1 Sara. XV, 0). The Kenites still retained their posses- sions in the .south of Judah during the time of David, who made a similar exemption in their case in his feign- ed attack (1 Sam. xxvii, 10 ; compare xxx, 20), but we hear no more of them in Scriptiu-e history. If it be necessary to look for a literal '■ fulfilment" of the sen- tence of Balaam (Numb, xxiv, 22), we shall best find it in the accounts of the latter days of Jerusalem under Jchoiakim, when the Keuite Rechabites were so far '• wastetl" by the invading array of Assyria as to be driven to take refuge within the walls of the city, a step to which we may be sure nothing short of actual extremity coidd have forced these Children of the Des- ert. Whether '"Asshur carried them away captive" with the other inhabitants we arc not told, but it is at least probable.