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Bible Dictionaries
Kenites
Morrish Bible Dictionary
or There seem to have been several different peoples called by this name, without any apparent link between them. Thus
1. There were some in the land when it was promised to Abraham. Genesis 15:19 .
2. Jethro, or Raguel, Moses' father-in-law, is called a Kenite, Judges 1:16 , and is also called a Midianite. Numbers 10:29 . The Midianites sprung from Midian, the son of Abraham and Keturah, Genesis 25:2; so these Kenites were probably a branch of the Midianites. The children of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, left Jericho, the city of palm trees, and went into the wilderness of Judah, which was to the south of Arad, and dwelt there. Judges 1:16 Apparently Heber the Kenite travelled north, and was neutral between Israel and their enemies; but Jael his wife smote Sisera in her tent. Judges 4:11,17; Judges 5:24 . Others remained in the far south, for when Saul was going to smite the Amalekites he warned the Kenites, for their own safety, to depart from among them, because they had befriended Israel when they came from Egypt. 1 Samuel 15:6 . They were still in the neighbourhood when David feigned to have attacked them. He regarded them as friends, and sent presents to them. 1 Samuel 27:10; 1 Samuel 30:29 .
3. There were Kenites whom Balaam saw dwelling in the rocks, and who were to be carried away by Asshur. Numbers 24:21,22 . These may have been a remnant of the Kenites mentioned in Genesis 15:19 .
4. Descendants of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab. 1 Chronicles 2:55 .
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Morrish, George. Entry for 'Kenites'. Morrish Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/mbd/k/kenites.html. 1897.
