Judges 4:11

Now Heber the Kenite The verse explains, with a view to Judges 4:17 ff., how the Kenites, who belonged properly to southern Palestine (see on Judges 1:16), came to be in this region: the family of Heber had branched off(cf. Genesis 10:5; Genesis 10:32) from the main clan, and pitched their tents as far north as the Tree of Bezaanim (so read, as below), near Kedesh. The words even from the children of Hobab … Mosesare a gloss on from Kain, probably derived from Judges 1:16 in its original form. It is impossible to reconcile the geographical data in the narrative as it stands. Heber's encampment is here said to be near Kedesh, which must be Kedesh-naphtali, judging from Judges 4:17 b, where Heber is brought into relation with Jabin king of Hazor. But Judges 4:18 ff. require a position for the Kenite tents in quite a different quarter, near the battle-field by the Kishon, on the route of Sisera's flight. Kedesh and Hazor are elements in the story of Jabin (see Judges 4:6 n.); while Jael, and from her we can hardly separate Heber, belongs to the story of Sisera; yet in Judges 4:17 b Heber is connected with Jabin. The difficulty may be relieved by supposing that the writer who combined the two stories, the writer responsible for making Sisera the general of Jabin's army Judges 4:7, has here confused Kedesh in Naphtali with another placeof the same name, and thus brought Heber into connexion with Jabin, though originally they had nothing to do with each other. Two alternatives as to the position of another Kedesh may be considered. (1) In 1 Chronicles 6:72 a Kedesh in Issachar is mentioned (but Joshua 19:20; Joshua 21:28 give Kishion), perhaps Tell Abû Ḳudçs between Megiddo and Taanach; this would suit Judges 4:11; Judges 4:17a, Judges 4:18 ff. Near this must be placed the Tree of Bezaanim, doubtless a sacred tree, not necessarily an oak. The name occurs again in Joshua 19:33 (see RVm.), but not in such a way as to determine its situation; it is mentioned as lying on the boundary of Naphtali, and this raises a difficulty it could not be described as -near Kedesh" in Issachar(? Abû Ḳudçs). (2) Bezaanim (so read for in Zaanannim), Βεσεμιείν Joshua 19:33 LXX. B, is identified by Conder (Tent Work, p. 68 ff.), followed by G. A. Smith (Hist. Geogr., p. 395f.), with Khirbet Bessûm on the plateau W. of the lake of Tiberias; to the W. there lies a Kedesh, 12 m. from Tabor, on the lake; not far off is Dâmiyeh, perhaps the Adâmi of Joshua 19:33. We thus obtain the required conditions; but the identifications are very uncertain, and if we accept them we must give up the identification of Harosheth with Ḥârithîyeh, which would then lie too far from the battle-field. There are difficulties in both explanations, fewest perhaps in (1).