Meaning
Kadesh-Barnea ka'-desh-bar'-ne-a (qadhesh barnea`; Kades): Mentioned 10 times; called also "Kadesh" simply. The name perhaps means "the holy place of the desert of wandering." There are references to Kadesh in early history. At En-mishpat ("the same is Kadesh") Chedorlaomer and his allies smote the Amalekite and Amorite. Abraham dwelt near Kadesh, and it was at Beer-lahai-roi between Kadesh and Bered that the Angel of Yahweh appeared to Hagar (Gen 14:7, Gen 16:14, Gen 20:1). It was an important camp of the Israelites during their wanderings, and seems to have been their headquarters for 38 years (Deu 1:2, Deu 2:14, Judith 5:14). There the returning spies found the camp (Nu 13:26); there Miriam died and was buried (Nu 20:1); from thence messengers were sent to the king of Edom (Num 20:14, Jdg 11:16). There the people rebelled because of the want of water, and Moses brought water from the rock (Nu 20:2); it was called therefore Meribath-or Meriboth-Kadesh (Num 27:14, Eze 47:19, Eze 48:28). It was situated in the wilderness of Zin (Num 20:1, Num 33:36, Num 33:37) in the hill country of the Amorites (De 1:19), 11 days' journey from Horeb, by the way of Mt. Seir (De 1:2), "in the uttermost" of the border of Edom (Nu 20:16), and on the southern border, probably the Southeast corner, of Judah (Eze 47:19; compare Judith 19). See Cobern, Homiletic Review, April and May, 1914.
S. F. Hunter
