Numbers 24:21

And he looked on the Kenites,.... Not the family and posterity of Jethro, as Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and Abendana; for they were not a people by themselves, but were now encamped with Israel, and went

And he looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwellingplace, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock. And he looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable , [ ha-Qeeyniy (H7017) (cf.

The Kenite; the posterity or kindred of Jethro; not that part of them which dwelt among the Israelites, to whom the following words do not agree, but those of them who were mingled with the Amalekites and Midianites. See 4:11 . Thy nest, i.e. thy dwelling-place, so called, either because it was in a high place, as nests commonly are; or from their security and confidence of continuing long and safe in it; see ; or in allusion to their name, for ken in Hebrew signifies a nest.

Numbers 24:21 And he looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwellingplace, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock.Ver. 21. The Kenites,] i.e., The Midianites, mingled among the Amalekites, for whom they are, and fare the worse, as Hamath did for Damascus.

(21-22) And he looked on the Kenites . . . —According to the ordinary interpretation of these verses the continuous destruction of the Kenites is foretold until the Israelites should be taken captive by the Assyrians. The Kenites are included amongst the tribes whose country Abraham’s descendants were to possess (Genesis 15:19). A portion of this tribe, however (for there is no evidence that the Canaanitish and the Midianitish Kenites had a different origin), joined the Israelites, and settled on the southern border of Judah (Judges 1:16). If the Authorised Version of these verses be adopted, it is reasonable to conclude that the Kenites to whom Balaam’s prophecy referred must have been included amongst the enemies of Israel, whose destruction, in common with their other foes, is here predicted. It is obvious that this interpretation is open to two serious objections:—(1) that the natural reference of the words “carry thee away captive” is to the Kenites, not to the Israelites; and (2) that as the later history, as well as the Book of Numbers, makes mention only of those Kenites who allied themselves with the Israelites, we should naturally expect that in accordance with the promise which was given to Hobab by Moses (Numbers 10:29), the Kenites should be distinguished from the enemies of Israel, and be exempted from the destruction with which they were threatened. Another rendering of Num 24:22, and one which appears to be more agreeable to the context in which it stands, is the following:—“For surely the Kenites shall not be destroyed until Asshur shall carry thee into captivity.” This version has the support of the Targum of Palestine and other authorities. It is true that there is no express record of the fulfilment of this prophecy, but it is not probable that the Assyrians spared the Kenites who were settled amongst the Israelites; and we know from Jeremiah 35:11 that after the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, the Rechabites, who were of the Kenite race (1 Chronicles 2:55), came to Jerusalem for fear of the armies of the Chaldeans and Syrians. If Asshur denotes in this place the Assyrians in the later acceptation of the term, it must be remembered that one branch of the Kenites settled in Naphtali, near Kadesh (Judges 4:11). Asshur, however, appears to be used in a wider sense, so as to include all the nations which proceeded from it (see Numbers 24:24). Even the Persian king is called, as Keil has observed, King of Asshur (Ezra 6:22). If this interpretation of the text be received, the antithesis between the doom of the Amalekites and the deliverance of the Kenites exactly corresponds to the attitude assumed by those tribes respectively in regard to Israel.

Verse 21. He looked on the Kenites] Commentators are not well agreed who the Kenites were. Dr. Dodd's opinion is, I think, nearest to the truth. Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, is called a priest or prince of Midian, Exodus 3:1, and in Judges 1:16 he is called a Kenite; we may infer, therefore, says he, that the Kenites and the Midianites were the same, or at least that the Kenites and the Midianites were confederate tribes. Some of these we learn from Judg. i., followed the Israelites, others abode still among the Midianites and Amalekites. When Saul destroyed the latter, we find he had no commission against the Kenites, 1 Samuel 15:6, for it appears that they were then a small and inconsiderable people; they had doubtless been wasted, as the text says, though by what means does not appear from history. On the other hand, it may be observed that the Midianites mentioned here lived close to the Dead Sea, at a great distance from the Midian where Jethro lived, which was near Horeb. Perhaps they were a colony or tribe that had migrated from the vicinity of Mount Sinai. It seems that at this time the Kenites occupied a very strong position: Strong is thy dwelling place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock; where there is a play on the original word קי, which signifies both a Kenite and a nest. High rocks in these countries were generally used as their strong places.

21. The utterance on the Kenites. And he saw the Kenite] The singular adjective stands for the whole tribe; cf. 1 Samuel 15:6; 1 Samuel 30:29 (Heb.). In the next verse the tribe is called by the name of its reputed ancestor Ḳ ?ain. Enduring is thy dwelling place] With this and the following line cf. Obad. Numbers 24:3 f. thy nest is set in the rock] The writer here plays upon the words ḳ ?çn (‘nest’) and Ḳ ?ayin (‘Ḳ ?ain’). Kain] The reputed ancestor of the tribe; cf. Judges 4:11 (R.V. marg.). The name (Heb. Ḳ ?ayin) denotes ‘a lance,’ and Kênî in Aramaic means ‘a smith.’ This has led to the conjecture that the Kenites were at one time thought of not as a tribe in the strict sense but as an hereditary guild or caste of smiths. Such castes are still found in Arabia and many parts of Africa. In this connexion it is interesting to notice that Tubal-Cain (Ḳ ?ayin) is named as ‘the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron’ (Genesis 4:22). Further, Cain (Ḳ ?ayin) the son of Adam may very possibly be identical with the Ḳ ?ayin of the present verse, and his story (Genesis 4:1-17) ‘may preserve the recollection of some old collision between the agricultural and pastoral elements in prehistoric man.’ See Driver, Genesis, pp. 70–73.

The Kenites - First mentioned Genesis 15:19 as one of the tribes whose territory was promised to Abraham.

21. The Kenites — The marriage kindred of Moses. Genesis 15:19; Exodus xviii; Judges 1:16, note. Nest — The Hebrew ken, nest, is a play upon the word Kenite.