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Kadesh or Qadhesh in Classical Hebrew: קָדֵשׁ, from the root קדש "holy", is a place-name that occurs several times in the Hebrew Bible. From the context it is implied that there were perhaps two different cities, both located south of, or at the southern border of, Canaan and the Kingdom of Judah, with one in a more easterly location than the other (see discussion in the "Location" paragraph). The alternate spelling appears as Qadesh Barneaʿ (קָדֵשׁ בַּרְנֵעַ), "Barnea" meaning wilderness wandering, and which some scholars hold to be a different place altogether. The Bible associates the place-name Kadesh (and/or Kadesh Barnea), with a number of biblical episodes, bestowing considerable importance to the site - or sites - in the narrative of the genesis of the Israelites. Kadesh was the chief site of encampment for the Israelites during their wandering in the wilderness of Zin (Deuteronomy 1:46); it was from Kadesh that the Israelite spies were sent out into Canaan (Numbers 13:1-26); the first failed attempt to take the land was made from Kadesh (Numbers 14:40-45); Moses disobediently struck the rock that brought forth water at Kadesh (Numbers 20:11); Miriam (Numbers 20:1) and Aaron (Numbers 20:22-29) both died and were buried near a place named Kadesh; and Moses sent envoys to the King of Edom from Kadesh (Numbers 20:14), asking for permission to let the Israelites use the King's Highway passing through his territory, which the Edomite king denied. According to the Jewish historian, Josephus, Kadesh (later called Rekem) is identified with Petra, in Jordan.
Contents
Kadesh Barnea is a key feature in the common biblical formula delineating the southern border of the Land of Israel (cf. Numbers 34:4, Joshua 15:3, Ezekiel 47:19 etc.) and thus its identification is key to understanding both the ideal and geopolitically realised borders of ancient Israel.
Location
Kadesh, or Kadesh Barnea, is described as an oasis south of Canaan, west of Arabah and east of the Brook of Egypt. It is 11 days march by way of Mt. Seir from Horeb (Deut 1:2).
As many as eighteen sites have been proposed as the identification of biblical Kadesh. Part of the confusion may arise from the fact that Kadesh is sometimes mentioned in connection with the Desert of Paran (Numbers 13:26) and at other times in connection with the Zin Desert (Numbers 20:1). This discrepancy has been noted since the time of the medieval commentators, leading some (e.g. Hezekiah ben Manoah) to seek a reconciliatory model, while others (Abraham ibn Ezra and Nahmanides) have proposed two separate sites being identified as Kadesh.
A minority of modern scholarship has maintained that there were two sites identified as Kadesh—western Kadesh (in the wilderness of Zin) and eastern Kadesh (often associated with Petra, Jordan in the wilderness of Paran). This view seems to be represented by Josephus and Eusebius of Caesarea. Josephus says he recognizes exactly where Miriam is buried and it is by the rock, but he refers to the rock (selah in Hebrew) while writing for the Romans in the lingua franca at the time, which was Greek, and the word for rock in Greek is "petra". The Nabataeans came to Petra in about 400 BCE knowing it to be an ancient burial ground of caves, and buried their dead on top of the graves used 100 years earlier by the Hebrews.
However, after a period in which researchers identified Kadesh with Ein Qedeis, since 1905 modern Ain el-Qudeirat in Wadi el-Ain of northern Sinai has been widely accepted as the location of biblical Kadesh Barnea. Several Iron Age fortresses have been excavated there. The oldest, a small, elliptical structure, dates to the tenth century BCE, and was abandoned for some time after its first destruction. A second fort, constructed during the eighth century BCE (probably during the reign of Uzziah), was destroyed during the seventh century BCE, most likely during Manasseh's reign. Two ostraca engraved in Hebrew have been recovered there, suggesting the Israelites did indeed occupy this site. However, these Kadesh Barnea ostraca are dated to the 8th or 7th century BCE and therefore are hundreds of years too recent to be associated with the biblical Exodus.
Archeological excavations
Excavations at Ain el-Qudeirat conducted by Dr. Rudolph Cohen, former head of the Israeli Antiquities Authority during the Israeli occupation of Sinai following the 1967 war uncovered copious remains of the Middle Bronze Age I period (MBA I or MBI, sometimes known as the Intermediate Bronze Age), which were also found at numerous other sites in the Negev. On the other hand, Late Bronze Age, the conventional time of the Exodus, is unattested in the Negev. In an article in Biblical Archaeology Review of July, 1983, Cohen put forward the suggestion that the Exodus took place at the start of MBI and that the MBI people were, in fact, the Israelites. The idea, fully accepted by those who have worked at sites such as Ein Hatzeva, has not been widely adopted.