- KEDEMAH eastward, the last-named of the sons of Ishmael (Genesis
25:15). - KEDEMOTH beginnings; easternmost, a city of Reuben, assigned to the
Levites of the family of Merari (Joshua 13:18). It lay not far north-east of
Dibon-gad, east of the Dead Sea. - KEDESH sanctuary. (1.) A place in the extreme south of Judah (Joshua
15:23). Probably the same as Kadesh-barnea (q.v.).
(2.) A city of Issachar (1 Chronicles 6:72). Possibly Tell Abu Kadeis, near
Lejjun.
(3.) A “fenced city” of Naphtali, one of the cities of refuge (Joshua 19:37;
Judges 4:6). It was assigned to the Gershonite Levites (Joshua 21:32). It
was originally a Canaanite royal city (Joshua 12:22), and was the residence
of Barak (Judges 4:6); and here he and Deborah assembled the tribes of
Zebulun and Naphtali before the commencement of the conflict with Sisera
in the plain of Esdraelon, “for Jehovah among the mighty” (9, 10). In the
reign of Pekah it was taken by Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings 15:29). It was
situated near the “plain” (rather “the oak”) of Zaanaim, and has been
identified with the modern Kedes, on the hills fully four miles north-west
of Lake El Huleh.
It has been supposed by some that the Kedesh of the narrative, where
Barak assembled his troops, was not the place in Upper Galilee so named,
which was 30 miles distant from the plain of Esdraelon, but Kedish, on the
shore of the Sea of Galilee, 12 miles from Tabor.
- KEDRON the valley, now quite narrow, between the Mount of Olives
and Mount Moriah. The upper part of it is called the Valley of
Jehoshaphat. The LXX., in 1 Kings 15:13, translate “of the cedar.” The
word means “black,” and may refer to the colour of the water or the gloom
of the ravine, or the black green of the cedars which grew there. John 18:1,
“Cedron,” only here in New Testament. (See KIDRON.) - KEHELATHAH assembly, one of the stations of the Israelites in the
desert (Numbers 33:22, 23). - KEILAH citadel, a city in the lowlands of Judah (Joshua 15:44). David
rescued it from the attack of the Philistines (1 Samuel 23:1-8); but the
inhabitants proving unfaithful to him, in that they sought to deliver him up