Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 24:21
And he looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwelling place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock.
21. The utterance on the Kenites.
And he saw the Kenite ] The singular adjective stands for the whole tribe; cf. 1Sa 15:6; 1Sa 30:29 (Heb.). In the next verse the tribe is called by the name of its reputed ancestor ain.
Enduring is thy dwelling place ] With this and the following line cf. Obad. Num 24:3 f.
thy nest is set in the rock ] The writer here plays upon the words n (‘nest’) and ayin (‘ain’).
Kain ] The reputed ancestor of the tribe; cf. Jdg 4:11 (R.V. marg.). The name (Heb. ayin) denotes ‘a lance,’ and Kn 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 (ayin) is named as ‘the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron’ (Gen 4:22). Further, Cain (ayin) the son of Adam may very possibly be identical with the ayin of the present verse, and his story (Gen 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.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Kenites – First mentioned Gen 15:19 as one of the tribes whose territory was promised to Abraham. In Jdg 1:16, where we read of them as moving with the children of Judah, to establish themselves in the pastures south of Arad, Moses father-in-law is spoken of as a Kenite (compare Jdg 4:11). It appears therefore, since Moses father-in-law was a prince or priest of Midian (Exo 2:15 ff), that the Kenites must have been of Midianite extraction, and so descended from Abraham through Keturah Gen 25:2.
But it seems unlikely that the Kenites of Gen 15:19, who were to be dispossessed by the descendants of Abraham, were identical with those of whom Balaam speaks, and who were, because of good offices rendered at the time of the Exodus, always regarded as kinsmen and friends by Israel (compare 1Sa 15:6; 1Sa 27:10). Rather, is it probable that the Kenites of Gen 15:19 were a Canaanite people, who derived their name from the city Kain, which fell eventually within the borders of the tribe of Judah Jos 15:22; and that the descendants of Hobab, who appear in Jdg 1:16 as making war in this very district, possessed themselves of this city, and with it of the name Kenite also. This they would seem to have already done when Balsam uttered his prediction; and in the next verse it is, as the margin correctly indicates, not of the Kenite, but of Kain the city, that he speaks. Nor is it surprising to find them in possession of their new abode in the promised land, while the Israelites were yet in their tents. It may well be that this roving band of Midianites had already entered Canaan, perhaps along the shores of the Dead Sea, and by routes impracticable for the huge host of Israel, and had, as a kind of advanced guard, made a beginning of the conquest of the country.
From 1Ch 2:54-55, we learn that the Rechabites were a branch of the Kenites; and the name Salmaites, always given to the Kenites in the Targums, connects them with Salma, the son of Caleb, there mentioned. Jer. 35 shows how tenaciously, for many centuries, they held fast the nomadic habits of their race.
Strong is thy dwellingplace, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock – Render, Strong (or firm) be thy dwelling-place, and put thou thy nest in the rock (or cliff). In the Hebrew there is a play on the words ken, nest, and Kain, the name of the Kenites abode. This nest in the cliff might be the city of Hazazon-tamar or Engedi, if that be (as is likely) the city of palm-trees, from which they went up subsequently Jdg 1:16. But there is another site, about 10 miles south of Engedi, to which Balaams words would be more appropriate, on the summit of the cliff rising perpendicularly from the level of the western shore of the Dead Sea, where was afterward built the city of Masada, the scene of the closing tragedy of the Jewish-Roman war. It is not likely that such a natural fortress would ever have been unoccupied, or even excluded from a place in the list of the cities of Judah. Nor is there any site in the Holy land which a rude but warlike people might more fittingly designate as either Ken, the Nest, or Kain, the Possession.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
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, Ex 3:1, and in Jdg 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, 1Sa 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 , which signifies both a Kenite and a nest. High rocks in these countries were generally used as their strong places.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
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 Exo 3:1; Jdg 1:16; 4:11; 1Sa 15:6.
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 Job 29:18; or in allusion to their name, for ken in Hebrew signifies a nest.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. Kenites . . . nest in arockThough securely established among the clefts in the highrocks of En-gedi towards the west, they should be gradually reducedby a succession of enemies till the Assyrian invader carried theminto captivity (Jdg 1:16; Jdg 4:11;Jdg 4:16; Jdg 4:17;2Ki 15:29; 2Ki 17:6;also 2Ki 15:29; 17:6).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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 with them into the land of Canaan, and were not carried captive with the ten tribes, though some might that dwelt in Naphtali, Jud 9:4, for they after that remained with Judah under the name of Rechabites, Jer 35:2 and returned with the two tribes, being carried captive with them, 1Ch 2:55 but they were a people, though of the same original and family Jethro descended from, which dwelt near, and afterwards among the Amalekites, and therefore were seen by Balaam, and taken notice of at the same time they were; see 1Sa 15:6. Abarbinel takes them to be the same with those in Ge 15:19
and took up his parable; or prophecy concerning them, and delivered it:
and said, strong is thy dwelling place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock, they dwelling in craggy rocky places, where they thought themselves secure and out of danger; and this their habitation he calls “Ken”, a nest, in allusion to their name Kenites.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The third saying relates to the Kenites, whose origin is involved in obscurity (see at Gen 15:19), as there are no other Kenites mentioned in the whole of the Old Testament, with the exception of Gen 15:19, than the Kenites who went to Canaan with Hobab the brother-in-law of Moses (Num 10:29.: see Jdg 1:16; Jdg 4:11; 1Sa 15:6; 1Sa 27:10; 1Sa 30:29); so that there are not sufficient grounds for the distinction between Canaanitish and Midianitish Kenites, as Michaelis, Hengstenberg, and others suppose. The hypothesis that Balaam is speaking of Canaanitish Kenites, or of the Kenites as representatives of the Canaanites, is as unfounded as the hypothesis that by the Kenites we are to understand the Midianites, or that the Kenites mentioned here and in Gen 15:19 are a branch of the supposed aboriginal Amalekites ( Ewald). The saying concerning the Kenites runs thus: “ Durable is thy dwelling-place, and thy nest laid upon the rock; for should Kain be destroyed until Asshur shall carry thee captive? ” This saying “applies to friends and not to foes of Israel” ( v. Hoffmann), so that it is perfectly applicable to the Kenites, who were friendly with Israel. The antithetical association of the Amalekites and Kenites answers perfectly to the attitude assumed at Horeb towards Israel, on the one hand by the Amalekites, and on the other hand by the Kenites, in the person of Jethro the leader of their tribe (see Exo 17:8., Ex 18). The dwelling-place of the Kenites was of lasting duration, because its nest was laid upon a rock ( is a passive participle, as in 2Sa 13:32, and Oba 1:4). This description of the dwelling-place of the Kenites cannot be taken literally, because it cannot be shown that either the Kenites or the Midianites dwelt in inaccessible mountains, as the Edomites are said to have done in Oba 1:3-4; Jer 49:16. The words are to be interpreted figuratively, and in all probability the figure is taken from the rocky mountains of Horeb, in the neighbourhood of which the Kenites led a nomade life before their association with Israel (see at Exo 3:1). As v. Hoffmann correctly observes: “Kain, which had left its inaccessible mountain home in Horeb, enclosed as it was by the desert, to join a people who were only wandering in search of a home, by that very act really placed its rest upon a still safer rock.” This is sustained in Num 24:22 by the statement that Kain would not be given up to destruction till Asshur carried it away into captivity. does not mean “nevertheless.” It signifies “ unless ” after a negative clause, whether the negation be expressed directly by , or indirectly by a question; and “ only ” where it is not preceded by either a direct or an indirect negation, as in Gen 40:14; Job 42:8. The latter meaning, however, is not applicable here, because it is unsuitable to the (until) which follows. Consequently yl can only be understood in the sense of “is it that,” as in 1Ki 1:27; Isa 29:16; Job 31:16, etc., and as introducing an indirect query in a negative sense: “For is it (the case) that Kain shall fall into destruction until…?” – equivalent to “ Kain shall not be exterminated until Asshur shall carry him away into captivity;” Kain will only be overthrown by the Assyrian imperial power. Kain, the tribe-father, is used poetically for the Kenite, the tribe of which he was the founder. , to exterminate, the sense in which it frequently occurs, as in Deu 13:6; Deu 17:7, etc. (cf. 2Sa 4:11; 1Ki 22:47). – For the fulfilment of this prophecy we are not to look merely to the fact that one branch of the Kenites, which separated itself, according to Jdg 4:11, from its comrades in the south of Judah, and settled in Naphtali near Kadesh, was probably carried away into captivity by Tiglath-Pileser along with the population of Galilee (2Ki 15:29); but the name Asshur, as the name of the first great kingdom of the world, which rose up from the east against the theocracy, is employed, as we may clearly see from Num 24:24, to designate all the powers of the world which took their rise in Asshur, and proceeded forth from it (see also Ezr 6:22, where the Persian king is still called king of Asshur or Assyria). Balaam did not foretell that this worldly power would oppress Israel also, and lead it into captivity, because the oppression of the Israelites was simply a transitory judgment, which served to refine the nation of God and not to destroy it, and which was even appointed according to the counsel of God to open and prepare the way for the conquest of the kingdoms of the world by the kingdom of God. To the Kenites only did the captivity become a judgment of destruction; because, although on terms of friendship with the people of Israel, and outwardly associated with them, yet, as is clearly shown by 1Sa 15:6, they never entered inwardly into fellowship with Israel and Jehovah’s covenant of grace, but sought to maintain their own independence side by side with Israel, and thus forfeited the blessing of God which rested upon Israel.
(Note: This simple but historically established interpretation completely removes the objection, “that Balaam could no more foretell destruction to the friends of Israel than to Israel itself,” by which Kurtz would preclude the attempt to refer this prophecy to the Kenites, who were in alliance with Israel. His further objections to v. Hoffmann’s view are either inconclusive, or at any rate do not affect the explanation that we have given.)
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
21. And he looked on the Kenites. I have not yet referred to the sense in which Balaam is said to have seen the Kenites, as well as the other nations; and now, also, I should refrain from doing so, if some did not attribute it to prophetical vision, in which opinion I cannot agree: for Moses relates as a matter of history that Balaam turned his face in the directions in which they respectively lived: and, although he did not actually see the people themselves, the sight of the place in which they dwelt was sufficient for the purpose of prophecy.
By the Kenites I understand the Midianites, who were contiguous to the Amalekites; for it is altogether unreasonable to refer the name to the descendants of Jethro. Forty years had not yet elapsed since Jethro had left his son with Moses; and his was only one small family in the wilderness of Midian, whereas mention is here made of a people already celebrated. Balaam, therefore, designates by synecdoche the Midianites, and devotes them also to the punishment they well deserved. Of this Gideon was in some measure the minister and executioner, when he routed their immense army with three hundred men; and his victory is celebrated in Psa 83:11, and Isa 9:4. It is probable that their power was broken at that time.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(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 Abrahams descendants were to possess (Gen. 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 (Jdg. 1:16). If the Authorised Version of these verses be adopted, it is reasonable to conclude that the Kenites to whom Balaams 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 (Num. 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 Jer. 35:11 that after the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, the Rechabites, who were of the Kenite race (1Ch. 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 (Jdg. 4:11). Asshur, however, appears to be used in a wider sense, so as to include all the nations which proceeded from it (see Num. 24:24). Even the Persian king is called, as Keil has observed, King of Asshur (Ezr. 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.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. The Kenites The marriage kindred of Moses. Gen 15:19; Exodus xviii; Jdg 1:16, note.
Nest The Hebrew ken, nest, is a play upon the word Kenite. Their abode was lasting, because it was laid upon the rock of Jehovah’s promise, their original dwelling-place being amid the mountains of Horeb, the scene of their nomad life. Exo 2:15; Exo 3:1, note.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Balaam Looks On and Prophesies Concerning the Wandering Kenites ( Num 24:21-22 ).
Num 24:21
‘And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his oracle, and said,’
In the same way as with the Amalekites we may see that a group of Kenites were present, connected with the Midianites to whom they were related (see Num 10:29 with Jdg 1:16; Jdg 4:11) and with Moab. The Kenites were metal smiths and tended to move around in small groups. Compare the ones who accompanied Israel (Jdg 1:16; Jdg 4:11), and those who had an agreement with Sisera (Jdg 4:11). By uniting with Moab against Israel they were bringing judgment on themselves.
Num 24:21-22 (21b-22)
“Strong is your dwelling-place,
And your nest is set in the rock.
Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted,
Until Asshur shall carry you away captive.”
This may refer to the safe situation that the Kenites had found for themselves in Moab. Or it may have in mind their wilderness dwelling-place in the Sinai area. Either way it stresses that their seeming security will not avail them in the day of trouble. They would find themselves beset by the tribe of Asshur, another brother tribe (see Gen 25:3; Gen 25:18; 2Sa 2:9; Psa 83:8), and be wasted and finally taken as slaves.
So the combination of tribes related to Israel (of Moab, of the Midianites, of the Amalekites and of the Kenites), were all included in his prophecies as fated because of their behaviour towards Israel. The presence of a nucleus was sufficient to condemn even those not present, on the basis of tribal solidarity.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Num 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, Jdg 1:16 ; Jdg 4:11 mingled among the Amalekites, 1Sa 15:6 for whom they are, and fare the worse, as Hamath did for Damascus. Zec 9:2
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Kenites. With the word “nest” forms the Figure of speech Paronomasia (App-6). Hebrew. ben kain.
nest. Hebrew. ken.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the Kenites: Gen 15:19, Jdg 1:16, Job 29:18
Reciprocal: Jdg 4:11 – Heber 1Sa 15:6 – the Kenites 1Sa 27:10 – Kenites Jer 22:23 – makest
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Num 24:21-22. He looked on the Kenites Commentators are much at a loss to say, with any certainty, who these Kenites were. The most probable account of them, Bishop Newton thinks, is as follows: Jethro, the father- in-law of Moses, is called the priest of Midian, Exo 3:1; and Jdg 1:16, the Kenite. We may infer, therefore, that the Midianites and Kenites were the same, or at least that the Kenites were some of the tribes of Midian. Now of the Kenites, part followed Israel, Jdg 1:6; but the greater part, we may presume, remained among the Midianites and Amalekites, 1Sa 15:6. Their situation is said to be strong and secure among the mountains: Strong is thy dwelling-place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock Wherein is an allusion to the name, the same word in the Hebrew signifying a nest and a Kenite. Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive The Amalekites were to be utterly destroyed, but the Kenites were to be carried captive. Accordingly, when Saul was sent by divine commission to destroy the Amalekites, he ordered the Kenites to depart from among them; for the kindness which some of them showed to Israel, their posterity was saved, 1Sa 15:6. This passage shows that they were wasted, and reduced to a low and weak condition; and as the kings of Assyria carried captive not only the Jews, but also the Syrians and several other nations, (2Ki 16:9; 2Ki 19:12-13,) it is most highly probable that the Kenites shared the same fate with their neighbours, and were carried away by the same torrent; and especially as we find some Kenites mentioned among the Jews after their return from captivity, 1Ch 2:55.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
24:21 And he looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwellingplace, and thou {o} puttest thy nest in a rock.
(o) Make yourself as strong as you can.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Kenites, who were identical to or part of the Midianites, were Israel’s neighbors to the southwest of the Dead Sea (cf. Num 10:29; Jdg 1:16; 1Sa 15:6; 1Sa 27:10; 1Sa 30:29). The Asshurites who lived in the northern Sinai (Gen 25:3; Gen 25:18; 2Sa 2:9) and the Assyrians eventually defeated them. "Asshur" may refer to either or both of these nations. Probably Balaam prophesied concerning the future great Assyrian Empire.
"Why the Kenites come under attack here is not sure, except that it is possible that they became associated with the Midianites who come under the scourge of Israel (Numbers 31). The mention of Assyria is also a surprise, as its ascendancy to power in the ancient Near East was centuries away from Balaam’s day; yet Assyria was known as a powerful city-state even in Abraham’s day." [Note: Allen, p. 912.]