Who Are The Kenites In The Bible?

Not much is written about the Kenites in the Bible. In fact, the word “Kenite” or “Kenites” appears just 14 times in the Old Testament, and it’s never mentioned in the New Testament.

This is what we know about the Kenites…

The Kenites Lived In Canaan

In Genesis 15:18-21, God told Abraham his descendants will inherit the land of Canaan. The land that would become known as Israel. God went on to name ten nations that were already in the land. The Kenites were enumerated among them.

Later in Deuteronomy 20:16, God told the Israelites to destroy everyone in Canaan, even stating, “Save alive nothing that breatheth.”

The reason?

The people of Canaan were wicked, and God did not want them influencing the Israelites in “all their abominations,” (Deuteronomy 9:4-5, 20:18, 18:12). The Kenites were certainly included in that.

Who Were The Kenites?

This tells us, the original Kenites listed in Genesis 15:19 were a wicked tribe, that’s why God wanted them destroyed. However, from that point forward, we never find them painted in a negative light. In fact, we’ll discover that several Kenites are spoken highly of.

Now, the first mention of Kenites with regard to ancestry shows they traveled with the Midianites. These people were descendants of Midian, who was one of Abraham’s sons.

However, these tribes are not tied together. Midian was born long after Abraham’s initial visit to Canaan, (Genesis 24:1, 25:2). So the Kenites were already in existence before Midian was ever born. This fact alone rules out any ancestral heritage between these two tribes.

So who was the father of the Kenites?

Unfortunately, we cannot be certain. They could be tied to Canaan who was one of Noah’s descendants, or another unknown tribe, and possibly even Cain.

Let’s dive more into these possibilities.

Are The Kenites Descendants Of Cain?

Let’s begin by taking a look at the word “Kenite” in the Strong’s Concordance.

It means,

Patronymic from H7014; a Kenite or member of the tribe of Kajin.

Kenite is a “patronymic” word, which means it’s derived from “the name of a father or ancestor.” So the Kenites obtained their name from the founder of the “Tribe of Kajin.”

Who then was Kajin, who founded this tribe?

Let’s look up Hebrew word H7014 as indicated above to find out.

Kajin, the name of the first child, also of a place in Palestine, and of an Oriental tribe: – Cain, Kenite (-s).

This tells us, “Kajin” could refer to one of three things:

  • Kajin could refer to Cain, the first child who murdered his brother Abel.
  • Kajin could refer to someone else named Cain.
  • Kajin could refer to the city named Cain (Kain) in the land of Canaan, (Joshua 15:57, see map).
Click to enlarge – Source: BibleHub

Now, it’s possible the Kenites are the sons of Cain, but it’s not probable. The reason is simple, there’s not a single Scripture that makes the claim. Instead, this theory is derived from a definition in the Strong’s Concordance, which is certainly not Gospel.

In fact, as we dive into this topic, we’ll discover there are more reasons to believe the Kenites are unrelated to Cain, than related.

First, the Bible tells us, Cain was banished from the Land of Nod and went east from Eden. From there, we’re never told anything else about Cain’s whereabouts. So it’s conjecture to assume Cain went west, traveling 700 miles as the crow flies to the land of Canaan, all without the Bible ever mentioning it.

Second, the Bible tells us about ten wicked nations in the land of Canaan during the time of Abraham. The Kenites were one of the ten. Yet, four of those nations: the Hittites, Amorites, Girgashites, and Jebusites can be traced to Canaan, who was the son of Ham, Noah’s son.

So it’s reasonable to believe, nearly all of these ten nations were descendants of Canaan, Noah’s grandson. That’s why people in this region are called Canaanites, and the region is known as the land of Canaan.

Third, in some Christian circles, it’s taught the Kenites were evil people as they inherited it from Cain. Now, we know the original Kenites were wicked. However, we don’t inherit an evil trait from our parents. Our genealogy, our DNA does not make us evil, our soul makes us evil.

Moreover, there’s not a single Kenite mentioned as being evil in the Bible. In fact, after Genesis 15:19, the Kenites are presented as noble people, some even fought against evil, and God may have even blessed them.

More on that later.

Now, let’s take a look at some of the people that are called Kenites in the Bible, and see what that reveals.

Kenites In The Bible

Moses’ father in law Jethro was a Midianite, which makes him a descendant of Abraham. Yet, Jethro’s son Hobab is called a Kenite. This tells us, one of Jethro’s wives must have been a Kenite, as this designation even followed down to Heber who is Hobab’s son. These were all righteous people.

Then we have Jael, who was the wife of “Heber” the Kenite, he was Jethro’s grandson, (see above). Nevertheless, Jael helped Israel by killing Sisera, (Judges 4:11-24).

Jonadab was from “the house of Rechab,” which many assume makes him a Kenite due to a reference in 1 Chronicles 2:55. Yet, Jonadab helped Jehu kill all Baal worshipers, (2 Kings 10:15-27, Jehonadab).

Then, in Jeremiah 35:18-19, God blessed the descendants of Jonadab for their faithfulness to adhere to his rules. Ironically enough, “Jonadab” literally means, “Jehovah largessed,” being “Jehovah generously gifts.”

It is worth mentioning, when God blessed Jonadab’s descendants, He said they would always “stand before me.” This phrase even indicates priestly responsibilities. We find this phrase consistently used for Moses and other servants of God, (1 Ki 18:15, 2 Ki 3:14, Jer 7:10, 15:1, 19, Eze 44:15).

Further, God blessing Jonadab’s descendants is recorded in Jeremiah, which was written in 580 B.C., while Chronicles was penned 130 years later in 450 B.C.

Look what we find there,

1 Chronicles 2:55
And the families of the scribes which dwelt at Jabez; the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and Suchathites. These are the Kenites that came of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab.

130 years after God blessed Jonadab’s descendants with potential priestly responsibilities, we find them performing scribe work as if they were fulfilling God’s promise. God would certainly not bless an evil soul with a position in His House.

Considering all of this, it’s not reasonable to conclude, Jonadab being named after Jehovah was an evil person. Remember, God wanted the original genealogical Kenites destroyed. God blessing one of those Kenites would contradict His commandment for Israel to destroy the inhabitants of the land.

It’s most likely, the Kenites we just discussed were geographical Kenites, or those who decided to live a life pleasing to God. After all, Moses was called an Egyptian, obviously due to his geographical origin, rather than his Hebrew genealogy, (Exodus 2:19).

It then becomes impossible to classify all Kenites as evil people, and we should not pick and choose either. Since we cannot find evil Kenites in Scripture after Genesis 15:19, we must presume the original people were dissolved, changed their ways, or their name became an identifier of an individual’s regional origin.

For example: I’m an American by regional origin, but English and German by genealogical origin.

Yet, there’s something else we can glean from 1 Chronicles 2:55.

A Deeper Look At 1 Chronicles 2:55

In 1 Chronicles 2:55, we’re told the Kenites came from Hemath who was the father of the house of Rechab. Scripture didn’t say Hemath was a Kenite, it said the “scribes” were Kenites.

Therefore, since Hemath was not a Kenite, then either he or one of his descendants married a Kenite, and the name became attached to that branch of his family.

However, there are even more intriguing details that we miss by not reading the prior verse.

So let’s begin reading from there.

1 Chronicles 2:54-55
54 The sons of Salma; Bethlehem, and the Netophathites, Ataroth, the house of Joab, and half of the Manahethites, the Zorites.

55 And the families of the scribes which dwelt at Jabez; the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and Suchathites. These are the Kenites that came of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab.

The Bible said, the sons of Salma were:

  • Bethlehem
  • and the Netophathites…
  • And the families of the scribes

This makes it clear, the sons of Salma include thefamilies of the scribes,” that came of Hemath, who were Kenites. Therefore, a son of Salma must have married a descendant of Hemath, who was a part of the Kenite branch of his family.

Now, who is Salma?

Click to enlarge

Salma was a descendent of Judah, from the royal line! You can easily reference this in the genealogy chart I provided. This clearly ties the family of Judah with Hemath, and their descendants who were called Kenites.

This tells us, at this point in Biblical history, these Kenites were partial descendants of Judah, and partial descendants of Hemath. This is not hard to understand when we realize, the Israelites continually intermingled with the people of the land, (Judges 3:5-6).

Now, why did these Kenites keep the name Kenites, instead of Salmites?

We could pose the question another way…

Why were these Kenites not called Hemathites or even Rechabites?

We don’t have those answers, but we do know people were also known by the region where they lived or where they were from, not just their genealogy. Moreover, some people in the Bible hail from one tribe depending on who was the mother or father.

A great example is Caleb during the time of Joshua, this is critial to the discussion.

Caleb Was Of Judah And Kenez

Caleb hailed from the tribe of Judah. However, Scripture also says Caleb was the son of “Jephunneh the Kenezite,” and only Caleb and Joshua “wholly followed the LORD,” (Numbers 13:6, 32:12).

So Caleb was half Israelite and half Kenezite.

Interestingly enough, Kenezite means,

Patronymic from H7073, a Kenizzite or descendant of Kenaz: – Kenezite, Kenizzites.

Now, who were the Kenizzites?

You’re not going to believe it…

Genesis 15:19
The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

Caleb’s father was actually a descendant of the Kenizzites, the people who were labeled for destruction by God, along with the Kenites.

Clearly, this tells us throughout time, the original tribes of Canaan either faded with time, were destroyed, or changed their ways. I can say this, as Caleb was a righteous man beyond reason. In fact, Caleb and Joshua were the only two that God allowed to enter the promised land, (Numbers 14:24, 26:65).

This tells us, someone cannot be considered evil due to their ancestral heritage. So once again, we see a Biblical Israelite related to another tribe in Canaan. In this case, a tribe that was originally destined for destruction by God.

The Kenites Today

Unfortunately, some Bible teachings explain the Kenites are descendants of Cain with the sole intent to label all Kenites as evil people. This is done to say, the Kenites today are Jews. These teachings use Matthew 13:24-30, John 8:44, Revelation 2:9, 3:9, and other Scriptures to stitch together a doctrine that is not Biblical.

The same doctrine explains, since God removed Cain’s blessing to till the soil, Cain’s children, even today cannot till the soil, (Genesis 4:2). It is then taught, the Jews of today cannot farm the soil as they are Cain’s children.

This doctrine ignores the fact, God also removed Adam’s ability to farm the soil, so by the same token, his descendants should not be able to till the soil either, if the aforementioned belief were true, (Genesis 3:17-18).

Nevertheless, Scripture tells us, we do not inherit the sins of our parents, so we know this doctrine is false, (Ezekiel 18:20).

While the Jews are not God’s chosen people, the Bible never provides any indication to connect the Jews with the Kenites. In fact, I have written three Bible studies that thoroughly and completely refute this Kenite doctrine.

I hope you enjoy them.

The Synagogue Of Satan

Jesus made a religious statement in Revelation 2:9. It concerned the Jews of the synagogue who denied Christ, while claiming to be of God, absolute blasphemy.

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