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"
(Judges 4:9,10) 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.