KENITES

people who dwelt westward of the Dead Sea, and extended themselves pretty far into Arabia Petræa; for Jethro, the priest of Midian, and father-in-law to Moses, was a Kenite, Judges i, 16; 1 Chron. ii, 55; 1 Sam. xv, 6. When Saul was sent to destroy the A male kites, the Kenites, who had joined them, perhaps by compulsion, were ordered to depart from them, that they might not share in their fate; and the reason a igned was, that they “showed kindne to the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt,” 1 Sam. xv, 6. Which, according to the margin of our Bible, is to be understood of the father-in-law of Moses and his family. From the story of Jethro, who is expre ly said to be a Midianite, they appear to have retained the worship of the true God among them; for which, and their kindne to the Israeli tes when pa ing their country, they were spared in the general destruction of the nations bordering on Canaan. Of these Kenites were the Rechabites, the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and the Such at hi tes, mentioned in 1 Chron. ii, 55, whose chief office was that of scribes. (See Rechabites .) Balaam, when invited by Balak, king of Moab, to curse Israel, stood upon a mountain, whence he addre ed the Kenites, and said, “Strong is thy dwelling place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock; neverthele , the Kenite shall be wasted until Ashur shall carry thee away captive,” Num. xxiv, 21, 22. The Kenites dwelt in mountains and rocks almost inacce ible. They were conquered and carried into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar. After Saul the Kenites are not mentioned; but they subsisted, being mingled among the Edomites and other nations of Arabia Petræa.