Judges 4:11

11 And Chaber the Kenite had removed from Caina, from the sons of Jobab the father-in-law of Moses, and pitched his tent by the oak of the covetous ones, which is near Kedes.

Judges 4:11 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 4:11

Now Heber the Kenite
A descendant of Kain, a principal man among the Midianites; the Targum calls him the Salmaean:

[which was] of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses;
who came along with the children of Israel through the wilderness into the land of Canaan, and first settled about Jericho, and then removed into the wilderness of Judah, ( Judges 1:16 ) ;

had severed himself from the Kenites;
which dwelt in the said wilderness; to whom he belonged when this separation was made, and on what account is not certain. Abarbinel thinks that it was done now, and with a design to help Israel, that hearing Barak was gone up to Mount Tabor, and seeing Sisera prepared to fight with him, he made as if he was disgusted with his own people, and separated from them, that Jabin, with whom he was at peace, might the more confide in him; when it was out of love to Israel, and with a view to assist them, as occasion should offer, that he removed; but this is not very likely, as these Kenites were a people that kept themselves from meddling with military affairs as much as possible:

and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which [is] by Kedesh:
for these people dwelt in tents as the Midianites did, from whence they sprung, and as the Scenite Arabs; and yet near to cities, as here, and in places fit for the pasturage of their cattle, in which they were chiefly employed, and here pitched upon a plain where were fields and meadows: the Targum calls it a plain of pools, where were pools of water for the watering of their flocks; or rather it might be rendered the oak or grove of oaks of Zaanaim, the same with Alonzaanannim, (See Gill on Joshua 19:33). This place lay between Harosheth of the Gentiles, from whence Sisera came, and Mount Tabor, where Barak was. This little piece of history is inserted here, partly to account for it that there should be any Kenites here, when we are told before they settled in the wilderness of Judah, and partly on account of the following narrative of Sisera being slain by this man's wife.

Judges 4:11 In-Context

9 And she said, I will surely go with thee; but know that thy honour shall not attend on the expedition on which thou goest, for the Lord shall sell Sisara into the hands of a women: and Debbora arose, and went with Barac out of Cades.

10 And Barac called Zabulon and Nephthali out of Cades, and there went up at his feet ten thousand men, and Debbora went up with him.

11 And Chaber the Kenite had removed from Caina, from the sons of Jobab the father-in-law of Moses, and pitched his tent by the oak of the covetous ones, which is near Kedes.

12 And it was told Sisara that Barac the son of Abineem was gone up to mount Thabor.

13 And Sisara summoned all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron and all the people with him, from Arisoth of the Gentiles to the brook of Kison.