Kedesh

Kedesh (meaning sanctuary or holy place) was the name of several distinct cities in ancient Israel. The most significant was Kedesh in Naphtali (also called Kedesh-naphtali), a fortified city in the upper Galilee region that served as one of the six cities of refuge—the nearest refuge for a manslayer fleeing from the region north of the Jordan. It was the home of Barak son of Abinoam, the military commander whom Deborah summoned to fight against Sisera's forces, and it was in Kedesh that Barak mustered the ten thousand warriors of Naphtali and Zebulun for the battle of Kishon (Judges 4:6–10).

Kedesh was also a Levitical city assigned to the Gershonite Levites (Joshua 21:32; 1 Chronicles 6:76). Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria captured Kedesh during his campaign against the northern kingdom circa 733 BC (2 Kings 15:29), deporting its population as part of the systematic dismantling of Israel. A second Kedesh lay in the extreme south of Judah (Joshua 15:23), and a third in Issachar (1 Chronicles 6:72). The northern Kedesh is identified with Tell Qades, near the modern Israeli-Lebanese border.