Kenite, The

The Kenites (Hebrew Qeni, possibly related to qayin, "smith" or "spear") were a nomadic tribal group associated with the region of Midian and the Sinai peninsula in the Old Testament. Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, was a Midianite priest (Exod. 18:1) who is also called a Kenite (Judg. 1:16), and through him Moses received counsel on judicial administration during the wilderness period. The Kenites apparently traveled with Israel from the wilderness and settled in the Negev (Judg. 1:16). In the time of Deborah and Barak, Heber the Kenite had separated from the main Kenite community and his wife Jael killed Sisera, the Canaanite commander, in her tent (Judg. 4:11–22) — an act celebrated in the Song of Deborah (Judg. 5:24–27). Balaam's oracle in Numbers 24:21–22 names the Kenites and prophesies their eventual destruction by Assyria. Some scholars have proposed that early Israelite religion was influenced by Kenite Yahwism, a hypothesis that remains debated.