What are the…
Kenites

also known as: Qenites, Qeni, Qini

Hebrew: קֵינִי‎ —transliteration: Qeyniy —possible meaning: smith from the קַיִן (Qayin), meaning “smith” or “possession”

This is the name of a tribe inhabiting the desert lying between southern Israel and the mountains of the Sinai Peninsula. They were know for their metalworking skills.

Jethro was of this tribe (Judges 1:16). He is called a “Midianite” (Numbers 10:29), and hence it is concluded that the Midianites and the Kenites were the same tribe. They were wandering smiths, “the gypsies and traveling tinkers of the old Oriental world. They formed an important guild in an age when the art of metallurgy was confined to a few” —Rev. Archibald Henry Sayce, Races, etc..

They showed kindness to the Israelites in their journey through the wilderness. They accompanied them in their march as far as Jericho (The City of Palm Trees) (Judges 1:16), and then returned to their old haunts among the Amalekites, in the desert to the south of Judah. Afterwards the maintained friendly relations with the Israelites when they settled in Canaan (Judges 4:11, 17-21; 1 Samuel 27:10; 30:29).

The Rechabites belonged to this tribe (1 Chronicles 2:55) and in the days of Jeremiah (35:7-10) are referred to as following their nomad habits.

In the time of King Saul there were Kenites living in Amalek territory.

King Saul told them to go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them (1 Samuel 15:6) when, in obedience to the divine commission, he was about to “smite Amalek.” And his reason is, “for you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.”

David sent a share of war spoils he took from the Amalekites to the elders of the cities of the Kenites (1 Samuel 30:26–31).

Thus “God is not unrighteous to forget the kindnesses shown to his people; but they shall be remembered another day, at the farthest in the great day, and recompensed in the resurrection of the just” (Matthew Henry's Commentary). They are mentioned for the last time in Scripture in 1 Samuel 27:10; compare 1 Sam. 30:20.

The Kenites are associated with the town of Kain (Cain).

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Article Version: January 16, 2025