Genesis 14:7 notes that it was to Eyn Mishpat that the Elamite kings returned after ravaging much of southern Kena'an (Canaan) in the War of the Kings. The place is also named Kadesh (קדש), though this is unlikely to be any of the places named Kadesh at various points of the Mosaic journey; the name simply means "holy", so any shrine could be called Kadesh. The original inhabitants of this one were Beney Amelek.
Eyn means "a fountain" (from the same root word that gives "an eye") and Mishpat means "judgment". "The fountain of judgment" seems to imply that the shrine guarding the fountain was not oracular but judicial, though that distinction is not always easy to make in a theocratic world.
However the alternate name, Kadesh (it is udnerstood to mean "holy", but more correctly the root means "set apart" - and perhaps that fact endows us with a better definition of holiness) allows further speculation. A Kadesh was a ritual sodomite, consecrated to Astarte and serving as a hierodule or ritual prostitute in her honour. The Beney Kalev (Calebite) dog-clan in particular served in this function (Kalev from Kelev = "dog"; Kalev was the other spy, alongside Yehoshu'a, who spoke favourably of the land of Kena'an (Numbers 13:30) and was rewarded by receiving Chevron as his portion.
Cf Deuteronomy 23:18; 1 Kings 14:24 and 15:12; Job 36:14. The female equivalent was called a Kadeshah (קדשה); the priestesshood was likewise sacred to Venus, who in the Yisra-Eli pantheon was Astarte (cf Genesis 38:21 and Hosea 4:14).
Kedesh (קדש) on the other hand was a sanctuary, the origins of the Mosaic idea of refuge-cities. Joshua 15:23 mentions one such in the south of Yehudah; Joshua 12:22, 19:37, 21:32, Judges 4:6 and 1 Chronicles 6:61 mention another by the same name in Naphtali; while 1 Chronicles 6:57 mentions a third in Yisaschar. It is very probable that the Kadesh mentioned here as Eyn Mishpat is in fact the Kadesh-Barne'a (קדש ברנע) referred to in Numbers 34:4, Deuteronomy 1:2 and 1:19 and Deuteronomy 2:14. The meaning of Barne'a is unclear, though Smith's Dictionary of Biblical Names insists that it means "desert of wandering" - sorry Mr Smith, not in Yehudit it doesn't. Perhaps in some other language - it would have been helpful if you had given your source.
Kedesh (קדש) on the other hand was a sanctuary, the origins of the Mosaic idea of refuge-cities. Joshua 15:23 mentions one such in the south of Yehudah; Joshua 12:22, 19:37, 21:32, Judges 4:6 and 1 Chronicles 6:61 mention another by the same name in Naphtali; while 1 Chronicles 6:57 mentions a third in Yisaschar. It is very probable that the Kadesh mentioned here as Eyn Mishpat is in fact the Kadesh-Barne'a (קדש ברנע) referred to in Numbers 34:4, Deuteronomy 1:2 and 1:19 and Deuteronomy 2:14. The meaning of Barne'a is unclear, though Smith's Dictionary of Biblical Names insists that it means "desert of wandering" - sorry Mr Smith, not in Yehudit it doesn't. Perhaps in some other language - it would have been helpful if you had given your source.
Psalm 29:8 has a Midbar Kadesh for the wilderness surrounding it, which may be the reason for Smith's supposition (above).
It is interesting to note that all the sites referred to in the War of the Kings turn out to be of religious rather than political significance, a fact not observed previously by scholars who have ignored the etymology and simply assumed that a war must be for political reasons. Why the Elamite kings should have chosen a refuge-city may be speculated upon; perhaps it was simply convenient for watering.
It is interesting to note that all the sites referred to in the War of the Kings turn out to be of religious rather than political significance, a fact not observed previously by scholars who have ignored the etymology and simply assumed that a war must be for political reasons. Why the Elamite kings should have chosen a refuge-city may be speculated upon; perhaps it was simply convenient for watering.
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