Quora Answer: What Can We Tell about Kadesh Barnea?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “What can anyone tell me about Kadesh Barnea?” 

“Kadesh” is the name of a place found in the Old Testament.  We only know, with some certainty that it is south of Canaan, and Judah.  Academics do not agree on whether it is a single place, a series of places, or two specific places.  A related name for this place, or places, is “Kadesh Bernea”.  “Kadesh” is a cognate of the Arabic “quddus”, meaning “holy”.  “Bernea” is of uncertain origin, and some claim is means “barrens of wandering”. 

There are fifteen specific places where “Kadesh” or “Kadesh Bernea” are explicitly mentioned.  It was the primary camp of the Children of Israel during their wandering in the desert.  It was also the place where the spies set out for Canaan to appraise their military strength.  Miriam (a.s.) and Aaron (a.s.), the siblings of Moses (a.s.) were both buried there as well.  Interestingly, Titus Flavius Josephus identified it as Petra, which is unlikely. 

There is a wealth of academic writings on the proposed location or locations of Kadesh Bernea, and there are report of the archaeological digs carried out at some of these sites.  All these may be found online.