My Synopsis of Blenkinsopp’s “The Midianite-Kenite Hypothesis Revisited and the Origins of Judah

In this post I am going to discuss Joseph Blenkinsopp’s ( http://www.amazon.com/Joseph-Blenkinsopp/e/B001H6W1MG ) ”The Midianite-Kenite Hypothesis Revisited and the Origins of Israel”. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 2008 33:131

In the article, Blenkinsopp reviews the Midianite-Kenite hypothesis, “which argues for the pre-Israelite origins of the cult of Yahweh among proto-Arabian Tribes east and west of the Arabah and the Gulf Aqaba”. This is an old idea going back to the 1860′s and having a notable pedigree of supporters. He also notes prominent dissenting voices. The Hypothesis has four bases.

1. the biblical narratives dealing Moses and his in-laws. 2. Early Hebrew poems describing YHWH’s original residence. 3. Egyptian text of the 14th and 12th centuries where the name, YHWH, is connected with Edomite regions. 4. The interpretation of Cain as the eponymous ancestor of the Kenites.

First, Blenkinsopp explains that the origin of the theory is the stories presented in Exodus where Moses marries a Midianite woman (2:11-22).  Moses father in law, a Midianite priest, instructs Moses in governance and they both sacrifice to YHWH (18), who Moses meets at a holy mountain near Midian (3). Blenkinsopp then presents the evidence from the “Song of Deborah”(Judges 5). In this poem YHWH  is said to march out from Seir in Edom, from Mt. Sinai. It gives the impression that YHWH’s home is in this land, which lay outside the territory of Israel, the people he is said to be the god of.

Blenkinsopp also mentions some text from from Egypt’s, New Kingdom. Regarding the Bedouin tribes that lived  around the Egyptian run copper mines of Timna and Punon, an inscription from the first half of the 14th century speaks of the “Shasu (Bedouin) land of Yahu”. Yahu, it is broadly agreed, is a form of YHWH.  His final base for the hypothesis is the myth of Cain. The name of Cain is also the name of a tribe, the Kenites (more apparent in Hebrew than English, but pronounce them aloud, and you will hear the similarity).  There is also a town of Cain (Joshuah 15:57) . The name, Cain, translates to metal smith. a descendant of Cain, Tubal-Cain, is a maker of bronze and iron objects.

The article list a number of notable clans that are said to be related to the Kenites in the Bibles various genealogies. Among them are Caleb and Othaniel, the Kenizzites (Numbers 32:12, Joshua 14:6, and Judges 3:9). Jael, the hero of the Deborah legend, is a Kenite. Also the Rechabites, who Blenkinsopp describes as “fanatical Yahweist”, are related to the Kenites according to 1 Chronicles 2:55.

In the next section of Blenkinsopp’s paper, he discusses what he thinks are the implications of the Midianite-Kenite hypothesis and the ethnic origins of Judah. He summarizes his argument as “…we find several tribes-Kenites, Kenizzites, Calebites, Jerahmeelites, Judahites, Simonites and Levites-moving into the Northern Sinai and Negev thought Late Bronze-Iron I period (Josh.15. 13-19; Judg. 1.10-20). It seems the groups were linked by blood or covenant or both, that they frequented the same cult centerers, and were under the aegis of the same deity, namely Yahweh. the natural inference would be that Judah originated as one of these closely related proto-Arabian groups, originally as a clan rather than a tribe.”

For a final section, Blenkinsopp discuses a number of links that have been noted between Edom and the tribes and clans listed above. Among them are the names Ruel, one of the names given for Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, another variation of Moses’ father-in-law(spelled Jitran, a variation of Jethro), Kenaz, and the Levitical clans Korah and Heman, have Edomite equivalents.  He then discuss the Jacob-Esau myth as demonstrating the close kinship that was perceived between Edom and Israel. His concluding remarks point out the commonality of the theme of two brothers fighting as the beginning of a peoples history, citing Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Romulus and Remus, lycus and Aegeus, and others.

At an earlier point in Blenkinsopp’s article he states that the Midianite-Kenite hypothesis raises questions about how the YHWH cult came to be adopted by the Israelites in the central Palestinian highlands. He mentions clues such as the northern Kenites of Judges 4:11, the pilgrimage of Elijah to Mt. Horeb, and the Rechabites, but says that much more thorough investigation of this subject is needed . My up coming Summer research project is an attempt to look at this issue and provide a hypothesis for how the YHWH cult was adopted by the Israelites of the central highlands.