Kadesh-barnea
A place in the Bible
An oasis in the wilderness, south of Canaan, where the people of Israel camped for a long time. In the Douay-Rheims it is called “Cades” or “Cadesbarne.”
What happened here
- The scouts: from Kadesh-barnea Moses sent Caleb, with others, to explore the land. Caleb was forty years old.
- Miriam: Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, died at Kadesh, and she was buried there.
- Water from the rock: Moses struck the rock twice with his staff, and water came out in abundance for the people and their animals.
- They will not enter: the Lord told Moses and Aaron that, because they had not believed in him, they would not enter the promised land with the people.
Today
No one knows for sure. An oasis in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, in Egypt, has been proposed.
Where it appears in the Bible
Numbers 20:1; Joshua 14:6-7; Numbers 20:11; Numbers 20:12
What the Bible says
Numbers 20:1
And the children of Israel, and all the multitude came into the desert of Sin, in the first month: and the people abode in Cades. And Mary died there, and was buried in the same place.
Joshua 14:6-7
6Then the children of Juda came to Josue in Galgal, and Caleb the son of Jephone the Cenezite spoke to him: Thou knowest what the Lord spoke to Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Cadesbarne. 7I was forty Bears old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Cadesbarne, to view the land, and I brought him word again as to me seemed true.
Numbers 20:11
And when Moses had lifted up his hand, and struck the rock twice with the rod, there came forth water in great abundance, so that the people and their cattle drank,
Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), public domain.
Source: Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “Cades”; Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), “Kadesh”