Kedesh: sanctuary. (1.) A place in the extreme south of Judah (Josh.
15:23). Probably the same as Kadesh-barnea (q.v.).
(2.) A city of Issachar (1 Chr. 6:72). Possibly Tell Abu
Kadeis, near Lejjun.
(3.) A "fenced city" of Naphtali, one of the cities of refuge
(Josh. 19:37; Judg. 4:6). It was assigned to the Gershonite
Levites (Josh. 21:32). It was originally a Canaanite royal city
(Josh. 12:22), and was the residence of Barak (Judg. 4:6); and
here he and Deborah assembled the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali
before the commencement of the conflict with Sisera in the plain
of Esdraelon, "for Jehovah among the mighty" (9, 10). In the
reign of Pekah it was taken by Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings 15:29).
It was situated near the "plain" (rather "the oak") of Zaanaim,
and has been identified with the modern Kedes, on the hills
fully four miles north-west of Lake El Huleh.
It has been supposed by some that the Kedesh of the narrative,
where Barak assembled his troops, was not the place in Upper
Galilee so named, which was 30 miles distant from the plain of
Esdraelon, but Kedish, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, 12
miles from Tabor.