Kenites
    smiths, the name of a tribe inhabiting the desert lying between
    southern Palestine and the mountains of Sinai. Jethro was of
    this tribe (Judg. 1:16). He is called a "Midianite" (Num.
    10:29), and hence it is concluded that the Midianites and the
    Kenites were the same tribe. They were wandering smiths, "the
    gipsies and travelling tinkers of the old Oriental world. They
    formed an important guild in an age when the art of metallurgy
    was confined to a few" (Sayce's Races, etc.). They showed
    kindness to Israel in their journey through the wilderness. They
    accompanied them in their march as far as Jericho (Judg. 1:16),
    and then returned to their old haunts among the Amalekites, in
    the desert to the south of Judah. They sustained afterwards
    friendly relations with the Israelites when settled in Canaan
    (Judg. 4:11, 17-21; 1 Sam. 27:10; 30:29). The Rechabites
    belonged to this tribe (1 Chr. 2:55) and in the days of Jeremiah
    (35:7-10) are referred to as following their nomad habits. Saul
    bade them depart from the Amalekites (1 Sam. 15:6) when, in
    obedience to the divine commission, he was about to "smite
    Amalek." And his reason is, "for ye showed kindness to all the
    children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt." Thus "God is
    not unrighteous to forget the kindnesses shown to his people;
    but they shall be remembered another day, at the farthest in the
    great day, and recompensed in the resurrection of the just" (M.
    Henry's Commentary). They are mentioned for the last time in
    Scripture in 1 Sam. 27:10; comp. 30:20.
 Kenites, possession; purchase; lamentation