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Kedar קֵדָר

Male Arabia H6938 6 books

A son of Ishmael and a nomadic tribe

Biography

Kedar is first mentioned in Gen.25.13 and 1Ch.1.29 as one of the twelve sons of Ishmael, the son of Abraham. He is the eponymous ancestor of the Kedarites, a nomadic Arab tribe that inhabited the desert regions of northern Arabia.

The Kedarites were known for their black tents (Sng.1.5) and their large flocks of sheep and goats (Isa.60.7; Ezk.27.21). They were skilled archers and warriors (Isa.21.16-17) and were one of the major Arab tribes in the ancient Near East.

In the Bible, Kedar is often used as a representation of the nomadic tribes of the desert. The psalmist laments living among the tents of Kedar, symbolizing a hostile and foreign environment (Psalm Isa.120.5). The prophet Jeremiah uses Kedar as an example of a distant and powerful nation.

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In Scripture

6 biblical books ; 4 with study content
Genesis 1 verse
  • Genesis 25:13

    "These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to the order of their birth: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,"

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1 Chronicles 1 verse
  • 1 Chronicles 1:29

    "These are their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth; then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,"

Psalms 1 verse
  • Psalms 120:5

    "Woe is me, that I live in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!"

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Song of Solomon 1 verse
  • Song of Solomon 1:5

    "I am dark, but lovely, you daughters of Jerusalem, like Kedar’s tents, like Solomon’s curtains."

Isaiah 4 verses
  • Isaiah 21:16

    "For the Lord said to me, “Within a year, as a worker bound by contract would count it, all the glory of Kedar will fail,"

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  • Isaiah 21:17

    "and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, will be few; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken it.”"

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  • Isaiah 42:11

    "Let the wilderness and its cities raise their voices, with the villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing. Let them shout from the top of the mountains!"

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  • Isaiah 60:7

    "All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together to you. The rams of Nebaioth will serve you. They will be accepted as offerings on my altar; and I will beautify my glorious house."

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Jeremiah 2 verses
  • Jeremiah 2:10

    "For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see. Send to Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there has been such a thing."

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  • Jeremiah 49:28

    "Of Kedar, and of the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck. Yahweh says: “Arise, go up to Kedar, and destroy the children of the east."

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Names & Aliases

Form Language Script Strong's
Named Hebrew קֵדָר H6938
Encyclopedia Article

Kedar

ISBE 1915 (Public Domain)

ntry in opposition to the lands of the Mediterranean (Jer 2:10). The author of Second Isa introduces this tribe in company with Nebaioth, and both are represented as owners of flocks (Isa 60:7). Evidence of their nomadic habits appears in Jer 49:28,29, where they are classed among the Bene-Qedhem, and mention is made of their flocks, camels, tents, curtains and furniture. They are spoken of (Isa 42:11) as dwelling in chatserim ("villages"), from which it would appear that they were a somewhat settled tribe, corresponding to the Arabic chadariya or "town-dwellers," as distinct from wabariya or "nomads." Ezekiel (27:21) gives another hint of their pastoral nature where, in his detailed picture of the wealth of Tyre, Kedar and Arabia provide the Tyrians with lambs, rams and goats. The fame of the tribe is further reflected in Isa 21:16,17 (the only allusion to their might in war), and in the figurative references to their tents (Ps 120:5; So 1:5). In this last passage where the tents are made symbolic of dark beauty, the word qadhar ("to be black") may have been in the writer's mind.

The settlements of Kedar were probably in the Northwest of Arabia, not far from the borders of Palestine. Assyrian inscriptions have thrown light upon the history of the tribe. There Kedar is mentioned along with the Arabs and Nebaioth, which decides its identity with Kedar of the Old Testament, and there is found also an account of the conflicts between the tribe and King Assurbanipal (see Margoliouth in HDB).

Of the Ishmaelite tribes, Kedar must have been one of the most important, and thus in later times the name came to be applied to all the wild tribes of the desert. It is through Kedar (Arabic, keidar) that Muslim genealogists trace the descent of Mohammed from Ishmael.

A. S. Fulton

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