|
How did the Kenites make their way into the synagogue? This is a long but not so complicated story.
First let me point out that the land of Canaan was given to Abraham and his seed in Genesis 15:
Genesis 15:18-21
18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,
21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
KJV
(this was the land of Canaan)
You might ask, if this land was given to Abraham and his seed, why did they go to Egypt?
Genesis 15:13-16
13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
KJV
This was done to both give Israel time to grow strong in Egypt, although they were slaves, they grew as a people to a large number. This is one of the reasons that the Egyptians enslaved them. When the four hundred years had passed, the iniquity of the Amorites must have been full because God judged the Amorites and used Israel as his sword of justice.
When Joshua and Israel pushed into the land of Canaan and so easily defeated Jericho and Ai. Well, let's read this from the Bible:
Joshua 9:3-6
3 And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,
4 They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;
5 And old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy.
6 And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with us.
KJV
You should read all of chapter 9 in the Book of Joshua for full context, but quite simply Joshua and the princes did make a league with the inhabitants of Gibeon, then when they discovered that they were tricked, after swearing that they would do them no harm, this is what transpired:
Joshua 9:21-23
21 And the princes said unto them, Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation; as the princes had promised them.
22 And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you; when ye dwell among us?
23 Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.
KJV
This is one place where the Kenites got their foothold to move into the synagogue.
Joshua 9:27
27 And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the LORD, even unto this day, in the place which he should choose.
KJV
I am skipping hundreds of years here, this time will be covered in some of my next posts. In short the ten northern tribes of Israel were carried away by Assyria then about 200 years later the house of Judah (and Benjamin) was carried away into captivity to Babylon by Nebuchadnezar.
Now lets skip to the time after Persia invaded and took Babylon and the Persian king Darius freed Judah and Benjamin to return to their home land, and financed the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
There are two books of the Bible that cover this return, one is Ezra and the other is Nehemiah. I will use the Book of Ezra here:
In Ezra 8:15 Ezra (the prophet) discovered that his party had NO Levites (Levites are the priest line appointed by God).
Ezra 8:15
15 And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava; and there abode we in tents three days: and I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi.
KJV
Ezra 8:20
20 Also of the Nethinims, whom David and the princes had appointed for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinims: all of them were expressed by name.
KJV
Remember from Joshua 9:21-23 who was appointed to service to the house of the Lord and shall not be freed? The Gebionites (Kenites).
Nethinims: OT:5411
Nathiyn (naw-theen'); or Nathuwn (Ezra 8:17) (naw-thoon') (the proper form as passive participle), from OT:5414; one given, i.e. (in the plural only) the Nethinim, or Temple-servants (as given to that duty):
KJV - Nethinims.
Ezra 2:61-62
61 And of the children of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai; which took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name:
62 These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.
KJV
This was a minor setback, but times would someday change.
This is the end of this post, there is a lot more to cover. I want to get into those 600+ years that I skipped over in this paper. Don't miss the next paper covering the Rechabites and the bad figs. |
