Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 4:11

"Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab the brother-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh." — Judges 4:11 (ASV)

Heber the Kenite. See Judges 1:16; Judges 3:31; Numbers 10:29.

Which was of the children of Hobab. Rather, had separated himself from Kain, from the children of Hobab. Nomadic settlements frequently send off these separate colonies. The life and movements of the Kenites resembled those of gipsies, except that they had flocks and herds. To this day, a small Bedouin settlement presents very nearly the same appearance as a gipsy camp.

The father-in-law of Moses. Rather, the brother-in-law. The names for these relationships are closely related. (See Note on Judges 1:16.)

Pitched his tent. (Genesis 12:8 and following) The “tents” of the Bedouin are not the bell-shaped tents with which we are familiar, but coverings of black goats’ hair, sometimes supported on as many as nine poles. The Arab word for tent is beit, “house.”

Unto the plain of Zaanaim. Rather, unto the terebinth in Zaanaim. (See Joshua 19:33.) Great trees are often alluded to in Scripture (Allon-Bachuth, Genesis 35:8, “the oak of Tabor”; 1 Samuel 10:3, “the oak of the house of grace”; 1 Kings 4:9, “the enchanters’ oak”; Judges 9:37; Joshua 24:26 and following).

This terebinth is again alluded to in Joshua 19:33. The size and beauty of the terebinths on the hills of Naphtali, to which an allusion is found in the blessing of Jacob, probably led to its adoption as the symbol of the tribe: “Naphtali is a branching terebinth” (Genesis 49:21).

The word elon (אלון) is frequently translated “plain” by our translators (Judges 9:6–37; Genesis 12:6; Genesis 13:18; 1 Samuel 10:3 and following), because they were misled by the Targums and the Vulgate, which translate it sometimes as vallis and convallis. They always translate the cognate word allon as “oak,” and, in the looseness of common nomenclature, the “oak” and the “terebinth” were not always carefully distinguished.

There is a large terebinth, called Sigar em-Messiah, six miles northwest of Kedes. The word Zaanaim (also written Zaannanim) means “wanderings,” or “unlading of tents,” with possible reference to this nomad settlement. The Septuagint translates it as “the oak of the covetous,” because they follow another reading. In contrast with these “wandering tents” of the Bedouin, Jerusalem is called in Isaiah 33:20 “a tent that wanders not.”

Ewald, following the Targum, interprets it as meaning “the plain of the swamp,” and this is also found in the Talmud, which seems to indicate this place by Aquizah hak-Kedesh (“swamp of the holy place”).

Which is by Kedesh. Oaks and terebinths are still found abundantly in this neighborhood, and such a green plain studded with trees would be a natural camping ground for the Kenites.