Kenath

Kenath is a city in Gilead, in the eastern Trans-Jordanian region. It enters the record at the moment of its capture by an Israelite named Nobah, who renames it after himself, and reappears generations later when it is wrested back from the line of Machir.

The Capture and Renaming

During the resettlement of conquered Trans-Jordanian territory, Kenath and its outlying villages are taken by Nobah, who attaches his own name to the place: "And Nobah went and took Kenath, and its villages, and called it Nobah, after his own name" (Num 32:42). The notice is brief — capture, possession of the dependent villages, and a new name in place of the old.

Lost Back to Geshur and Aram

The Chronicler returns to Kenath in his Manassite genealogy and reports its later loss. Kenath, with its surrounding villages and a wider cluster of Jair's holdings, is taken from the line of Machir: "And Geshur and Aram took the towns of Jair from them, with Kenath, and its villages, even threescore cities. All these were the sons of Machir the father of Gilead" (1 Chr 2:23). What had been seized and renamed in the wilderness generation is later reabsorbed by neighboring Aramean powers.