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(A.V. Kenites).
A tribe orfamily often mentioned in theOld Testament, personified asQayin from which thenomen gentilicium Qeni is derived. In spite of several attempts at a solution, the origin both of the name and of the tribe is still obscure. Hobab the relative (brother-in-law?) ofMoses was a Cinite (Judges 1:16,4:11; as Hobab is also called aMadianite (Numbers 10:29), it follows that the Cinites belonged to that nation. Judging from appearances, the Cinites weretrue worshippers ofYahweh. Some scholars, on the strength ofExodus 18, go even so far as to assert that it was from them that theIsraelites received a great portion of theirmonotheistictheology; the passage, however, deals directly and only with social organization. At any rate, theRechabites, a clan of the Cinites (1 Chronicles 2:55) were evenascetics and insisted on retaining the nomadic habits of the followers ofYahweh (Jeremiah 35), Though calamities were foretold for the Cinites byBalaam (Numbers 24:21 sqq.), they are always represented as being on friendly terms with theIsraelites. Owing probably to their alliance with Moses and also to the bonds of a common religion, they befriended theIsraelites during their wanderings in thedesert (Numbers 10:29-32,1 Samuel 15:6) and joined them in their march onChanaan (Judges 1:16). There is no intimation that there ever was any enmity between the two nations (cf.1 Samuel 27:10,30:29). The Cinites dwelt south of Palestine with the Amalecites, as is evident fromNumbers 24:21 sqq.,1 Samuel 15:6, and probably fromJudges 1:16 if, instead of theMassoretic version, we use an alternate Hebrew reading — a reading which is supported by several Greekmanuscripts and by the SahidicCoptic Version (cf.Ciasca, Fragm. Copto-Sahidica). One clan of the Cinites left the tribe and settled in the north under Haber, at the time ofBarac andDebbora (Judges 4:11); Jahel, who slew Sisara, was the wife of Haber the Cinite (Judges 4:17 sqq. and5:24 sqq.). From the facts that we find the Cinites south and north, and that in Aramaic the root from which Qayin is derived implies theidea of a smith, Sayce (in Hastings, Dict. Bib., s.v. Kenites) draws the conclusion that the Cinites were a wanderingguild of smiths. This view has against it the obvious meaning of the texts (see especiallyGenesis 15:19). Apparently the Cinites shared in theBabylonian Exile and in the Restoration, but they do not appear any more as a distinct tribe and very likely were assimilated with theJews.
APA citation.Butin, R.(1908).Cinites. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03776b.htm
MLA citation.Butin, Romain."Cinites."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 3.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1908.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03776b.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Joseph P. Thomas.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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