Judges, Ruth: Revised Edition (The NIV Application Commentary)

by K. Lawson Younger

21. Caleb is identified twice as “from the tribe of Judah” (Num 13:6; 34:19). He is frequently designated as “the son of Jephunneh” (Num 13:6; 14:6, 30, 38; 26:35; 32:12; 34:19; Deut 1:36; Josh 14:6, 13, 14; 15:13; 21:12; 1 Chr 4:15; 6:56). Three times (Num 32:12; Josh 14:6, 14) he is given the further designation “the Kenizzite” (qnzy). This form is a gentilic (e.g., in the modern context, “the American, the German, the Russian, etc.”; in the Old Testament context, “the Midianite, the Philistine, the Assyrian, etc.”). Thus, it is an ethnic designation. Another way of forming a gentilic in ancient Semitic languages was the combination of the word for “son” (either singular or plural) and the name of an eponymous ancestor (e.g., “sons of Israel” = “Israelites”; “sons of Ammon” = “Ammonites”; etc.). Thus Othniel is designated “son of Kenaz” (bn qnz), hence “Kenizzite” (note that the JPSV translates bn qnz in every instance as “Kenizzite”). He is further designated as “Caleb’s [younger] brother [’ah]” (e.g., Judg 1:13), which probably means that Othniel was a younger relative or kinsman of Caleb (the Heb. word ’ah has this range of meaning; see the discussion of levirate marriage in the Introduction to Ruth). This explains why Caleb is called the son of Jephunneh and Othniel is called the son of Kenaz, yet Othniel is called Caleb’s brother and Caleb is called “the Kenizzite.” It also explains the apparent discrepancy in the Old Greek, where Othniel is described as Caleb’s you...