Kinah
No...this is not a post about that infamous Israeli cootie ...Kinah is a town or city mentioned in Yehoshua 15:22 as being on the border between Yehudah and Edom. Though we did not go to the ruins of the actual town last Thursday, we did go to the ruins of the fortress that guarded the town and also collected toll payments from merchants that travelled the "Spice Road" that passed near Kinah. The fortress is presumed by most to have been built around the time of King Yoshiyahu (end of the Assyrian period), but a doctorate student who came with us said that her doctorate involves, among other things, her hypothesis that the fortress was actually built earlier than that - during the Neo-Assyrian period. Kinah, on the other hand, we know from Tanach, is much older than that. And, get this - it's possible that the name is related to the Kenites who, according to Shoftim 1:16 came out of the City of Dates and settled near Arad (Kinah being near Arad)! In Hebrew - קיני - קינ...