These descendants of the Kenite compromise Israel’s mandate to eliminate the Canaanites. Instead of destroying the city and its population they settle down among them, thereby sowing the seeds of Canaanization that sprout and flourish in the following chapters.
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16 And the descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the city of palms into the wilderness of Judah, which lies in the Negeb near Arad, and they went and settled with the people.