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KISH

(Heb. qîš)

(PERSON)

1. A Benjaminite from Gibeah, the son of Abiel and father of Saul (1 Sam. 9:1). A wealthy man (cf. 1 Sam. 9:3), Kish is described as a gibbôr ḥayîl, a “man of standing” (NJPSV) or “substance” (NIV), apparently a person of privileged military or material status. Saul’s claim that he comes from the “least” of the clans of Benjamin (1 Sam. 9:21) refers to status or size of the clan. Kish was buried at Zela in Benjamin, where Saul and Jonathan were also buried after their bodies were recovered from the Philistines (2 Sam. 21:14).

2. A son (or descendant) of Jeiel and Maacah (1 Chr. 8:30; 9:36). Some scholars equate this Kish with 1 above by identifying Jeiel (“Yah[weh] is God”) with Abiel (“My Father is God”), but this does not resolve the difficulties raised by the disparate genealogies (1 Sam. 9:1; 1 Chr. 8:29-33; 9:35-39). Yet because the Chronicler elsewhere correctly designates the father of Saul (1 Chr. 26:28), the lineage given in 1 Chr. 8-9 could be a variant, corrupted genealogy of Kish 1 or refer to a different Kish altogether, perhaps the uncle of 1 above (cf. 1 Chr. 9:36).

3. A Levite of the Merarite clan, the son of Mahli and father of Jerahmeel, whose name became the designation for one of the levitical courses (1 Chr. 23:21-22; 24:29). His sons married their cousins, the daughters of Kish’s brother Eliazar (1 Chr. 23:22).

4. A son of Abdi, also a Levite of the Merarite clan, who was involved in the cleansing of the temple during Hezekiah’s reforms (2 Chr. 29:12).

5. A Benjaminite ancestor of Mordecai (Esth. 2:5). Some scholars read the Hebrew text to mean that he rather than Mordecai had been deported during the time of King Jehoiachin (Esth. 2:6). Others argue that the genealogical list of 2:5 has been condensed to link Mordecai to 1 above, making Mordecai a descendant of the first royal family of Israel.

Jeffrey C. Geoghegan

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

KISH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)