Thus did your fathers. It is impossible not to see that this mode of address is in striking contrast to that used in the Book of. Deuteronomy (e.g; in Numbers 1:22, Numbers 1:27; Numbers 5:3, Numbers 5:23).
At the same time it is obviously the more natural, and the more in accordance with facts, because there was not a man left of all those who had rebelled at Kadesh. At Kadesh-Barnea. This mode of writing the name forms a link between the closing chapters of Numbers (here and in Numbers 34:4) and the two following books.
In Deuteronomy it occurs four times, and "Kadesh" twice. In Joshua "Kadesh-Barnea" occurs exclusively. In the later books "Kadesh" only is used, as in Genesis and in the previous chapters of Numbers.
The meaning of the combination is uncertain, and the etymology of "Barnea" altogether obscure. It may be an old name attaching to the place before it became known as a sanctuary. The Septuagint has κάδης τοῦ βαρνή in one place, as though it were the name of a man.