Kedar

(dark-skinned), the second in order of the sons of Ishmael, (Genesis 25:13; 1 Chronicles 1:29) and the name of a great tribe of Arabs settled on the northwest of the peninsula and on the confines of Palestine. The “glory of Kedar” is recorded by the prophet Isaiah, (Isaiah 21:13-17) in the burden upon Arabia; and its importance may also be inferred from the “princes of Kedar” mentioned by Ezekiel, (Ezekiel 27:21) as well as the pastoral character of the tribe. They appear also to have been, like the wandering tribes of the present day, “archers” and “mighty men.” (Isaiah 21:17) comp. Psal 120:5 That they also settled in villages or towns we find from Isaiah. (Isaiah 42:11) The tribe seems to have been one of the most conspicuous of all the Ishmaelite tribes, and hence the rabbins call the Arabians universally by this name.

Dark-skinned, the second son of Ishmael (Gen. 25:13).

It is the name for the nomadic tribes of Arabs, the Bedouins generally (Isa. 21:16; 42:11; 60:7; Jer. 2:10; Ezek. 27:21), who dwelt in the north-west of Arabia. They lived in black hair-tents (Cant. 1:5). To “dwell in the tents of Kedar” was to be cut off from the worship of the true God (Ps. 120:5). The Kedarites suffered at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 49:28, 29).