There seem to have been several different peoples called by this name, without any apparent link between them. Thus
1. There were some in the land when it was promised to Abraham (Gen. 15:19).
2. Jethro, or Raguel, Moses’ father-in-law, is called a Kenite (Judg. 1:16), and is also called a Midianite (Num. 10:29). The Midianites sprung from Midian, the son of Abraham and Keturah (Gen. 25:2); so these Kenites were probably a branch of the Midianites. The children of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, left Jericho, the city of palm trees, and went into the wilderness of Judah, which was to the south of Arad, and dwelt there (Judg. 1:16). Apparently Heber the Kenite traveled north, and was neutral between Israel and their enemies; but Jael his wife smote Sisera in her tent (Judg. 4:11,17; Judg. 5:24). Others remained in the far south, for when Saul was going to smite the Amalekites he warned the Kenites, for their own safety, to depart from among them, because they had befriended Israel when they came from Egypt (1 Sam. 15:6). They were still in the neighborhood when David feigned to have attacked them. He regarded them as friends, and sent presents to them (1 Sam. 27:10; 1 Sam. 30:29).
3. There were Kenites whom Balaam saw dwelling in the rocks, and who were to be carried away by Asshur (Num. 24:21-22). These may have been a remnant of the Kenites mentioned in Genesis 15:19.
4. Descendants of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab (1 Chron. 2:55).