The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
Shaketh the wilderness. The wilderness expresses the idea of vastness and terror, such as Israel experienced it (Deuteronomy 1:19), "that great and terrible wilderness," 8:15; 32:10, "the waste, howling wilderness." Like the hills, the wilderness symbolizes the power of the world distressing the Church. 'The voice of Yahweh' shaking it, or making it to quiver, implies how every power which now afflicts God's people shall, at His will, be overthrown when He cometh to shake the earth and heaven (Hebrews 12:26-27; Haggai 2:6; Joel 3:16; Isaiah 2:19, end).
Wilderness of Kadesh - the northern portion of the terror- abounding Arabian desert, touching the south of Palestine. As "Lebanon" marks the north boundary of the Holy Land so "the wilderness of Kadesh" marks the south. It is called also "the wilderness of Zin" (Numbers 33:36), near Mount Hor, and the land of Edom (Numbers 20:1; Numbers 20:16; Numbers 20:22-23; Numbers 21:4).
Kadesh was a city on the uttermost border of Edom. The hill and the wilderness, north and south alike, tremble to their very center at the voice of Yahweh. What, then, have His people to fear, come the danger from whatever quarter, and in what form it will?