SPECIAL TOPIC: MIDIAN

SPECIAL TOPIC: MIDIAN (BDB 193, KB 548-549 II)

This name is used of different people/places in the OT.

a child of Abraham by Keturah sent away to the east (cf. Gen. 25:1-6; 1 Chr. 1:32)
a group of traders associated with the Ishmaelites (cf. Gen. 37:25-36)
some part of the Sinai peninsula where Moses fled (Exodus 2-4; esp. 3:1-2)
somewhere in the southern trans-Jordan area (1 Kgs. 11:18)
in Num. 22:4,7, its leaders are associated with Moab's leaders
enemies of Gideon in Judges (cf. Judges 6-8)
their five kings are listed in Jos. 13:21, which implies a city-state society, like the Philistines in the southern trans-Jordan area south to the eastern Gulf of Aqaba area. Modern archaeological finds have established Midian as a large, well organized, geographical entity with several large walled cities. They seem to have spoken an ancient form of Arabic.