Due regard must also be had to the fact that the accounts of the Midianites are derived from different sources. The chapters which refer to Jethro are assigned to JE, and Nu 25% 8 and 31 to P. Nu 811 states that the action of the Midianites described in 25%!8 was prompted by the counsel of Balaam. In the account of Balaam (Nu 22-24) the elders of Midian are mentioned twice at the commencement (Nu 22*7), but throughout the rest of the section Balak and the princes of Moab are represented as treating with
alaam, and there is no further reference to Midian. Some commentators are of opinion that this cursory mention of Midian implies the ex- istence of a document which gave further details about the conduct of Midian on this occasion, some of which are preserved in Nu 25 and 31 (cf. Jos. Ant. Iv. vi. 6-13). Another view is that Midian is inserted in Nu 22 on harmonistic grounds.
The account of Gideon is also a composite one, and it is generally allowed that Jg θ᾽ -85 and Jg 8*21 are from different sources, though the con- trast between the two sections has been exaggerated (see Moore, Judges, in loc., and art. GIDEON). As the Midianites disappear from history after their defeat by Gideon, it is possible that later writers may have employed the name of Midian in a less exact manner, as a general designation of ancient foes of Israel. The peculiar character of Nu 31 will not escape the notice of the thoughtful reader. The ideal picture of a holy war there portrayed ma pomiid him of that symbolical treatment of Midian as the spiritual enemy which is to be found both in Jewish and Christian writers.
MIDIAN, MIDIANITES
Yet another characteristic of Midian, which distinguishes nomad tribes even to the present day, appears prominently in the Book of Judges: they made raids upon their neighbours at harvest time and stripped the land bare, coming as grass- hoppers for multitude with their tents and camels as far as Gaza, ,The story of their defeat by Gideon is told in Jg 6-8. He not only drives them out of Western Palestine, but pursues them on the east side of the Jordan, captures their two chiefs Zebah and Zalmunna, sid takes ven- pone on them for their slaughter of his brethren y putting them to death (Jg 8'**1) (see GIDEON).
The memory of this great deliverance was cherished by the people. Isaiah uses the phrase ‘day of Midian’ to describe the joy of Israel when the rod of his oppressor is broken (Is 9* 1056), and the Psalmist prays that the enemies of his nation may be put to shame and perish, as were the Midianites and their chiefs Zebah and Zalmunna (Ps 83%). A victory over Midian by Edom in the field of Moab is recorded (Gn 36%, 1 Ch 1.5), but its date cannot be determined. The only other refer- ences to Midian are 1 K 118, and in the ‘prayer of Habakkuk,’ Hab 37.
Extent and position of territory.—The accounts given in Nu and Jg imply that the Midianites occupied country to the E. and S.E. of Palestine. In the genealogy (Gn 25°) Midian and the sons of Abraham other than Isaac are sent away into the east country, and in Jg 6° Midian is associated with the children of the East. This is the only direct evidence of position afforded in the OT, and it indicates a territory E. of the Jordan and of the Arabah. Moab and Edom occupied the country on the E. and S.E. of Palestine from the river Arnon to the head of the Gulf of Akabah. There would remain, therefore, for Midian a tract of country to the N. of Arabia, and on the E. shore of the Gulf of Akabah, with freedom to roam northwards along the E. boundary of Edom and Moab. In this region Ptolemy mentions (vi. 7) a city Modlava on the E. shore of tae Red Sea (i.e. the Gulf of Akabah), and another Madiaua situated inland. The former of these corresponds in position with the Madian of Onom. Sac. (136. 31, p. 168, ed. Lagarde) and with the Medyen of Arab writers, who locate there the well of Moses from which he watered the flocks of his father-in law. Classical writers give no information about Midian. Josephus says that Moses in his flight came toa city of Midian, lying on the Red Sea, so called from one of Abraham’s sons by Keturah (Ant. Il. i. 1). Philo considers Midianites to be an ancient name of the Arabians (de Fortitudine, ii. 381. 7, ed. Mangey). In recent times the country on the E. shore of the Gulf of Akabah has been explored by Sir R. Burton. The account of his first journey is given in The Gold Mines of Midian, 1878, and of his second in The Land of Midian Revisited, 1879. In the first book he gives a résumé of Jewish tradition with reference to Midian (c. vii.), and, in the second, extracts from Ἐπ ϑ ότι papyri and Arabic writers are collected (c. 1v.).
No reference has been made in the geographical part of this article to passages in Exodus. The only geographical detail which these passages supply is relative, viz. that Mt. Sinai or Horeb was in or in close proximity to Midian. If from other considerations the position of Sinai be determined, then an additional fact is known concerning the territory of Midian. If the traditional situation of Si be accepted, then Midian- ites must have moved westwards into the peninsula between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Akabah. Remembering the wide area over which the Midianites roved, such a migration is not improbable. But this proximity of Sinai to Midian may be urged in favour of assigning to Sinai a position E. of the Arabah, thereby assigning a uniform phical position to Midian and rendering the hypothesis of tion unnecessary.