1. iMidian had live sons, who, doubtless, in accordance with Arab custom, became heads of distinct tribes (Gen. XXV, 4 ; comp. Numb, xxxi, 8). We are told that wliile " Abraliam gave all that he had to Isaac," that is, made liim his heir — head of his house and patrimony — '"to tlio sons of the concubines Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son while he yet lived, east- ward, to tlie land in the east" (ver. o, G). Tliis is the first indication of the country occupied by the Midian- ites and otlier descendants of Keturah. The expression is not very definite, Abraham's principal place of resi- dence was Southern Palestine — ilamre and lieersheba. Tlie •• country of the east" appears to have included the whole region on the east side of the Arabah or great valley which reaches from the fountains of the Jordan to the /Elanitic (Julf. All Arabia, in fact, and even Mesoi)otamia were included in the '• country of the East" (Gen. xxix, 1 ; Numb, xxiii, 7, etc.). See Hknk-Ke- DE.M. Another incidental notice in Gen. xxxvi,35 points more clearly to the exact territory of Midian. lladad, one of the early kings of Edom, is said to have " smit- ten iMidian in the field of Moab." \Xq may conclude from this that the Midianites were at that time settled on the eastern borders of Moab and Edom. They were, like all Arabians, a nomad or semi-nomad people; hav- ing some settlements around fountains and in fertile valleys, but forced to wander in their tents from place to ])lace to secure sufficient pasture for their flocks. The ISIidianitcs were an enterprising people. They were not satisfied with the dull routine of pastoral and agricultu- ral life. From the first they appear to have engaged in commercial pursuits. Some districts of Arabia, Eastern Palestine, and Lebanon, yielded valuable spices and per- fmnes which were in great demand in Egypt, not merely for the luxuries of tlie living, but for tlie embalming oV the dead. In this profitable trade the ^lidianites en- gaged. It was to one of their caravans passing through Palestine from (Jilead to Egypt that Joseph was sold by liis brethren (Gen. xxxvii, -io sq.). Slaves at that time fi)uiid as ready a market in Egypt as they do now. It will be oliserved that the traders arc called by the his- torian botli Ixhrniulites and Midiimitex, the two names being used as synonymous. The reason probably is that these weie the dominant tribes in Arabia, and car- ried on the trade jointly ; hence they were known among strangers by Ixith names. It would seem, however, that the merchants in this caravan were true Midianites. though they may have been accompanied by Ishmael- ites (ver. '2H, 3G ; but comp. 25, 27), In ver. 3G the He- brew is C^DIiail, the Medanites, which is the regular jihiral of Meditii {'{"^t), the third son of Keturah (Gen. XXV, 2) ; while in ver. 2K the word is C'r'iT::. tlie reg- ular plural of "pT:, There can be little doubt that the Midianites are referred to in both passages, as repre- sented in tlie Scptuagint, Vulgate, Targums, and other ancient versions. Sec JIi;i>an, By a similar latitude of expression, the Midianites sometimes ajipear to be reckoned among the Ishmaelitcs (.ludg. vii, 12; viii, 22, 21) ; elsewhere they are distinguished from them ((Jen. XXV, 2, 4, 12, 1(!), This probaiily arose from their being nomadic in their habits, so that bands of them often moved from jilacc to place. Hut the dilHculty may be avoided by supposing that the terms "Midianite" and " IshmaeUte" are used as a synonyme of travelling mer-
chant, such as they became in later times. See Ish-
SIAELITE.
2. The next notice of Midian is in connection with the eventful historj- of Moses — "Moses tied from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian" (Exod. ii, 15), Iteuel or Jethro, the priest of Midian, became his master and father-in-law, iNIoscs kept his Hock. The subsequent incidents of this strange narrative show clearly the region then inhabited by Jethro, and called " the land of Midian," It was the peninsula of Sinai, and it was while watching his Hock there on the side of Horeb that Closes saw the glory of the Lord in the burning bush, and received the commission to return to Egypt for the deliverance of Israel (Exod, iii. 1 sq.). It would appear, from a comparison of the several inci- dental notices of Jethro given in the Pentateuch, that the peninsula of Sinai was not his settled place of abode. When Israel was encamped at Horeb, Jethro brought thither Moses's wife and his two sons ; and, after a brief stay, we are told that " he went his way into his own land" (Exod. xviii, 1-3, 27; comp. Nut"nb. x, 29, 30). The Slidianites were nomads roaming over a very wide region, but, like most Arab tribes, having one perma- nent nucleus. This nucleus was specially their home : it was the "land of their kindred ;" yet they also claimed the whole region in which they pastured their Hocks as their own. The nucleus of the Midianites was some- where on the eastern border of Edom, but their pasture- grounds probably extended as far as Gilead and Bashan on the north, while on the south they embraced an ex- tensive territory along both shores of the yElanitic Gulf. Hence Horeb was said to be in the land of Midian (Exod. ii, 15 with iii, 1), while the chief seat of Jethro's tribe was on the east of Edom. The ISIidianites were thus accustomed to lead their flocks and herds over the whole of that region which the Israelites afterwards traversed — the choice pastures, the fountains, and the wells in the desert were all known to them. This fact throws light on Moses's urgent request to his father-in- law — "Leave us not, I pray thee: forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes" (Numb, x, 31). It should, however, be remembered that the name of Midian (and hence the "land of Midian") was perhaps often applied, as that of the most powerful of the north- 1 ern Arab tribes, to the northern Arabs generally, i, e. those of Abrahamic descent (comp. Cien. xxxvii, 28. but see respecting this passage above; and Judg, viii, 24); just as Bexe-Kedem embraced all those peoples, and, with a wider signification, other Eastern tribes. If this reading of the name be correct, "Midian" would corre- spond very nearly with our modern word "Arab;" lim- I iting, however, the modern word to the Arabs of the nortliern and Egyptian deserts: all the Ishmaelitish I tribes of those deserts would thus be Jlidianites, as we call them Arabs, the desert being tiieir " land," At least it cannot be doubted that the descendants of Ilagar and Keturah intermarried; and thus the Midianites are ap- parently called Ishmaehtes in Judg, viii, 24, being con- j nected, both by blood and national customs, with the I father of the Arabs. The wandering habits of nomadic I tribes must also preclude our arguing from the fact of Moses's leading his father's Hock to Horeb, that Sinai was necessarily more than a station of IMidian: those tribes annually traverse a great extent of countrj- in search of pasturage, and have their established summer and winter pastures. The Midianites were mostly (not always) dwellers in tents, not towns; and Sinai has not sufticicnt pasture to support more than a small, or a moving people. But it must be remembered that jier- haps (or we may s.ay probdbhj) the peninsula of Siuai has considerably changed in its physical character since the time of Closes; even the adjacent isthmus lias been thought, since that period, to have risen many feet, so that " the tongue of the Egyptian Sea" has •• drieil up ;" and this supposition would much diminish the difficulty of accounting for the means of subsistence found by the